Reel to Reel

I've had R2R's in my system since I was a teenager.  I currently own a Revox B77 (vintage).  It was refurbished by Curt Palmer (Reel to Reel Tech).  Great guy and one of the best at R2R refurbishing.  Buy one of his decks and you won't be sorry.

In terms of SQ,Not quite there with my DCS Bartok or my almost fully upgraded LP 12, but I have 50 or so reels of tape of out of print or live recorded music that I can't replace.  Listening to those tapes through my Revox is a pleasant experience for sure.   

I have 4 of them who sit there and look pretty. I don't play them often and rarely. I think you may end up doing the same thing.

If you're willing to pay silly prices (and I mean up to $600 or maybe more for tapes) for an inferior playback medium, go for it. Otherwise, don't succumb to the nostalgia and realize why they went away to begin with.  

Looks like I found a soul brother in @elliottbnewcombjr . I have a Teac X1000RBL that I've owned since new and even though I seldom play it I have no intention of selling it. The most important feature of this deck is that it can utllize high bias tapes (Maxell XLI and XLII for example) which gives it a much better dynamic range and better performance in the high frequencies. It also has DBX noise reduction. Using a high bias tape and DBX at 7.5 ips this deck will create a tape that is virtually indistinguishable from the source. The downside is that the high bais tapes for these machines are very rare (they don't make them anymore).

It's hard for the youngsters to visualize but there was a day before CDs and streaming. I bought my R2R so that I could record classical box sets and be able to play a few hours of music without constantly having to get up and turn the record over. I still play these tapes once in a while and they sound great.

My experience with vintage prerecorded tapes is that they don't sound very good compared to modern source material. I collected a fair number of vintage rock recordings and they have not aged well. The 7.5 ips tapes are clearly superior to the 3.75 tapes but still not as good as a modern vinyl or CD.

I agree with everything @larryincmh said. R2R is an interactive experience and it's fun to operate and listen to. It's a little like owning a vintage motorcycle where you have to use the kickstarter and tighten the chain every time you ride it.

If you have an appreciation for beautiful vintage machinery that records and plays music then a RTR deck is a fun addition to your setup. But unless you spring for something like an Otari deck that plays at 15 ips and you buy modern prerecorded tapes at $400+ each then it's sort of a novelty.

I always come back to opportunity cost for expensive formats like R2R. There's zero point of getting into it unless you get a quality machine which is fully serviced and aligned. Then there is the cost of the software. Even a small collection of tapes and a quality machine equals a significant upgrade to any other playback component in the system.