What makes tape sound better than vinyl ?

R2R is a different story. R2R using Dolby SR  can be argued to be as good as, or better than, hi rez digital. D2D never made it because it is essentially a live recording. 

raymonda
Geoffkait,

Compression is added to get "punch". As a recording engineer I learned this from others and use it myself. If your kick sounds loose and flabby, add compression. It will give it punch. If the bass is a bit defused and lost in the mix, and compression it will give it punch and sit better in the mix.

Compression and punch in audio engineering terms and practice go hand in hand.

Ray

With all due respect I’ll stick with my definition of "punch," which one hears in live performances due to outstanding dynamic range and on recordings that have not (rpt not) been overly compressed dynamic range wise. Your "loose and flabby" and "diffused and lost in the mix" descriptions don’t actually compute for me. No offense. Most likely we’re talking about two different things. When I I hear CDs that have been overly compressed they lack "punch." That’s why I don’t like overly compressed CDs. They are loud, I’ll grant you that. Want some examples of what I’m talking about? Dylan’s Modern Times, Stones’ Bridges to Babalon and Steel Wheels and A Bigger Bang and any Radiohead CD. No Punch! MONODYNAMIC. New word! 😀 In my world music IS dynamics. You seem to be saying that the overly aggressive dynamic range compression of music in the last twenty years is actually a GOOD IDEA. Cases of overly aggressive compression can be confirmed in the Official Dynamic Range Database.

I love tape but i "believe" from a non-technical point of view that due to some smoothing (cut-off) of the high frequencies and excellent midrange and mid-bass response, that the sound is very pleasant and inviting to my ears.  Vinyl noise and some flaws in the original recording can often fall more into the background on tape (at a more typical 7.5ips) so 50-15,000Hz. "ends up" being easier on the ears.
CD's and vinyl have more extension and dynamics but also are more revealing, and can be more distracting/annoying.  I have not as yet heard a FULLY optimized tape front-end though- a second generation copy of a master tape played back on a Studer with specially designed EXTERNAL playback amps, or a UHA tricked-out Tascam Br-20 (unfortunately).  The guys at the audio shows are far luckier than I.  Again though, i was raised on R-t-Reel tape and I still love it for some strange reason. Like getting out microphones and playing guitar with a friend.  Lot's of fun.

french_fries - eggs ackley!! It isn’t really a technical argument in my opinion. If it was a technical argument the CD would always win. That’s what’s so frustrating!! 😛 It’s what you like to listen to. Music soothes the savage breast. By and large CDs are not soothing, they’re irritating. Tape is a natural medium. It breathes. The music is almost always more "beautiful" on tape than CD. CD by comparison, especially untweaked CD, sounds like paper mache, thin, rolled off, airless, thumpy and bland. Let’s compare Heifetz on CD to Heifetz on audio cassette. Same violin concerto. Same recording. What you will find is the CD version sounds super clean but threadbare and lifeless, whereas the humble cassette sounds rich, sweet and full, like Heifetz’ violin really sounds. CD doesn’t do air or sweet very well.

^ Exactly, Geoff ... My very ´eavy.... very ´umble Uriah Heep Island Tapes, UK c cassettes from the Golden Age of Recording Technology til 1972 before Noise Reduction outperform modern 24 bit digital Japanese UH CDs hands down, both in dynamics (natural flow of music) and details (nuances) not to mention musicality. Despite they are mass produced using high speed copying. They sound quite incredible in a car as well, still after 40+ years.
Noise reduction only lessens tape noise (as it was meant to do obviously) but flattens real dynamics. Practically noise reduction on tape is exacly the same thing as backround noise in vinyl play. I never cared either of them, they are just backround noise due to the media in question. The actual signal on tape/record (recorded music) is all I have cared for. I have never used noise reductions whatsoever. That´s other peoples´ fantasy.
Furthermore, I never couldn´t stand digital distortions (whatever they may be) but like analog ones because they sound quite natural (right) to my senses. For me noise reduction is just another form of compression. What a bloody waste of time  :^ )