Nakamichi 410
The Nakamichi 410 is a portable stereo cassette player — and for many collectors, its very existence comes as a surprise. As SoundStage! Solo put it, the author hadn't known Nakamichi built a portable at all before stumbling on this model, which it calls one of "the most famous portable cassette players" and a member of "a rare and elevated class." The same review describes the 410 as "a stunning piece of audio engineering that remains highly desirable among collectors," noting that its presence and tonal balance "put many full-size decks to shame."
What little hard specification data survives comes from a single blog listing. The 410 used a coreless, anti-vibration motor with servo and Quartz PLL speed control, driving an extra-hard Permalloy head. Wow and flutter was rated at 0.04% WRMS — an exceptional figure for a portable. Signal-to-noise was 58 dB without Dolby NR and 69 dB with it engaged; distortion was 1.0% THD at 1 kHz, and frequency response spanned 40 Hz–15 kHz (±3 dB).
Production years and original price are not documented. Dimensions, weight, power source, and connectivity details are likewise unrecorded in the available material. What is clear is that this was a premium instrument: SoundStage! Solo observes that the 410 "demanded a premium for its size," and that listening to it today is "a reminder of how much audio technology has changed — and to a degree, lost."
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