.
The Wikipedia explanation:
"Even today, some artists of all genres prefer analog tape's
"musical", "natural" and especially
"warm" sound. Due to harmonic distortion, bass can
thicken up, creating the illusion of a fuller-sounding mix.
In addition, high end can be slightly compressed, which is
more natural to the human ear. It is common for artists to
record to digital and re-record the tracks to analog reels
for this effect of "natural" sound. In addition to
all of these attributes of tape, tape saturation is a unique
form of distortion that many rock and blues artists find
very pleasing."
"Euphonic distortion and noise levels aside, high-quality
analog tape currently outstrips the transparency of all but
the best digital recording/playback systems: digital systems
can suffer from (among other problems) clock jitter,
inferior analog circuitry, inferior digital filter design,
improper wordlength conversion, and/or lack of correct
dithering. Dramatic improvements in the average quality of
digital hardware design are narrowing the gap, though, and
might soon eliminate the quality distinction altogether."
---------------------
----------------------
So, the LP that we recorded from may be more accurate, but
the distortion imparted by recording it to tape is more
pleasing to our ears, which of course makes us tell others
that the tape recording is "better".
.
The Wikipedia explanation:
"Even today, some artists of all genres prefer analog tape's
"musical", "natural" and especially
"warm" sound. Due to harmonic distortion, bass can
thicken up, creating the illusion of a fuller-sounding mix.
In addition, high end can be slightly compressed, which is
more natural to the human ear. It is common for artists to
record to digital and re-record the tracks to analog reels
for this effect of "natural" sound. In addition to
all of these attributes of tape, tape saturation is a unique
form of distortion that many rock and blues artists find
very pleasing."
"Euphonic distortion and noise levels aside, high-quality
analog tape currently outstrips the transparency of all but
the best digital recording/playback systems: digital systems
can suffer from (among other problems) clock jitter,
inferior analog circuitry, inferior digital filter design,
improper wordlength conversion, and/or lack of correct
dithering. Dramatic improvements in the average quality of
digital hardware design are narrowing the gap, though, and
might soon eliminate the quality distinction altogether."
---------------------
----------------------
So, the LP that we recorded from may be more accurate, but
the distortion imparted by recording it to tape is more
pleasing to our ears, which of course makes us tell others
that the tape recording is "better".
.