Is There Any Reason To Buy A Reel-To-Reel Machine Nowadays??

I have always loved the R2R sound. What about HIFI VCR? Long ago I watched the movie, Eddie and the Cruisers 2 and just loved the soundtrack. I bought the CD and it didn't sound nearly as good as the Super HIFI VCR tape. I was astounded. I asked about it at my upscale Hifi store and was told that due to size of tape that the VCR recordings equaled or were better than the best R2R's and were then being used to record in studios. Thoughts?

I had a sizable stock of NOS blank reels I got out of storage last year and bought a refurbished Teac X-10M -- a two track deck capable of 15 i.p.s. I love it to death. It just sounds fantastic to my ears.

I've been dubbing LPs and 45s to 'hi-rez' (24/192) for many years, have a Nakamichi CR-7 (fantastic deck especially with metal tape, but cassette just can't beat RTR), and a Pioneer RT-707 (OK for 7.5 i.p.s. but no match for the Teac). 

When it's all said and done a good tape with the Teac sounds better to my ears than anything else. A good recording on an audiophile vinyl press sounds better to me dubbed to reel than any other of the formats I listed above. They all have their place, but as the end user who's in it for the sound more than anything else, I have to say RTR is a rich and wonderful experience. Yes, it finicky, it's not convenient, I'll have to get it maintained regularly...but so what. I don't care when I get this kind of pleasure from the sound.

Hello,
If I could get the R2R and the music I love to listen to at a good price I would but good analog is not cheap or convenient for that matter.  I love to listen to it but I would rather buy better speakers, amp, preamp, DAC before I went on the full analog kick. I love spinning vinyl. In fact I am spinning vinyl as I write this. Stuff that I can’t find on digital. The minimum I think you are dropping on a decent analog media rig like Vinyl or R2R is $1500 to $2000. I would rather buy a Puritan PSM156 power conditioner or vibration control equipment for my gear like IsoAcoustics. Only because these things make all your music sound better regardless of the type you listen to. Don’t even get me started how good it is to add subwoofers to your system. MC has $5000 Tekton speakers added the vibration control platform by Townsend for probably a few grand. I have listened to these Tekton speakers at Dave Thompson’s house who is a reviewer for StereoTimes. They were really good! I am in the process of upgrading my foundation system. Amp, Preamp, DAC, cables, vibration control,  speakers, Power conditioner,  and subs. Mainly because if you have a great foundation you can listen to whatever you want. If you have not done this it’s like buying the $5k racing tires for your used $3k Honda Civic. If you want to hear the difference of what a good system can do with the music you already have and live near the Chicagoland area this is the store I buy my gear from. They let you try before you buy and I believe they have used R2R units for you to try out. https://holmaudio.com/
I don’t want to have to sell gear I wasn’t happy with due to buyers remorse. They do let you trade in used gear towards a purchase which I did for my surround sound setup last year. I hope this helped put things in perspective. 

Back in the 70’s, I loved my Sony R2R deck. The tape section on my Pioneer receiver was better than the phono section, and nothing beat the tape sound for me.  Plus, a local radio station had an evening program intended for recording whole albums, with recording level signals and everything — those were the days!

About 6 months ago, I considered buying a Teac deck from the late 70’s that a neighbor wanted to sell.  After posting the question to Audiogon, I found that the source material for R2R was much too expensive for me, so I passed on the purchase.  Rich guys’ hobby, for sure.  The guy still has the deck, an A6300 as I recall, as far as I know.

I make party tapes from LPs played on my Technics SL-1200G using modern blank tape on an Otari MX-5050B2-II (1/2track, 1/4") and Teac A3300-SX (1/4 track, 1/4"), both at 7.5 ips.  The decks were refurbished by Reel Pro Sound Guys, both had light use and great head life left.  

The sound is fantastic, and my friends think they look cool.  The dynamic range and S/N seems excellent with modern tape.  True, the rec/play amps are decades old, but both machines use discreet transistors.  I think the tape sounds better than dubs to my Tascam DA-3000 in 192/24 mode.