Why no interest in reel to reel if you're looking for the ultimate sound?

forgot to add, you do not need to spend multi-kilo bucks to get a deck running.

you can take most outboard phono pre amp stages, convert RIAA to NAB EQ curve and you are good. have done that with the EAR 834P phono stage, as well as a few others. can also use the EAR clone phono stages from China so your total outlay for tape deck and tape head preamp can be under 1500.....
so can be less than most phono playback and turntable combos....

  @pch300 

you missed the point I was trying to make, or I did a very poor job of describing it
The point was not to record your LP to tape,and A-B against the LP,  the point was to compare the commercially released LP, played back through a high end table and phono stage, and compare to same commercially  released 7.5 ips tape played back through a reworked deck with high end tape playback electronics (not the high neg feedback electronics that all tape decks have).

And secondly, we are not talking 15ips master dubs. We are talking about the the tape releases made by ampex, united stereo tape, and others back in the day.

if you A-B the LP on a high end table and phono pre to the tape on a reworked deck and high end tape playback electronics, not always, but usually the tape is much better, more open, more dynamic, greater imaging, etc .

for those interested, its not hard to modify a phono play back circuit.
The RIAA curve has 3 time constants to make the curve, the NAB and IEC curve have two. Its usually about 5 bucks worth of caps and resistors and presto, you have a tape playback preamp......
and if you are really on a  limited budget, you can pick up one of the EAR or Marantz 7 tube clone phono stages from  china for under 500 bucks, and use that as your tape plackback eq. you do not need to spend multi-kilo bucks unless you want to go all out on tape playback, no different than going all out on LP playback or hi rez, digital file playback. ..

hope this helps.

open reel is a great sounding format. better than most LPs and better than CD. Unfortunately you cannot get that better sound simply by buying a reel to reel deck from the 70s or early 80s connecting it to your system and pressing play.
doing this with open reel tape and expecting spectacular sound is akin to trading in your out board phono stage and reverting back to the phono preamp stage in  your 1970s Marantz, Pioneer, Yamaha receiver from that era. Just is not going to happen.

First you need to get the deck serviced, and recapped. then you need to start looking for outboard tape head pre-amplifier, either tube or solid state.

and if you really want to go to next step, a set of hgh performance heads from JRF.

once you have done all that, then even the 7 1/2 ips quarter track tapes can sound amazingly good.

 and when you play the 15 ips tapes, they become mind blowing

@hadelman- pretty nice summary  you did there.
B-C also did offer some 15 ips 2 track tapes for a brief time, but even then they were 50-65 bucks a copy in 1980s dollars.

for anyone who has a teac 1/4 tack deck, especially the earlier A series, its pretty simple to re-route the tape head signal. if you remove the head cover, there is a PCB directly under it. unsolder the wires leaving that PCB and solder in some Mogami shielded console wire. the mogami is thin enough you can maintain the stock appearance of the Teac deck, and route the cabling out the back side of the deck where you can connect to outboard playback electronics. and you dont need to spend mulit kilo bucks to do so.

also if some want 1/4 track playback heads on their 1/2 track deck, contact JRF. he will tell you if there is enough room to add the 1/4 track head.

 Have an Otari MTR-15 which is 4 speed half track only, but had JRF add a quarter track head to head block and now can play 1/4 track tapes on that deck.

best

The sony APR machines are really nice.

I would not worry too much about missing out on the 1/2 inch parts.

I had a 1/2 inch MTR-20 14 inch reel capable machine, for many years. finally sold it when I realized it had not been used for some time.

half inch masters are really tough to find, unless you have your own you can play.

best

I would agree with @orpheus10 , In  general modern tube gear is usually more realistic than modern SS gear. On older SS and Tube gear, they both impart their own sonic signature on any signal they pass through.

I do live to 2 track acoustic recordings both to analog and hi rez digital on a regular basis. Have used both high end SS and tube gear and on both analogue and digital recordings.

The tube gear is usually a bit more natural sounding than the SS gear, even though the SS gear can sound very clean. 
Too bad this site does not support any file attachments. I have a number of high rez file that would offer a good comparison.

completely agree with @homer_skins.........tubes are the way to go with tape or vinyl.....more realistic sounding. have owned 5 figure SS and tube phono stages; even the best SS has a dryness to it. tubes do not.

You should hear Revox with the internal playback electronics by passed with tube playback. really spectacular!!

@orpheus10    +2 on agreement with @sdrsdrsdr.

look no further than all the prized tube microphones, tube mic preamps and tube playback electronics on the recording side.

@rrcpa is correct. Open reel can be a PITA, but when its up and running, holy cow....its the  best audiophile elixir you can get your hands on.

" Vinyl does not sound like analog tape."
that statement is very funny. I would be inclined to think the same with an inexpensive phono stage but not with a decent stage.

if you compare the 45 rpm pressings to the 15 ips tape they are much closer than a hi rez down load. 
I have done several transfers of 15 ips to 24/192. the transfers sound very good, but a quick comparison shows its a copy .