The Sound of High Quality Reel to Reel?

[esimms86]

As computer audio advances rapidly with products like the Phasure NOS1a, the Chord Dave and Blu2, the Sound Galleries Music Server, XX High End and HQ Player, various products from Sonore, Uptone Audio, Vinnie Rossi, etc., I was wondering if anyone has had the chance to compare bleeding edge digital audio with the sound of the best of R2R. I'm specifically referring to listening experiences involving music such as products sold by the Tape Project and Analogue Productions Ultra Tape, etc., and played back via tape deck machines produced by companies such as Sonorus, United Home Audio, Jcorder, Otari, etc. I'm fully aware of the fact that the machines can cost as high as multiples of $10,000 and the tapes can run in the $300 to $450 range, and I ask please that this does not turn into a thread to bash the cost of dipping one's toes into such clearly expensive waters. Rather, I am just asking for people to post their subjective experiences in listening to the best that R2R has to offer. I personally look forward to the day when I can finally have the opportunity to sit in on such a demo.

[esimms86]

DSD recorders are used by a minority while digital recording with Pro Tools rules the day. There is also a minority who still record to reel to reel though that is a small group indeed.

 

In the meantime, companies like HDTracks, Acoustic Sounds, Mobile Fidelity and Audio Fidelity are using master tapes(or, in some cases, safety tapes?) to transfer analog to a digital format. This is not a complaint and I am thankful for what they do, so long as upsampling is not part of the process.

 

The owner of Jcorder claims that redbook CD transferred to tape sounds better than redbook played back on a CD player. There are also people who claim that digitally recorded music played back in a vinyl format sounds better. I can't verify or dispute the former claim having no direct experience with that listening comparison. As to the latter claim, I would imagine that it could be the preference of many who have a preference for vinyl for any of a variety of reasons.

 

At the end of the day, I don't see how redbook or hi res digital could sound better than the original tapes from which they are derived. This should be true whether the music is, in your words, "freeze dried" or if the digital derives from tapes that have been "baked"(I couldn't resist).

 

Having said all that, I would imagine that listening to well played and recorded music from a 3rd generation tape copy and on a well maintained and calibrated tape deck would have to be a holy grail type of experience. That's what I would imagine and I appreciate hearing from people like yourself who have the opportunity to listen to the masters.

[esimms86]

Klavier, thanks for the recommendation (and the link with the discount!). I own a handful of recordings purchased from highdeftapetransfers and I agree that they uniformly sound great. I also have a 24/192 download of "The Power of the Orchestra" and I can't imagine it sounding substantially better than that, and yet it's one of the upcoming Analogue Productions Ultra Tape releases so I have to believe that it should be even more impressive in R2R format.

 

As far as "warming up" a "cold" digital recording goes, I view this as the euphony (in the good sense) inherent in vinyl and tape reproduction. In my mind, it's similar to the preference for tube over solid state. Courses for horses, as they say.

[esimms86]

Is it really euphony or is it "what I'm used to and therefore prefer"? I wonder how much our hearing over time adjusts (and compensates) to prefer that which we are used to, such that something technically "better" doesn't sound that way to us. It is why I try as often as possible to listen to individual live instruments in order to set a reference point.

 

But, who says that it isn't ok to prefer a sound that may actually be different than the reference? It may make it harder for us to agree amongst each other in defining better vs worse, but otherwise enjoyment would seem to be very much a thing of personal tastes. Sort of like arguing Jazz is "better" than classical...

 

Live music, of course, is the reference or "absolute sound," as it were. Everything else is a (potentially close) approximation. I would never argue with anyone preferring one media or another but "the master tape," at least in the era of analog recording has always been regarded as the gold standard. Vinyl has it's own sound and people may prefer it for any number of reasons including "that's what I'm used to"(a reason no less valid than any other).

[esimms86]

Whoa!

 

Whoa indeed! Where was this photo taken(I'm assuming in a shop in China based on the writing on the back wall)?