I've been growing up my collection during a year and a half, and I've changing my mind several times between "going for the nak line" or "going for the XK-S9000, CT-95, V-8030S (the recent monsters)" (in addition I've always wanted to go for "REVOX+TANDBERG".
Thankfully, I know have quite machines to do a first "Nakamichi" vs "Recent monsters" test. Though I haven't done that test well done. My early appreciations tell me that "It would be extremely strange for the CR-7 to lose against them".
I'm waiting for a XK-S9000 to arrive. Then I will make a comparation with the following decks
Teac V-8030S, AIWA XK-S9000, NAKAMICHI CR-7, NAKAMICHI ZX-7, TECHNICS RS-A7Z.
I have other good modern decks: SONY TC-KA6ES, PIONEER CT-S900, but I'm lazy to bring them to my home to perform the test