Reel to reel

I hope that I'm not acting the wet noodle here, but I am confused by claims that an LP recorded to tape and then played back has MORE fidelity than the original album.  How is that possible?

I'm not coming from nowhere with this question.  Years ago (80s-90s) I owned several reel-to-reel decks, including some that are considered the best of the lot today.  I transferred many LPs to RTR and on a good day I was happy if the tape copy fidelity was close to the LP.  There is always a loss when copying from one analog source to another.  So how does loss = better fidelity?

I understand that tape media is (or is purported to be) better today.  I also understand that LP playback gear and tape preamps (if you are employing a dedicated external tape pre) are better.  Great.  So you have minimized the loss.  Where does the extra signal bandwidth come from?

Just curious...

Orpheus.

Thank you.

Never played a pre recorded tape yet, and unless I find some cheaper ones Never likely too ... Lol

Very happy with my results from recording streaming.

Good to know 7.5ips is considered good enough for the vast majority of the time.

Not tried to record vinyl yet in all honesty

If you are looking for new tape,  Full Compass Systems is were I get mine.

https://www.fullcompass.com/
Not saying they stock it; I had to wait a month to get some reels of 1" tape. I suspect they have the 1/2" and 1/4" in stock but I've not checked.

Tape recorded off vinyl will not sound better in every respect. Tape recording has better flow coherence and 'sound saturation '. It might also have a better drive and some differences in sound that are hard to put into words. Certain things will be lost in the process of the  recording, no doubt, but minimally if your deck and cables are really good. Think of the recording to tape as a kind of re-mastering.
When recording digital to tape the difference is more, I always prefer tape.

I am not making the claim but stating the fact, as I have already stated in my post, but first you must tell me at what speed you are referring to, what kind of tape, and whether or not the machine was 1/4 track or 1/2 track?

"There is always a loss when copying from one analog source to another." That's false.


Magnetic tape recording works by converting electrical audio signals into magnetic energy, which imprints a record of the signal onto a moving tape covered in magnetic particles. ... Between the reels, the tape passes over a series of magnetic heads that convert audio signals into magnetic energy and back again.Mar 31, 2018.


You were probably using 1/4 track reel in order to record in both directions, that meant your tape had less signal area, meaning less of the tape was converted to magnetic energy, which would become audio energy on play back, and you didn't say what speed you recorded at.

"I transferred many LPs to RTR and on a good day I was happy if the tape copy fidelity was close to the LP."

There is far too much information left out of that statement; 1/2 track 1/4 track, recording speed, etc. The top machines, of which there were many, gave top results, but there were also many lesser machines. For example; AKAI had models from the best to the cheapest; that was a wide ranging variable.

We are not talking about tape media of today as opposed to yesterday, we are talking about yesterdays machines and tape.

In regard to my claim that the playback of an LP far exceeded the original LP; take it for what it's worth, I have no intention to prove or disprove it. 

Absolutely nothing is better, including amps, pre-amps, phono amps; just different. A top of the line ARC amp of 30 years ago, would sound as good as a brand new one; assuming both amps had brand new parts; for my money, I would take which one was the cheapest.

I have a Technics RS 1500 that I modified by replacing all the electrolytic capacitors with "Black Gates", and also replacing all the transistors with new ones. Panasonic people are wonderful to do business with; while I didn't get the caps from them, they supplied the new transistors, plus new tape rollers.