THIS is the best---hands down---source for truly REAL audiophile sound!!:
The Tape Project
Yeah, they're expensive ($450 each) but it's cheap compared to what some of y'all have spent on your audiophile reproduction systems.
The Tape Project
Yeah, they're expensive ($450 each) but it's cheap compared to what some of y'all have spent on your audiophile reproduction systems.
It may be true that tape sounds different from other formats, as they say. This is not necessarily a good thing. If you can hear the difference between two formats then at least one of them has flaws. The flaws in tape are well known: odd-order distortion, wow and flutter (much worse than any digital jitter!), noise, dropouts. I guess some people may prefer this sound.
Don't misunderstand me: tape can be good, but it is inferior to modern techniques. Perhaps road vehicles should go back to using solid tyres - driving was so much more fun back then!
Don't misunderstand me: tape can be good, but it is inferior to modern techniques. Perhaps road vehicles should go back to using solid tyres - driving was so much more fun back then!
I have reviewed my post carefully. I cannot find the point where I said that I don't like tape.dotneck335 said:
People use what is available. Then when something better comes along they use that instead. After a few decades someone somewhere will start selling the idea that the earlier inferior technology was somehow better than the modern way. Nostalgia kicks in, and money changes hands.
Are there enough vintage 2 track 15 ipm tape decks out there to make this project a success?
Perhaps my old Ferrograph 522, 15 ipm, 2 track tube deck might have some value in the future?
I purchased the deck when I lived in E. Sussex, from a guy that was doing some renovation work in London. The purchase was just after the murder of John Lennon and years later, on the internet, I read that Lennon had used a Ferrograph 522.
Perhaps my old Ferrograph 522, 15 ipm, 2 track tube deck might have some value in the future?
I purchased the deck when I lived in E. Sussex, from a guy that was doing some renovation work in London. The purchase was just after the murder of John Lennon and years later, on the internet, I read that Lennon had used a Ferrograph 522.
The there's the case of guitar amplifiers. Most guitarists will agree that the best-sounding amps ever made were the Fenders from the 50's and 60's, and the boutique amps made today that copy them. New technology doesn't trump here.
I would still prefer (if I could afford it) a 15 ips tape copy of the original 15 ips tape master (which is what tape project is offering) rather than a CD of the same album.
Guitar amps are not designed to reproduce a sound, so irrelevant to this thread. As are ancient violins etc. Most early guitar amps are bad examples of technology, built by people who had only a very limited grasp of audio electronics. They make a sound which people like, so on that basis they are favoured.dotneck335 said:
Yes. You speak of preference. Nevertheless, a well-engineered CD will probably reproduce what was on that 15ips master tape better (i.e. with greater fidelity) than another 15ips tape copy, because the copy will add its own distortion, wow, bandwidth limitation etc.
Well, maybe, in some aspects---not all. My Ampex ATR-100 tape recorder is easily capable of frequency response in excess of 28 K Hz. Your CD can't touch that.
And if so, did you ever check the frequency response of your ears within the last 10 years? I did!
If each tape would cost $45 each, the project would have a chance.
I have heard those played at capital audio fest, ok sound, but i could hear faint tape hiss...
I do still use tapes, have many of them, mostly live recordings, recorded with external type II dolby system. I have started completely different project, i do digitize them into high res files. This way those precious live jazz performances will be preserved and easily played on all sorts of media.
"Type II" is a dbx noise reduction system, NOT Dolby. It is generally considered inferior to Dolby processing, which is mostly used in professional studios. The BEST analog noise reduction system is Dolby SR. I wish these new reel-to-reel releases would be SR-encoded---tape hiss is then GONE.
I believe they are BOTH dbx; Type I (the original) and Type II;
"The original dbx Type I and Type II systems were based on so-called "linear decibel companding" - compressing the signal on recording and expanding it on playback (by a factor of two). The dbx Type I system is meant to be used with recording media that have a S/N, before noise reduction, of at least 60 dB and a -3 dB frequency response of at least 30 Hz to 15 kHz. dbx Type-II is for more noisy media that have a lower S/N and much more restricted frequency response. Both systems use 2:1 companding and provide exactly the same amount of NR and dynamic range improvement – in other words, they provide the same end results, but are not at all compatible with each other."
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