Back in 2003 or so, I got the NC-183D off of eBay. The description said it was new in the box until 1988. Sure, I thought. Pix looked good, price was right, so rolled the dice. The condition of the thing was fantastic. Only one little scrape on the side, that you really didn't notice unless looking for scratches. No rust, no dust, and no reason to believe it wasn't new in the box until 1988. In those 15 years since 1988, they took great care of it.
Even being in the box for 35+ years, still replaced the capacitors and some resistors. The radio sounds and plays great and I've used it quite a bit in the past 10 years.
Until about 2 months ago, the NC-183D used a 100' wire running around the house. It worked ok, but lots of RFI. In early Nov, my Perseus went with a friend on a DXpedition and its Wellbrook ALA1530S+ loop antenna was idle. So decided to do something crazy and hook the loop to the NC-183D.
All I can say is that I was shocked at how well it does. In some respects, it seems to beat the Perseus. The audio quality is superior (thanks to the pair of 6V6s) and even the sensitivity on MW seems to give it a slight edge. The Perseus still is better in other areas, recording, filter selection, sync-AM, SSB (183D has a BFO, but is a bit drifty), FM, C-QUAM, spectrum display/waterfall, but even after the Perseus returned from its trip, I still find myself listening to the NC-183D + Wellbrook more often than not, especially on MW.
The NC-173 was one of the first tube radios I owned. Replaced its caps and still plays great today. Not as good as the NC-183D, but the -173 is still a very capable receiver.
I've never used a HQ-180, so can't compare, but I love the NC-183D (and the -173) and could not recommend them higher.