Price Paid:  $650.00 from friend

Summary:
A masterpiece of electronic engineering and functionality.
Its sound is superior to 2005 model hard disck and cd players, it even compete to Sacd and DVD-AUDIO format , and is equal to the best reel to reel tape decks.
Its so enjoyable to play and record with this deck and it is as stable as the best tape decks ,like REVOX B77II .
As the vinyl and the SET amplifiers are the king of the hi-end yet and all the sources and amps are compared to them as a reference standard , and many of the sacd's and DVD-AUDIO and cd's are masterd from this old technology!!! THE ANALOG MASTER TAPES AND LP's.!!!
The sound of the very high priced high-end solid state amps are compared to the old technology of the valve amps( TUBE LIKE SOUND , TUBE WRAMTH ,VALVE VITALITY , TUBE LIKE SMOOTHNESS )
The Dragon also has this spirit and vitality : the analog sound.

Strengths:
Analog sound : vitality , smoothness , depth , width , space , airiness , glow , and everything.

Weaknesses:
what a pity the analog recording dies.
hard discks , memory cards ,flsh cards are not wellcome.

Similar Products Used:
REVOX B77II , TASCAM reel to reel tape decks.
sony(tc-k777es -tc-k6es) and pioneer(CT-93 ,CT-95) high-end cassette decks.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from PX-japan

Summary:
I had my nak dragon for over 20years.It has been a blessing in audio analog tapes better than sterile CD's. I enjoyed it from time to time recording my old record's. I find it can be adjusted to anyone listen ear and can beat cd disc with depth and sound stage from this machine. I have open reel 10.5" reels that I test out my Nak sound but only one thing that bugs me is the parts are slowly being fazed out of production. I will keep this machine around until I die or my house burns down. The sound stage is very wide and detailed in the music to hear everything in that song. The best machine on the market by far!!
I would rather give up my wife than let my Nak go.

Strengths:
built very strugged and built in tone box. sound stage is very detailed ,frequency range is wide.

Weaknesses:
hard to get rubber band for motors drive.

Similar Products Used:
DR-2, TEAC X-10R, Tandberg 440, Nak 680ZX

Price Paid:  $900.00 from audiogon

Summary:
Unlike other reviewers here, my Nakamichi Dragon was completely serviced by Electronics Service Labs in Connecticut... where they actually know what they're doing!!!

This machine makes tapes that sound fantastic. My VPI Aries turntable plays the records and the Dragon makes the tapes. WOW!! They sound better than CD's!

It IS a complex machine, and it does make fantastic recordings (and plays them back).

Strengths:
Wonderful sound, makes tapes that sound better than CD's....provided the source is up to the job.
Beautiful to look at. Quiet running.

Weaknesses:
Complex machine. Expensive to service and refurbish. (Plan on about a grand to get it "better than new")
(Quit whining and go play your CD then)

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer autoreverse tape decks

Price Paid:  $640.00 from ebay

Price Paid:  $350.00 from 2nd hand

Summary:
This deck looks fine and has a plenty of features, of which I liked the NAAC most of all. The sound is warm and very precise, it is obvious that it has a very good high frequency response. Compatibility with the tapes made on other decks is excellent.

But, this deck is very sensitive to the way you use it. It is very very complicated, with electronics that is pretty hard to service and mechanism is it's own story, the serviceman should have previous experience in Nakamichi decks in order to service it (for instance, the rubber idler which should be replaced every 5-10 years is very hard to replace, and so are other two belts).
The build quality is very below it's price range, with too much plastic parts (the buttons), although the plastic is of a good quality (Nak 670ZX for instance uses long lasting metal buttons).
Direct tests to Teac Z-6000 (list price 2000 EUR) showed that Dragon plays better tapes made on other machines, but details especially on high frequences are the same, and TEAC Z6000 is much much better build machine.
I personally find Revox B215 much better of them both in any way.

The system used to test was:
Sony CDP-X555ES (1999. year model)
Meridian 101/105 Pre/power heavily modified
Viktor Bradac custom made speakers


So, finally:
sound: *****
build: **
durability and reliability: *
facilities: ****
overall: **

Strengths:
Very warm and precise sonund, tape calibrating facilities, auto azimuth, auto reverse, the look.

Weaknesses:
Sometimes hard to get used to, build quality is well below it's price range, gets unadjusted by itself from time to time etc... You should treat it like a lady. It is very expensive to get fixed, also.

Similar Products Used:
Teac Z-6000, Sony TC-K970ES, Yamaha KX-1200, Denon DR-M 33 and 44, Revox B215, Nakamichi 670ZX and more than 60 other decks