Last night I decided to spool up a 7 ½ ips tape. I picked out Blood Sweat & Tears because it Is a great sounding recording. Even though 7 ½ ips 4 track tapes can’t hold a candle to 15 ips 2 track tapes, they still have a story to tell. For those of you that haven’t heard a good 7 ½ ips 4 track tape, it could be an enlightening experience. It always sounds like the top octaves have been blown open compared to digital. Even though the specs tell you that it can’t be so, your ears will tell you that the dynamic range is very impressive. There is a big difference between the quiet passages and loud passages. It just sounds like real musicians playing real music instead of sounding more like a canned reproduction of the event. The CD of this tape sounds like it was made from a different master because it isn’t close to this tape. The dynamic range sounds much bigger on the tape.
There is an ease and naturalness to tape that seems to escape digital, or at least my digital. And I do think my digital sounds very good now. I can actually put on music and listen through an entire album without wanting to get up and switch over to analog which is huge for me. I very much enjoy listening to digital now. I just enjoy analog better.
I am very glad that my stereo allows me to hear multiple sources and I can enjoy all of them. I would hate to be a one-trick pony and only be able to play LPs, or CDs/digital, or tape. I love being able to play all of them and don’t want to be confined to just one source. It’s all good.
Mark
There is an ease and naturalness to tape that seems to escape digital, or at least my digital. And I do think my digital sounds very good now. I can actually put on music and listen through an entire album without wanting to get up and switch over to analog which is huge for me. I very much enjoy listening to digital now. I just enjoy analog better.
I am very glad that my stereo allows me to hear multiple sources and I can enjoy all of them. I would hate to be a one-trick pony and only be able to play LPs, or CDs/digital, or tape. I love being able to play all of them and don’t want to be confined to just one source. It’s all good.
Mark