I have done exactly that.
I have 245 titles on tapes (1st generation copies from commercial production masters, safety masters, some edited work parts mostly of my own symphonic and chamber music recordings, tapes released by AP, Horchhouse, Tape Project etc.), all of which I have transferred from my Nagra T using a balanced differential tube tape head preamp of my own construction, to DSD128 with a Tascam DA3000 recorder.
I recently bought a PS Audio Directstream Mk 2 DAC. Declaration: I am a writer for PS Audio's Copper magazine and bought it at staff price. I have been comparing some of these DSD128 files with the same recordings on ripped CDs, downloads and streaming sites, as well as the vinyl records (mostly original issues, a few modern reissues) and of course, the tapes in my collection.
After some initial teething problems (mostly ultrasonic noise since my system is flat to 50kHz with a pair of plasma tweeters, and my preamp has 1 MHz bandwidth), I find that I have to set the volume of the DAC at 100% and use my preamp for volume control. The sensitivity of my system is such at I could only use the first 20% of the range of volume control of the DAC if I plug it straight into my active crossover, which results in too much noise. Everything is fine at 100% volume. I guess I could have soldered L pads into the XLR plugs, but little is lost going through the preamp.
Even though the DAC only has about 40 hours on it so far, it sounds really good. And I have only hooked it up to my Mac Mini running Audirvana via a throw away USB cable. Compared to the source tapes, it is tonally identical, maybe with a bit of loss in the dynamics. Sound stage, transparency, ambiance etc. are very close. Perhaps it has a bit less of the overwhelming scale and density of sound that tapes exhibit. There is no digital artifact that I could hear. It is of course impossible to know if any degradation was due to the digital recorder or the DAC. The files are preferable to the vinyl to my ears in almost every case. Interestingly, the LP that comes closest to the tape so far is a Decca wide band ED2 issue of the Solti Beethoven 3rd from 1959. I bought the LP second hand when I was in uni, and I have forgotten about it for more than 35 years until recently. This is a fantastic recording which strangely has never been reissued in the modern era. I have the Classic reissue of Royal Ballet Gala Performance. Compared to the Decca tape (made in the early 1970s for an LP reissue), the vinyl has a harder edge, or I should say, lacks the tubey magic of the tape. I guess this is due to the solid state electronics used during the mastering. The vinyl sounds more impressive initially, and seems more dynamic, but ultimately less musical and natural. I also compared the Doug Sax remastered Ravel disc from the VOX box set, reissued by AP (AP007). Even though Sax used tube electronics, the findings are similar to the Royal Ballet; seems more dynamic, but less natural tonally. I have also a number of recordings ripped from SACDs released by Esoteric. Again, I think the remastering sounds more hi fi. Bass and treble are often boosted, not to a great degree, but it gives the impression of better instrument definition and with better dynamics and weight, but ultimately less natural and real. The real test is by closing my eyes and imagining if the music is played live in a concert hall. The DSD transfer from tape almost always have more beautiful string tone and the sound has more body. The SACD rips usually sound more upfront and "tense". The differences heard on the LPs might also come down to the analogue playback equipment. It is hard to better a professional tape machine such as the Nagra.
I have never owned an exotic DAC, but just comparing the DSD128 files played through this DAC to the original source, it is often close enough that I doubt paying a lot more would result in any great improvement. On the other hand, if the files were made with a better ADC, such as the Merging Horus, more differences could be revealed. As it is, I am pretty happy listening to the DSD128 most of the time, and leave the tapes for special occasions.
