WHat did Audiophiles hear during Tape deck era?

Owned a Revox A77 for awhile, but the cats found it too hypnotic to ignore...the *whirrr* of 10" reels....

Ended my 'serious cassette era' with a nicer Sony....

....then discovered one could use a VCR to make seriously good recordings, near CD quality...

...then CDs'....then 'puters.....

What's next? *G*

...I'd guess direct neural implants, but I think I'll pass on that....

Who knows what happens if you don't pay the monthly on that....

asvjerry,

"....then discovered one could use a VCR to make seriously good recordings, near CD quality..."


Yes, I always wondered whether VCR with a bit of tech tweaking could have matched reel to reel quality audio.

Nice wide tape and up to four hours of it in standard mode! Sounds good.

According to the following article Ethan Winer didn’t seem convinced, but it’s not a direct quote. In any case I’m not so sure. After all tape speed was fairly similar (cassette 1.87 inches per sec and VHS ran at 1.31 ips). What if VHS speed had been doubled? Twice the thrills? Alas, we’ll never know now.

The future must be all about getting digital to live up to all its extravagant promise, and to do that expectations amongst the non audiophile consumers first need to rise.


How VHS belatedly re-entered music’s format war

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/nov/13/vhs-music-format-war-ty...

Once Dolby B and other exotic tech came out in the mid 80s tape hiss virtually became a thing of the past. Digalog, Dolby B, HX PRO, HiQ, etc. Look for them. 👀 Blow your mind. 🤯 not to mention the plastic cassette cases evolved AND the TAPE formulation itself. Hel-loo! Cassettes are the only Medium that escaped the Loudness Wars. There is no substitute for Dynamic Range. 🤗

@tweak1   Let us not forget to mourn WTMI, please.