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I used to have Nakamichi tape decks--TD-500, 700, even a 1200 (basically a Dragon for the car--with NAAC (Nak Automatic Azimuth Control). These kicked-ass over the first digital systems when I competed in IASCA in the '80's. with a Dragon at home, my analog tapes seemed to sound much better than the early CD's. Analog is so much more forgiving when recording, it offers more headroom, a higher saturation level, which when considered with noise-reduction, approaches the S/N of digital. With digital recording, one must be very careful not to let peaks exceed O dbfs; otherwise harsh digital noise results. As a result, the recording level has to be kept lower than analog, which results in a less "dynamic" recording.)

Later, I had the classic Alpine 7909. still a great source unit.

When someone stole my Nak CD/tuner1, I looked at the Alpine F1, some of the rare Asian Denon units and, of course a Nak. Most head units today are receivers with built-in power and an emphasis on more features than SQ.

There just aren't many quality SQ head units. Alpine has the 7990 DVD/CD unit I considered. But there weren't many others.

Well, since Nak is no longer the company it once was before it got bought out by a Singapore holding company, it was difficult to find a Nak CD700II. I got a great deal from the Orient on a new Japanese-made one. Most of the stuff made today is manufactured in China.

Although it doesn't have many features, it does have great SQ. Like the old Nak's it has a separate DC-DC converter (like the TD-1200) and a phenomenal, high-voltage pre-amp section. It has digital ins/outs so I can connect my Sony D7 walkman DAT.

Even though speakers are probably the best improvement you can make in a sound system,this head unit definitely improved SQ to a significant degree.

ive been thinking this for a while, im not much into features, all i want is am/fm/cd......i dont burn discs so mp3 isnt that important to me personally and i really dont want dolphins and race cars and sqiggly lines and stuff dancing across the screen, i dont use the loud button so i definitely dont want built in eq and mega bass and excite features and so on......i dont even want built in power......and believe it or not i can live without the sub out.....aux input is nice for the video system i dont want to do without....one of my favorite head units i used to love was the kenwood kdc83r....it was killer all preamp with no bullshit, of course bullshit wasnt invented yet back then

Well Ive never had super high end SQ deck untill now.

May I sugguest a McIntosh

I did consider the McIntosh CD Player.It is certainly a fine unit SQ-wise, but I thought its old-fashioned twin-knob look would look aesthetically better in my '63 Riviera than some other new ones, even the the Nak.

Thats its built in anti-theft feature...

Really, its a classy unit. Not a flashy, classy

i saw one at the meca finals installed in a 300zx and i thought it was gaawjus........

the Nak CD700II has that, too

The problems with Naks is since theyve been sold out, they are being produced in a less than desireable place. Still a good unit, just the build quality has went down a notch or two.

Have a chance to get naks as one of my products now, but from the picture they look kinda ugly! Is it just me?

No, you and the headunit are both equally ugly...J/K bro!!!

Nak HU's are traditionally ugly...but damn do they sound good!