Nakamichi CD-45Z Car CD Player

When I started putting together my car stereo system, my goal was simple: reproduce music as well as my home system (Adcom/NAD/KEF). I thought this would be simply a matter of parting ways with lots of cash. I started out with a Pioneer cassette head unit powering four Infinity Kappa speakers. In my search for great sound, I added a PPI PC 2x150 amp powering 2 10" JL subs in a sealed enclosure. This added plenty of bass but it just sounded awful. I was discouraged. I added a PPI PC 4x50 amp for my Kappas. I was even more discouraged at this point. I had spent about $2K on this system and it sounded worse than the stock system in my mother's Honda Accord. I figured it would take a $400 AudioControl unit plus another $400 on a new head unit just to make it sound decent. I decided to just get a high quality CD head unit and wait on the AudioControl. I looked at an Eclipse, then an Alpine, a Sony ES, and finally the Nak CD-45z. I didn't buy the Eclipse or Alpine because they looked tacky and their DA converters were average. I definitely couldn't afford the particular ES model I was interested in, so I went a little over budget and paid $450 + tax on the Nak.

I made this purchase in August of 1999 and I could not be happier. I haven't even considered buying any additional car stereo products. Every problem I thought existed in my system was actually a problem with the previous source unit. The Nak simply sounds incredible when mated with products of similar quality. If you're interested in the best sound for the money, look no further. This unit is not about features, it's about functional design and high quality sound. The DA converter section isn't the best money can buy, but it is the best at this price point. 4V outputs are a must and they feed my PPI amps what they need. The player has only skipped on two occasions - once when I caught air speeding over some rail road tracks and another time when I rear-ended the guy in front of me. This thing is rock-solid. A real class act.