Interestingly the Otari MTR 10 is a completely different sounding beast, you could say it's a modern sound, more in your face, here i am, precise, well focused, almost Quality CD like precision, just a little more artificial and centered in the upper midrange you could say. But yes it really is a ying and yang thing, what it really comes down to is do i like the older 1950/60 sound or the way the modern music systems sound today. I guess another way to look at it is do i like the older original recordings from the 1950 /60 or the modern pressings. Well let's guess.