What makes tape sound better than vinyl ?

Doug Sax proved the superiority of direct-to-disk LP's over tape recording way back in the early 70's. Take a direct mic feed from a band playing live, record it onto the best tape machine you have (even the best in the world, that of Water Lily's Kavi Alexander), and cut a d-2-d LP at the same time, comparing the two formats to the direct feed. The d-2-d wins, hands down. Compare a d-2-d LP to any tape recording you can name. No contest.  

Yeah, some guys 'bake' the tape, use LAST tape and head preservatives and do other things. I use LAST head preservative that ideally should be applied before playing each cassette. My deck probably has 5000-6000 hours of playtime on it and the head has a minimal wear.

I believe, best tape decks and turntables/arms/cartridges were made later than in early 70's. Or the tape itself, for that matter. He proved nothing.

That Direct to Disk thing really caught on, eh? The industry had a different idea in mind. Overly aggressive dynamic range compression. 😬

Even if direct to disc can theoretically sound slighly better in some respects, I think, tape will still have an edge in smoothness and continuity, perhaps in drive as well. And think of the level of the equipment that you would need to get that out of the groove. Continuum Caliburn with Ypsilon phono and SUT, anyone ?