As great as R to R decks are and valves as well…
I concur with you Joma11
And me likes valves er tubes too much …
and are a rabbit hole…like yourself rather put my
hard earned $$$$ into more durable items…
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indeed.
of course come that unexpected inheritance or lottery win and all bets are off! 
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That’s for sure…
Amazing though I did have a Sony R to R and would record at 7 ips new
lps I purchased and then play the tapes instead to preserve the lps as
a master…
Funny though how the tapes sounded better than the lps… crazy…
but that’s how I heard it then…
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analogue tape is a wonderful signal processor - very subtle but nice!
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My Sony deck had sound on sound, sound with sound left to right or
right to left and variable echo…really nice fun features…
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Mmmm yes they can make great tape delay machines when hooked up right
Sadly wore it out…parts unobtaniums…
and this is the big advantage to streaming for me - lack of moving parts
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Or burning filamints…
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valves do look fab though it has to be said, i miss that aspect of them too!
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The sound joma…the sound…the glorious sound of tubes…
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Stop it. Now.
I recently found this video explaining the production of the 450$ Analog Production tapes, which are told to represent what can be expected by the potential of R2R today.
I must say I’m with the comment further down in the comments section of the guy called Waldrep. It’s unbelievable why a 3rd generation copy should have noticable advantage over other formats.
Sure, if we talk about a media done from such an analog master, a record pressing, although done from the original master and not a second generation, has 4-6 generations of positive/negative stamping processes involved, as well as other limitations of the vinyl production and playback process which are surely not less harmful than those of tape production, playback and aging.
It would be most interesting which “generation” effect is worse, the one of tape copying (3 magnetical/electronical generations) or the one of record pressing processes (4-6 mechanical generations). We know both have their impact, as we very clearly hear degradations from 2nd generation tape sources vs. original masters, but we also hear the positive effect of cutting down the record pressing generations from 6 to 4 with the new “one step” pressings.
And to get even more confused: digital releases, which should be the most lossless direct offsprings of an original master as source and just one generation away (not counting disc pressing processes) don’t really enjoy the reputation of being the best sounding of the three, so something seems to get lost there, too.
I’d love to hear someone who has extensive experience with exactly those differences. Read quite a bit on the Hoffmann forums and know the opinion of extreme tape and extreme vinyl experts, but more is always welcome. Problem is, there are so many camps with their own truths.
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a 3rd generation copy has lost 9dB in its S/N on average (3 dB per generation), has decreased high frequency, and increased distortion. The extreme high prices for today’s machines (or even yesterday’s machines restored), prerecorded tape, and even black tape, IMHO, makes it a terrible value unless nostalgia is that important to you. With tape recorders, you have three parameters the recording head can be adjusted for: S/N ratio, distortion, and frequency response. You can optimize any two of them, but the third suffers substantially. Therefore, recording technicians need to adjust for the best compromise of the three for best overall sound.
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They are historic marvels of electro mechanical engineering. The best recording medium in times when 32 bit was not an identification of file format taken 192 000 times per second, but the size of the best digital equipment memory.
It’s now nostalgia, but those having a reel to reel should keep and maintain their machines like gems.
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Vinyl → Reel to Reel → Digital
Vinyl —> Reel to Reel —> Digital —> ???
Eventually, probably after I’m dead and gone, some radically new technique will replace digital, and will bring us remarkably close to the actual performance. And the cheapest stuff will outperform the best of today.
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Except due to hyper inflation no one will be able to afford the cheap stuff.