Why no interest in reel to reel if you're looking for the ultimate sound?

@johnss I agree with most part of your post.
I have gone through the path of having my deck serviced, recapped, wiring head out to an external tape stage. See my system here:
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/4524
What I'm listing here is the entry point to reel to reel and bringing attention to an analog medium that receives very little attention on these boards.
A few years ago, I was sold on reel to reel when I got to listen to a 15 IPS 2-Track tape played on an un-modified stock machine. Yes, it sounded glorious even through the stock 1970's solid-state electronics. I have since bought and sold over 10 highspeed decks which include, Teac, Revox, Otari, Tascam, Technics, Studer, and Ampex. The Otari MX-5050 B2 and Tascam BR-20 were very reliable and needed little to no maintenance besides cleaning, lubing, and calibrate using an MRL calibration tape. So, I'm all for getting the most out of this format by getting the deck serviced and getting the external tape stage, etc. I just don't think it's a must to start enjoying and appreciating the strength of tape.

Is it a blasphemy to mention I am looking at this DAT recorder on audiogon. I have no use for it, but it is so cute. And, it is tape so I can always say that it breaths. And gets tangled.

@glupson, I have one of those Tascam DATs, recorded many a show with it. Some phenomenal tapes that I occasionally still play today.

While I agree that reel tape is not for everyone, one thing I learned is that to really appreciate what tape can sound like is to use the deck as a transport and wire the tape heads directly to the outputs. The use an external tape head preamp. It's what I do with my Otari. I have three tape head preamps, one built into my Atma-Sphere MP-3, another I built with Roger Modjeski, and a deHavilland. All are tube designs, no solid state.

I pay $150 - $250 for direct copies of master recordings. Granted it's not mainstream stuff, but it's really good music recorded very well.

https://www.internationalphonographinc.com/

Get on his mailing list for the specials.

@kgbspy 

Analog, whether tape or vinyl,  has a flaw of noise or hiss. Digital is quiet but  has the flaw that it doesn’t sound as good as analog. So many of us accept the noise and learn to tune it out to have the more superior sound quality.

When I was considering tape, I had listened extensively to a restored Studer A820...a machine that i think is just superb. These days a restored A820 is going for a fair price, and yet the equivalent ( if there really is one) turntable is going to cost you a lot more. But, like I stated before, already being heavily into vinyl, the whole episode of tape and the Studer didn’t really make sense.Now, OTOH, if I wasn’t already heavily into vinyl, well then the tables (pun) would probably be turned!