I like tape also.AJ Van den hul in an interview said then he considered reel tape as a viable alternative to the LP and he invented a major stylus shape and modified thousands of cartridges.People would send him thier cartridges (to Europe).He would modify them and relate what he thought it needed.The one cartridge he wouldn't' touch was Denon 103's at the time.He thought it was a good basic design and didn't' think it needed any help.I still have an old magazine where he says that and was reading it the other day.The high end stores around here have all closed down long ago.The latest and purportedly greatest cartridges I have not heard,but somehow I think if someone still has a nicely functioning Madrigal Carnegie One cartridge from the late 1980's,they would still be doing alright and might like the warmth.It was the first cartridge that the Absolute Sound gave their highest maximum number of stars.
When I listen to reel tape, especially on my newly acquired Viking, or high quality cassette, I realize that it probably doesn't' have 100% as much detail as some other things.But overall it still might be my favorite sound.There is just such a sheer warmth and lushness about the sound. One of the reviewers from S'phile or AB Sound mentions how tape has such a "continuity" Thats unmatchable.I agree.I think overall its the most perfect sound or the closest to perfect often,even though tape is not as good a storage medium as LP because of occasional stretching,squealing and breaking of a tape.TAS did a comparison not many years ago of a Tape Project tape vs.an LP played on an over 100 grand Walker turntable and for sound quality the tape won hands down.When factory prerecorded reel tapes were being manufactured no one knows if they used tapes closer in generation to the masters than when they pressed LP's of the same title.It probably differed ,(just what somebody would grab off the rack that day).
When I listen to reel tape, especially on my newly acquired Viking, or high quality cassette, I realize that it probably doesn't' have 100% as much detail as some other things.But overall it still might be my favorite sound.There is just such a sheer warmth and lushness about the sound. One of the reviewers from S'phile or AB Sound mentions how tape has such a "continuity" Thats unmatchable.I agree.I think overall its the most perfect sound or the closest to perfect often,even though tape is not as good a storage medium as LP because of occasional stretching,squealing and breaking of a tape.TAS did a comparison not many years ago of a Tape Project tape vs.an LP played on an over 100 grand Walker turntable and for sound quality the tape won hands down.When factory prerecorded reel tapes were being manufactured no one knows if they used tapes closer in generation to the masters than when they pressed LP's of the same title.It probably differed ,(just what somebody would grab off the rack that day).