I admire Ballfinger's courage in entering the R2R manufacturing arena. I read on another forum that they are back ordered through the end of 2019, so there appears to be significant demand, although one other piece of information was that they were having difficulty hiring enough workers, so there may be some supply constraint also. So hopefully there will be a reasonable number of machines out in the field within a few months and we will start to get some significant feedback.
At this point, their main competition are refurbished/remanufactured machines. If one wants one that has some imprimatur beyond a local repair person, then the price points are similar to those of Ballfinger for most machines. I'm thinking of Greg Beron UHA, Jeff Jacobs, Mara, ATR Services, Arian Jansen Sonorus, even Fred Thal ATAE (although he has much higher price points). There are probably a few that I have missed that others can add.
There are two main parts of the R2R issue, the mechanical and the electronic. Most of the attention has been on the weaknesses in the electronics, mainly playback, of older machines and starting back more than a decade ago, I think with Bottlehead, there have been a number of small companies that sell electronics units that bypass the internal electronics of these machines. Some refurbishers/remanufacturers have also developed their own replacement electronics for their machines, like Greg Beron. ATR Services, did, but no longer offers its replacement electronics package.
If the electronics of the Ballfinger ends up to equal the top alternative electronics (I'm thinking Nick Doshi in particular) and their mechanics approach the pro machines like ATR-102 or Studer A820 or A80 then their price points will be very attractive to many audiophiles, given their more compact footprint and attractive cosmetics. If their total package of mechanical and electronics is not at the level of Greg Beron's UHA machines with the Beron electronics, then I think they will have a difficult time in the long term.
We, of course, had our hopes raised and then dashed when Horch House announced their new machines a couple of years ago at a price point which would bring high end tape (15ips 2 track 1/4" tape) to a much larger audience, and then having the project fail. Another such enterprise has begun in the US with Central Dogma Magnetics. They are still in the early stages of their company, but their energy is impressive. They are looking at price points even lower than Horch House. Time will tell whether they can do it.
https://cdmagnetics.com/
Of course, the 800 pound gorilla in the room is the cost and availability of high end tapes to play. But that subject is for another thread and another day.
Larry
