Reel to reel , is it real the hype!

EVERY analogue copy adds a generational loss. No exceptions. You heard wrong.

95% of amazing sound is built into the recording not the playback medium.
You are quite welcome to spend $K’s chasing the 5%. If that’s your thing.
Lyn Stanley is an Audiophile. She did a seminar at Axpona ’18. That album was not made on tape. If the tape sounds good imagine the direct to disc lacquer.

fuzztone, I attended the same Lyn Stanley AXPONA 2018 seminar. Apparently the tape was made simultaneously with the DD, cut as a safety copy. From the Lyn Stanley web site:

The original session used RGMI 468 1/4 inch tape at 30ips as the lacquers were being cut

I actually own both the DD and tape. Although the DD LP is truly exceptional, the tape is even better IMHO. Clarity, resolution, frequency response, low noise, spatial presentation and dynamics are second to none to my ears. The best recording I have ever heard!

First OP congrats on your sweet system - both analog and digital, very well sorted out. I am sure w this level of thought and discernment, you are able to differentiate relative strengths and weaknesses to format. I am fortunate to dabble in all three. I have a heavily modified B77 with outboard tube head amps and EQ.

You have been given good advice. I prefer IEC and 1/4” 15 ips half track. This may limit you but provides a good jump in point. I would recommend a reference tape sampler from Opus 3 to get feet wet. Tape subscriptions can lower costs as does piracy, i don’t want to sidetrack the thread, just give that some thought.

I have heard that stock Otari, i didn’t get the liquid midrange i value so much, but again…it was stock but in a high caliber Ayre and Verity system, no slouch.

You will need to invest in calibration tapes, etc…some DIY expertise. seek out the R2R tapehead sites..no shortage of expertise, opinions…

Best to you on your journey….

Jim

I vote for a pro-sumer six head auto-reverse 1/4" wide 4 track machine and 7-1/2 IPS pre-recorded tapes.

certainly not the ultimate tape size/head/speed like you are mentioning,

however, a lot of source material exists (up to the end of their era).

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=reel+to+reel+tape...

buy it, play it, EASILY enjoy it.

my factory tapes, readily available on eBay, many 60 years old, are still the best sounding source material I own. 

I made my nephew, a musician, weep when I played him Sgt. Pepper’s on my Teac X2000R. Everyone picks LP over CD, then Tape over LP.

I bought over 500 tapes on eBay, wonderful content, then sold about 150 of them. I never returned any, and nobody returned any to me.

Don’t believe people who say they are too old, they surprise me every time I play them.

yes, my 2 track stereo tapes sound better still (on a real 2 track head) (as would the deck you mentioned)

 however I only inherited a dozen of them, the pre-recorded 2 tracks stopped being made early, and the real 2 track heads don't play 4 track. You can play 2 track on a 4 track deck, turn one track down, the other one up, as there is only partial track/head overlap. They don't sound 'awesome', but I get to remember my uncle when I play them. 

btw, I just gave my 1" wide studio master of a Louis Armstrong session at Regency Sound (Ramblin Rose ... session) to a friend who has a friend who, for a price, will transfer it from his 1" machine to digital. I offered it to the Louis Armstrong Museum, they didn’t bother to answer my email.