The dangerous world of Reel-to-Reel Tape
It feels like I re-entered the world of tape knowing full well of all the downsides, yet I did it anyway. I spent much of my youth glued to my dad's decks, making recordings. As cassette and digital came of age, I always appreciated the sound of tape.
Whether this adventure is worth it is a subjective exercise. For folks who plop down $500-$1k on cables or those who swap gear often, tape is really not that expensive, relatively speaking. Titles are limited though.
The sound quality and experience is quite something. Before jumping back into R2R, I had 4 versions of Muddy Waters' Folksinger. Hearing Chad Kasem's firm's work on it in 15ips it's just something else. Body, size, and presence are just different than very good vinyl and digital. And this is with the stock reproduce board from a Revox PR99 MKIII. I can only imagine what's going to happen when I rebuild that card, put in a modern one, or run directly from the head out to a preamp.
Maybe I'll see some of you in R2R Rehab, where I'll try to get sober from tape.
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- 58 posts total
@jbhiller thanks, but didn't see any blank tapes |
Here is an interesting post on Audigon discussing the superiority of 15ips 2T tape SQ versus vinyl or digital: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/reel-to-reel-machine-for-15-ips-playback All I can say is; IMHO 15ips 2T tape can have the best SQ of any medium, albeit at a stupid price. For example, Lyn Stanley London With A Twist, or Norah Jones Come Away With Me, both these recording, and others, make people think they are listening to live music in my home, that good! Why do you think a lot of high end equipment manufacturers are using R2R tape to demonstrate their products at audio shows? |
- 58 posts total