Can we finally put Reel to Reel out of its misery? Put it to rest people.

There are 101 reasons to choose digital over tape, but audio quality is not one of them.

Even here, many will agree that digital is a close second to reel, but in the dark silence of late night audio, when audiophiles are at their keenest perception of what is, and what is not, is when reels reign supreme; they breathe life into music.

Agreed.

Revox is/has building/built a new R2R in 2017 and Ballfinger M063 is a new R2R tape recorder out and in shops. R2R are not on their way out but rather on their way back in!
http://www.ballfinger.de/tape-recorder-m-063
BTW I just got a beautiful Technics RS1500US, and see and heard a regain of interest for these old things. Tape is the new vinyl! Soon your cassettes will be back into game again. Perfectly happy going back and forth between analogue and digital.

Imho untreated CDs played on untreated CDPs sound thin, two-dimensional, bland, wooly, rolled off, bass shy, generic, like there’s missing information, synthetic, unmusical, metallic, weird, uninteresting, non-coherent, laughable, screechy, thumpy, compressed, like paper mache.

Cassettes on the way back in?'
Never realised they , unlike Elvis, had ever left the building!
Obviously someone forgot to inform me of that.......