well,
in all these years.
it's the arcam delta with dolby S, which is the best tape-deck ever....
forget tandberg tcd 910/911. it's the arcam for 300 euro's.
but, if you are a purist and you want to have the best
go for r2r = nagra,studer,telefunken, ampex
also DAT is better than cassette.
to me, the best format is R2R.