Which Nakamichi to choose?

@mickeyblu79 if CD-1 and DR-2 are the only choices you have then I recommend the CD-1 because CD-1 has manual PB head azimuth adjustment (ala CR-7). Personally I'm not a fan of  Nakamichi decks except for the 1000zxl. I've owned Dragon, ZX-7 and CR-7 and still own the 1000zxl but have not heard the CD-1 so not sure how it sounds. Of the lot  I previously owned ZX-7 is my favorite of the 3 I listed, followed by the Dragon and then the CR-7. The other very underrated Nak deck is the BX-300. It's nicknamed "baby" Dragon. It is that good, again in PB only. I don't have first hand experience on it's recording capabilities.

680ZX comes very close to 1000zxl sound in play back only, in recording 1000zxl is in a league of it's own. I still enjoy recording my vinyl to tape, both cassette and Reel to Reel. You'd be surprised how good a lowly compact cassette can sound if you have the right (read serviced and up to spec) deck. The downside is the cost of maintenance and tapes. 

I just dusted of my Nak 700II cleaned the heads and pinch rollers. I put a Soundgarden tape in I had recorded off tbe record in 2005 and .............. it sounded great! Rich and full. Plus it looks cool playing. Nakdoc in Tenn restored it in 2014 and did a great job. The tape was recorded on my Tandberg. I had played the tape hundreds of times in ny car and in tbe heat. Its a Sony metal select cassette. I like those. 

@blueranger Which Tandberg did you have back then? I’m listening to a recording of Harry James Still Harry... (sheffield labs Direct to Disk vinyl) on a Sony Metal ES tape, sounds fabulous.

Nevermind on the Tandberg model, it's 3014A.

My Dragon is not back yet. Its yanking the tape real hard but only does it sporadically.

@blueranger I could never warm up to Dragon's sound. It just didn't project the soundstage right.  I sold the Dragon but kept the ZX-7 for a long time until I came upon the 1000zxl.