[Five]

Originally Posted by dude87

Actually, three heads are only an advantage for recording - a three head deck allows you to monitor the recording in real time because there is a separate playback and record head. If the goal is to simply play tapes for conversion I'd spend more money on a better quality two-head Nak in good condition. Learn to adjust azimuth, and make sure your input sound card is good quality.

in a two-head deck one is the eraser head, the other has to do double duty (play/record). so having a head completely dedicated to playback gives some advantage. also when it comes to high-end consumer decks the ones with three heads are generally manufactured to a higher level of quality overall. Pitch control is another useful feature that's pretty much exclusive to nice quality cassette decks. what used to be a high end consumer deck that would sell for around $400 in 1991 goes on eBay these days for $20 or less. not as good as a Nak, but worlds better than whatever piece of boombox junk from the 80s you might find in yer mom's basement.

Originally Posted by dude87

Also, unless the cassettes are masters or very rare it's often easier to search out a CD that someone has already made from a lower-generation cassette. This is particularly true of bands that are widely traded (such as the Dead).

seek the best way, not the easiest way

but yeah point taken, its proper to get a hold of a sample of what circulates and compare it to the tapes you are going to transfer, if your new transfer is a downgrade it is not worth doing. search around for guys with big collections of xxx band that you have a lowgen/master of and they will be excited to help you out when you tell them you might have a nice upgrade for them