In this video, Kevin shares his thoughts on the top formats for listening to recorded music and his experience of listening to a reel-to-reel copy of Elephant by The White Stripes. He covers various formats, including hi-res streaming and audiophile record pressings, before finally dipping his toes into the world of brand-new reel-to-reel tapes from Analogue Productions.
However, preparing his vintage Teac A-3300SX reel-to-reel tape deck required the help of experts in the field. But it was all worth the time and effort as he finally got to listen to one of his favorite albums on the Ultra Tape reel-to-reel copy.
If you're looking for the best format to listen to your favorite music, this video is a must-watch. Kevin's insights and experience will help you make an informed decision. Don't forget to hit the like button and share the video with your friends.
Here are the links listed or mentioned in the video:
www.woodsongaudio.com
www.jrfmagnetics.com
travissav.com
store.acousticsounds.com
thirdmanrecords.com
_______________________________________
Shop our store for Skylabs merch, Grado products, WIIM streamers, new vinyl records and more! Free shipping on orders over $99!
skylabsaudio.com/shop
Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we’ll receive a small commission.
We have owned and used every product we recommend
Cambridge Audio Dac magic amzn.to/471W1Zd
Recommended Turntables:
Audio Technica LP60 Great entry-level “fully automatic” turntable for under $150 amzn.to/3eAPC1B
Rega Planar 2 Turntable with Premounted Carbon MM Cartridge (Gloss Black) amzn.to/3GA8s3R
U-turn Orbit Plus- Skylabs favorite new turntable amzn.to/3sFtudU
Ortofon 2M Black Moving Magnet Cartridge amzn.to/3TiuQq0
Best vintage electronics cleaner! Deoxit D-5 - amzn.to/3QJHKu5
Join this channel to get access to the perks:
/ @skylabsaudio
Follow us on Instagram
kzhead.info?even...
Find us on Facebook:
kzhead.info?even...
#vintagehifi #vinylrecords #vintagestereo
Hi, my name is Walt, and I'm an open reel addict. I fell in love with hifi audio as a "tween" during the late '70s. My open reel infection began in 1980 when I was 13, when a close friend and mentor (19 years older than I am) gave me a 1961 Voice of Music 722 vacuum tube open reel machine. The next year I bought a brand new Realistic TR-3000 (TEAC X-3). In 1990, I earned a degree in electrical/computer engineering. Fast forward to 2019. My love of open reel tape reawakened. Between 2019 and now, my collection of open reel tape decks has gone from two machines to 40+... I repair, service, and calibrate my machines, and I've also begun a little part-time side gig repairing vintage audio equipment for other people, with a particular focus on open reel decks. I don't currently have any modern $500 "boutique" tapes, but I would like to have one or two at some point, just because. Long live open reel tape! ❤️
I envy you. I have 4-5 decks currently, and the only one operating well is my Teac A 2340SX. I had my Pioneer RT707 serviced years ago and it's gone kaput again lol. Nonetheless I've always been a fan and besides looking cool as hell open reel still sounds as good as anything. Does anyone still manufacture recording tape? Thanks.
@@thomasturner8064 For some reason, KZhead is rejecting my replies. 😞
This is a test. Is KZhead permitting me to reply?
@@waltwimer2551 I have a Technics 1500R US that i am having trouble with the reels not stopping after the tape ends and i am wondering what the problem is? I have replaced the brake pads and flipped the rubber valves on the bellows and cleaned the brake switch and it is still not stopping after the reel tape ends. Maybe i need to re-clean the brake switch? Have you ever worked on one of these? Thank you
@@SDsailor7 I'm not sure if KZhead is permitting me to reply... I have one of these machines in my collection, patiently waiting for me to service it. I haven't had time to crack it open yet. My understanding from other technicians that I trust is that these machines definitely require a full re-capping. They are filled with purple Matsushita/Panasonic capacitors that physically leak electrolyte, causing corrosive damage to the circuit boards. So if you haven't replaced all those capacitors yet, I would definitely do that ASAP. That may or may not have any impact on your braking problems, but is critical for the audio circuitry, and the overall health/sanity of the machine. I also hear from my fellow technicians that it can be challenging to find a replacement material for the brake pads on these particular machines. Most manufacturers (TEAC, AKAI, etc.) use natural wool felt for their brake material. I'm not sure what Technics used, but apparently it wasn't felt. One of my technician friends has used cork for these Technics decks in the past, but he has never been fully satisfied with the results. I think he's still searching for the ideal material. I think I've heard that leather may be a better choice. I hope this helps a bit... Good luck!
I have been going through my garage, pulling out long forgotten equipment….. and I just dug out three different reel to reel decks I own. I cleaned one up and put it in my living room a few days ago, but I haven’t found my box of recorded and unused tapes yet. When I have time I will come back and talk about the Teac A-7300 I bought oh so many years ago, and have now rescued from storage. Now I will return to your video. Thanks for your channel.
I purchased my Teac 3300 in 1972. It works great. Have had it serviced twice over the years. Reel to reel is such a small group of audio listeners. I basically bought my to record music from the King Biscuit Flower Hour back in the 70’s. I still have all those tapes.
you should digitize & post to P2P
I inherited my Dads1969 Akai, and I swear the sound quality is as good as anything I've ever heard, as long as it's a good tape. Nothing wrong with reel to reel.
Merry Christmas to you and your family
Do you have any break down or shedding issues with the old tapes ? I know about certain Ampex are really bad about that .
@@VIDSTORAGE Tapes that have been improperly stored; yes, often. Heat does them no good at all. Tapes that were just low end to start with sometimes give me issues. Good tapes in good condition tend to be flawless.
@@dankingjr.2088 I never had a reel deck but maybe one day I will have one .. I like analogue tape and always have liked cassettes.. I have a Revox that needs some reservice and a decent 8 track with a good sound quality is nice to listen to . Chek out LAST Tape Preservation Fluid if you have not heard about it. .I know their products are great after many years of using the record preservation and stylus treatment ..
Four track commercial tapes have signal to noise ratios no better than an LP.
Great to hear you bringing the rell to reel format out. I been a service tech since 1975 and I worked in the pro studios doing alignments, bias and all that stuff to Studio tape machines. I also fixed amps. All the years I had to opertunity to listen to audio it always was pleased with the Analog Reel to Rell recordings. I have 3 machines myself, Tascam 2 channel and a Tascam 38 8 channel and one machine that always blows me away was my Revox 2 channel machine. Short story, I was working for a Duplication plant and the mastering engeneer and I alway had fun playing the 2nd generation masters to make sure there was nothing wring. Well, a couple times I brought the Revox machine to record a session playback. The 1st one was The Juds and they did " Dont be cruel" When I played that back in my home system, ( a very good system i must add ) I stopped in my tracks and sat down thinking I just hit the jackpot in sound! I put the CD on and the tape was Much Much Better and pleasing to listen to. I did a few more and they all proved to me over and over, Tape is the best sounding playback and does Not fatigue the listening pleasure. I also have about 800 records going back to the early 70's. Thanks for sharing your poat.
Could not agree more. My turntable is a good source…SME with high end cartridge. With a well engineered album it is magic. Compared to a well engineered 15 ips master on my Technics RS-1500 with a Dehavilland outboard preamp it comes in second place. Contrary to what was said these were common place years ago. I still have a 1970 Allied Radio Shack catalog and it has more reel to reel players than turntables.
Oh yeah, it's certainly the best analogue format available, if you're lucky enough to find backup master tape, this is awesome. I love your videos so much because you're calm and respect everyone's tastes, and never make sensational videos. I just have the impression that one of my friends is talking to me. Edit: I have a revox B-77 and it's awesome.
It's fun to be a kid again. We'll see you next year Kevin.
That series of TEAC decks is the closest thing to plug and play in 2023. Many posts of dirty, beat machines getting serviced, and working quite well. I managed to snag decks for cheap(or free) but still have quite a bit in pro service costs, and still need some more. I find the decks charming, more than a "it sounds better" philosophy.
I'm a bit older and I've been audio nerding since the 70s. I know there is a renaissance currently with vinyl, but I still remember the distractions of surface noise, the wear that all the analogue formats deal with and the difficulty in keeping vinyl clean and warp free that I don't need to go back. Lossless digital with the right mastering sounds fantastic. Anyone can argue with that, but come back to me after 100 plays.
I do not agree. 90% of my vinyls I purchased second hand. Only those purchased 35 years ago as new by me are the worst because I couldnt afford at that times any higher class turmnatable and while I was delighted to play them often they suffer trom noticeable cracks at begining. But generaly cracks are small enogh to forget about them after first 10 revolutions. Even very old ones play with studio qality - I can compare to the same radio high quality tape recordings which I did in time when they were presented new in radio. Also recordings from them are not recognizable to recordings from CDs. A agree only that reproduction is tricky and requires attention.
@@Mikexception I just can't stand noise from dirt and degradation. For me it is either inevitable or as you say requires attention. I can remember spending so much time on vinyl upkeep and care that I could never go back to that. A mastering that takes into account the desirability of analogue warmth goes a long way to reduce or remove any unfavorable sonic comparisons.
@@jameshisself9324 I get it. It is not comfortable and requiring medium not for every day listening So I transferred some my beloved Lps to tapes and from R2R they alow me for more elastic loudness control to make total real impression. As you may notice I compare "my" LP quality to digital and radio studio recordings which are not "warm" sounding . For me any unwelcomed "timbres" due to different technologies mean I have no proper gear. I do not accept opinion that colored sounding is perfect. But also many prized modern soundings are far from proper.
@@Mikexception I agree, except I do also consider that there are coloring artifacts with vinyl and analog as well. They are different but nonetheless they exist. I've been lucky enough to be present in studios during recordings and that live sound is not what we get in any recording. Additionally most producers will EQ a recording to sound the way they think it should for a given storage medium and playback system. In my opinion nothing has ever been 'flat'.
@@jameshisself9324 As I mentioned I consider such differences as fault of modern reproduction gear When they are heard between analog/tube gear and any "flat" modern gear, it is not fault of storage technology. It can be easy proven on any computer screen that it is technicaly equal . But it is misunderstanding of audiophiles that human ear requires flat sounding - unless someone listen over 100dB loud music but means they are blessed with deafness. I can actualy present with my gear to anyone what happens to sounding when we agree to permanent flat sounding at average 70 dB levels . We can satisfy our visual aestetics with flat characteiristics on screen or our ears with real sound . Both at the same time is no way. It took me life time but I did few times all that you are describing here as no possible at all. Thing is it is so complicated and requiring control of listening environment that producers had given up, equalize miusic prior at studio, they name any not complying gear with "warmth" terminology then advice audiophiles that only easy for them flatness at home is correct. It is cheat which is proven by created situation when lot od audiohiles comply now to human ears but no to gear which is radiculus.
Thanks once again for taking the the time to create this installment. Growing up in Atlanta, I did have the ability to venture towards downtown, and visit some of the stores that had true reel-to-reel "setups". But you are right -- only one of my friends had a reel-to-reel, and his Dad was a lawyer. Enjoyed this episode. Take Care, and Merry Christmas !!
Thanks for another fun one. Love the Vertigo t-shirt.
This analog journey is priceless, so.
Had a Revox A77 2-track high speed back in the days. Awesome, never failed me. I might buy one again as I still have those tapes.
Great video, great comments. Learned a couple of new things, thanks!
My tape deck is identical to yours and I love it!
18:45 Yeah, it's certainly something that we all have done and it's always fantastic to listen all your favourite music all over again and find new thing, new details you never heard before. It's an awesome feeling.
Great video. I love hearing other people's take on how different pressings and different media formats of the same album sound. This was even better, as reel to reel was actually an option in your comparison! As for the reel to reel, I was like you. As a kid, I didn't have any exposure to them, I only knew about them. As a matter of fact, I thought it was silly that people used them when they could just use cassettes. As far as I knew, tape was tape. But then I heard one for the first time. I went with a friend who was visiting a college out of state, and we stayed at his uncle's house. He had a top of the line late 70's-early 80's Pioneer stereo setup. It was a wall of silver faces and knobs with wood grain trim, and was gorgeous. What caught my eye was his huge reel to reel deck. He say me looking at it and asked if I wanted to hear it. He put on Pink Floyd's the Wall. I have no idea if it was something he had recorded or had purchased, but I was blown away how good it sounded. Decades later, I finally got myself a R2R deck. Nothing spectacular, but nice to me. A 1975 Aiwa 4000DS. It can only play 7" reels, and 7.5ips (so I can't experience the 15ips). But I'll tell you, there's just something how recordings sound coming off of that tape. Do I think it sounds better than my records, cassettes or CD's? I don't know. But I'll tell you, the recordings I've done on it from my records just sounds fantastic. It has a dimension that the other formats don't have. It's a lot of fun.
There is a special "warmth" to it. You'll never forget where you were when you heard the first album on reel-to-reel. My first was "Saucerful of Secrets" by Pink Floyd. On the White Stripes Elephant album Ball and Biscuit is blues rock at its best!
Thxs Kevin some great stuff...Happy Holiday....
Happy holidays!
Very cool video on the upper-crust of audio. Both the good and is-it-really-that-good parts. Always enjoyable. Merry Christmas to you & family, shop staff. Get some down time when you can. Will be watching for you in the coming year Kevin. Thank you for sharing.
Happy holidays!
Love ya work Kev 👍
My folks listened to reel to reel tapes in their magnavox stereo that was the size of a small couch. Sounded good to me and my young ears.
Thx for the holiday spirit. I had to pickup this album , such a fantastic experience. I wish you and your folks at Skylabs the greatest holiday and a fantastic 2024. I stuck with third man records. Its fantastic so go rediscover an album that was such a force in rock and roll. Thx for your channel your KZhead videos have been great companion this year.
Happy holidays!
ive had a good few tape machines, from 1/4" to 2". good format for recording. never used it for home audio. enjoyed this a great deal.
Great video, great gear!! 🙂
Kevin - Your passion for gear and music is such a beautiful thing. You ooz the love of what Skylabs is all about. Keep doing what you are doing man!
I appreciate that!
Great video and topic Kev. I know reel to reel can't be beat. The first and last time I heard a factory recording on reel to reel was ZZ Top Fandango, and all I'm going to say it was like a died and went to heaven musical climax. It goes beyond any Earthly explanation
Great review. I was blown away by this tape, and that the whole signal path is analogue. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings also released “The Harrow and the Harvest” on Reel to Reel too, and it sounds just as good!
I have a few that I really enjoy, Teac A-4010gsl, A-4010sl and Sony TC-640, all refurbed by me and I absolutely love them! I also have a collection of close to 200 tapes, pre-recorded and home recordings.
Hey, I had the same Teac Reel to Reel, really :)! Yea tape and vinyl sound great the first time you play it.....then it continues to degrade quickly until it becomes mush. In the mid 1970's while my friends were saving to buy their first car, I was buying a Pioneer stereo system and becoming an audiophile at age 15. Set that system up in my bedroom and was forever in love with accurate audio. My room filled with a stereo sound field, and I was in heaven. As my ears/brain were trained in critical listening I noticed how disappointed vinyl was after the 10th play, the high frequencies disappeared and the detail and realism with it. I educated myself on the best turntable setup to reduce wear to no avail. Then came 1986 and my first CD system, and like the first system when I was 15, it blew me away again, no noise floor, no hiss, no rumble, no needle noise, no pops and dirt and a new dynamic range to explore. My first Cd was Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle orchestra, it was amazing, and I never played vinyl again gave all away to a friend. Today, I have been a musician for 56 years, audio engineer for 35 years, and still enjoy digital with proper DACs. The higher resolution and bit depths are also a big improvement with 24bit/96kHz as reference, especially in high quality reverbs. With no loss of quality over the decades I have owned my CDs pure digital without data compression remains the greatest media.
As a sound guy since the 70's I've heard most music formats over the years. Vinyl and tape are decent and analog smoothness has it's draw. Once CD's came out I got a Pioneer P 70D player. I've been hooked since. Digital is better in my opinion as well. Almost all the gear we use including our soundboard snake and recording equipment is digital. Not having hiss noise or 60HZ hum is a blessing. I know a lot of people will argue the point. Peace.
Maybe we get disagreements from the younger crowd who never had a 4-track cassette, or digital tape, or even reel tape, they didn't go through the horrors we did after a cassette tape binds up from all the rewinding during mixdown and dealing with all the noises and hiss. @@kurtburkhardt5862
Did some recording on reels and those 4 track tascam cassette recorders. They were good in their day. Yep, munching a tape did suck. I did see Linda Ronstadt with the Eagles in 76. Been hooked ever since. One of my go to female voices when setting up a quick system.
Your best video this year!
Thanks!
Definitely gonna be a fun one
Definetly gonna be a fun one
When I was A senior in high school 1974 I almost bought a Revox reel to reel, like you I’d seen one at a doctors house…..On the other hand I did buy new and still use a Marantz 1120 many days of the week. I think it’s becoming an heirloom
I've been a sound guy since the 70's owning a sound company and working with bands on their live shows. I have owned reel to reels and have mixed live music onto them. They do sound great and the fact they still use some analog multi track large tape format machines to this day shows their value. We have switched to digital mixers snakes and most assorted gear as they just work better. Low noise floor, great dynamic range, no tape hiss. After the mid 80's once CD's came out I rarely listen to vinyl or tape, and I have good gear if I want to do so. I know many people will argue the point, sound is after all subjective. My vote is for high quality digital (not MP3's or heavily sampled formats).
One of the real issues here is how the music is mastered to begin with. If you have a band today that has no freq limitations on their instruments just as Kevin is sampling, you are really comparing apples to oranges. What I mean is that it isn't the same as testing the better sound from a recording that was originally mastered for vinyl where some of those frequencies are cut off before they even hit the tape.
Thanks for another great video Kevin. Just wanted say that I love my new speaker stands from Skylabs!!!! They look and fit perfectly under my Yamaha NS-690s. I hope you have an awesome Christmas and take some time off and enjoy yourself. Merry Christmas Skylabs.
Glad you like them! Thank you!
Great info, good video, thanks.
I remember when I worked at LaSalle Electronics in the 70's we sold Teac reel to reels some customers prefered that format we had a few demo tapes like Steely Dan Aja Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon Doobie Brothers Long Train Running Steve Miller Band those recorded tapes were absolutely outstanding to listen to and totally agree with you no clicks or pops and like you said tape saturation nothing sounds better we used to get you know pretty messed up after closing time and listen to Aja and Pink Floyd on our top line equipment and speakers using the 10 inch Teac reel to reel just incredible as you said it keeps you in the Magic Moment no interruptions awesome times I've never forgotten how great it sounded!! Thanks guys for such a awesome informative channel you hit my nerve and itch!
Great video! I actually just picked up my first Reel To Reel a week ago (Teac A-2000) for pretty much free (because the guy threw in SOOO many extra things, including a second R2R deck!!!). These things are super cool and you’re right, quite a bit pricey and heavy on the maintenance. He gave me 4 sealed NOS 1200’ tapes and those are probably gonna be all I have for a while. I filled up 3 immediately and now I’m trying to decide what to put on the final tape. Maybe I’ll fill it up with my favorite White Stripes songs since I just learned from your video that they’re all recorded on tape.
I'm over in Portland Oregon ! I'm so happy I found your channel I'm a young kid who's still Learning I've only been in the high five for about 3 months I have a 1959 HH Scott 99d's integrated dual mono blocks . Using ADS L series speakers . I'm also interested in real to real but they are so expensive. So I'm happy to get a free lesson and learn more today about them !!
This was great. I have a 4 track Teac 3300S that I recently unearthed. With minimal lube and check, it fired up. Lord knows what the head alignment looks like but I was able to play a few 40 year old tapes I made of radio stations I worked for. It was fun but, as you noted, would be an expensive route to music enjoyment. Sticking with "blue collar" vinyl and maybe a few replacements for my original copies. Always a great video! Thank you!
I drive an old car that still has a cd changer and had it filled with the White Stripes for about two years. It’s great to hear there’s reel to reel of elephant, I was recently gifted a nice Teac player so I’m all over it
Still have my ol' Revox A77, that I inherited from my brother! 42 reels, stuffed with music and radioshows from the 80's!
I LOVE THIS CHANNEL! SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!
Thank you! Cya soon!
If you like smeared sound, with speed variations, various non-linearities with amplitude and frequency, then tape is for you. Some people dub in reverse to try to mitigate the smear. Just like all the old analog formats, each imparts several distortions to the sound. Some people love the sound of a tape recorder pushed above 0 dB where the distortion is a few percent and compression is happening. Years ago when I was recording a live concert with a decent quality reel to reel deck I found the switch that selected between the live feed and the monitor playback from the tape. The live feed was beautiful. The monitor playback was OK, but missing the clarity of the live feed. When digital became available, that difference went away.
Another great video. One topic I haven’t heard you cover is the cassette era. I had both a Nakamichi and still have my Tandberg 330. Would love to hear your thoughts on quality decks, recording vinyl, so we could play them in our cars.
Darn... After watching this video, I need to have my 2-Track 7.5 and 15 IPS Fostex Model 20 repaired and re-calibrated!! I miss that BOLD sound!!💪💪👍👍
defiantly gonna be a fun one
I have vinyl, cd’s, cassettes, stream, & even an 8-track, but I LOVE my reel to reel
I have the Teac a-2300sx.As you know,it is a seven inch reel system.I was fortunate to find NOS heads for the deck,which my tech guy installed.I am a fingestyle acoustic guitarist that composes my own music.I am in the process of building a mini digital studio,but am always amazed at how clean and crystal clear the acoustic recordings come out on the Teac RTR.
I sometimes forget that my first system was a high end Sony reel to reel system that came with a built in amplifier and speakers. I had some friends who had a band and I helped them do some recording. Then I went to college and sold it to buy a really nice stereo. Most of that system has been upgraded. I never had very many pre-recorded tapes. But, I have had one album in reel, record and CD format: Deep Purple In Rock. It has been a joy to listen to in all three formats.
The Cambridge is a great DAC. You can upgrade the op amps (they are SMD) So soldering is required. Burson, Stuccato, Sparkos are all exceptional. If price is a concern OPA 1656's has a very good price to performance ratio. Great video, Happy Holidays.
❤Yes! Reel to reel is the ultimate! Especially listening to the Master Tapes.❤
Love our Teac A4300. As Kevin pointed out it’s a learning curve…but so much fun. Just joined Tapeheads and am learning lots. Now we need some new RTR tape to record on😎😎😁👍👍
I have been into reel to reel for many years my first was a old grundig i salvaged from a console system my first new one was a pioneer rt701 then i traded for a docorder 4 track then my next was a Teac X10r i sold it later now i have a teac x2000r and a teac x1000r but at this moment my x2000r is out of service issues😢..Thanks Kevin for another great video
miss my Revox b77.i should have never gotten rid of it back in the 90.the build quality was second to none. and the dynamic range on real to real tape is just amazing.amen
Have a great Christmas mate
Happy holidays!
Absolutely Yes
I still own a Teac A-3300SX (not the 2 track master), and I like to record new albums on tape. Seems to sound better. Unfortunately, reel to reel has become popular, and prices have gone up.
RTR is quite an elegant format. Never had one myself but I worked in radio for a few years and got my hands on a few nice pieces that saw seriously heavy use and just always worked a treat.
On eBay auction I bought a Akai 3000d this month for $65 , it works and records well . I redid the grease and lubed it , I recorded vinyl and seems like I got a better sound on the tape .
Merry Christmas!
Same to you!
Hifi VHS might be a very interesting alternative. Prices are going up for hifi vhs.
I agree, back in the day I replaced my Tandberg TD20 with a hi fi vhs tape machine and never looked back. Every time you play a tape the quality drops so digitizing from the original tape before it gets played more then a couple of times in DSD is by far the best solution
Good video. Live music is frankly undefinable. The variables are endless and each performance unique. There will never be the time you heard it live or a recording of the same performance will not be the same. Reel to reel can be as close to the moment in the studio a song was recorded as possible. Ouch on the price but it can be what the artist wanted you to hear in that moment they recorded. Merry Christmas!
It’s super fun to play with old school media. I had a TT and a R-to-R in the 70s so it brings me back for sure. But you need to spend an absolute ton of money to match a decent 3k to 5k streamer and DAC. When I feel nostalgic I try using the same media that was used when that recording was released. If it’s 60s - 80s, it’s vinyl or tape. If it’s from the 90s - 2010 I go with CD. After that I stream. If I get real ambitious I swap out the equipment to match the decade. At least in my head I feel like I’m staying true to music. But I am getting too old for all that messing around. You can’t beat touching a screen and enjoy the clean music.
It's just a coincidence that I just bought a Ampex ax reel to reel; I bought the deck for $125.00 from a man whose father recently died and he was just selling some of his equipment. This is my first experience with reel to reel. It has taken me a little bit of time to adjust to this format. I didn't do anything special but clean the heads and the capstan. I immediately went down and bought some pre-recorded tapes at the local vintage record shop. The animals with Eric burden. BJ Thomas raindrops keep falling on my head soundtrack. Blood sweat tears and Frank Sinatra's greatest hits. The cost was $120. I found the sound to be comparable to my vintage KD 550 turntable but slightly deeper and more of a full range sound. I am thoroughly enjoying listening to the different formats!!
I've got the same turntable. The rock! All the hype was true from an isolation standpoint!
@@stephenstevens6573 Yeah that Kenwood KD 550 has been very reliable. I had it serviced about 4 years ago and hasn't given me any trouble.
I have quite a few reel to reel player recorders. The best way to listen to music.
Thank you.
Reminds me to put that CD on the vintage gear… I only have listened to Elephant on my IPOD classic since I bought the CD years ago. I think my uncle had a very old reel to reel and a tape collection.
My third comment: my late dad was into home recording back in the early sixties and I inherited all the tapes, four track mono, made on his 1962 Philips tubed machine. I sometimes like hearing family conversation in the kitchen and my own babbling from the high chair as a six month old. Mom would sing (trained mezzo soprano) and dad accompanied on piano, things like Schubert lieder, Mozart arias and Handel or Bach church pieces. She was 28 and now 88 but in a home with dementia. Also my late half-brother recorded a side of WPTR’s (Albany, NY) hit parade (old phrase) on skip all the way to Nova Scotia where we lived. Mid November 1963, a week before JFK was killed which changed so many things worldwide.
Great video! Just curious, were the vinyl albums cleaned before playing? If so, what method? If not, I live in your area and would be happy to run them through my Audio Desk Systeme Ultrasonic record cleaner for you. I've been stunned how much difference it makes on both new albums, and many albums that had been previously cleaned on my old VPI 16.5 vacuum machine. Not at all claiming it's a fix-all for all albums, but I have had some new vinyl that were made substantially more quite after a run through it. No pressure, and zero strings attached.
Can tell by the tears in your eyes and the inability to describe the rare experience of Hi-Fidelity in a single clear sentence that others who've never experienced it before in their lives could understand through mere words alone, that you are indeed An Audiophile :) Only way to understand it, in various degrees, is to experience it in many ways: the effect that analog gear has on improving the sound, from mastering grade EQ's and Compressors and Audio Interfaces at ridiculously high resolutions, etc. I love it because the Sensation feels to me as if it goes into my ear, goes right into my brain, and when done well, produces Absolute Euphoria. I think there's a definite reason the phrase exists: Euphoric Harmonic Distortion
I have a pretty decent streaming/dac setup, with an Auralic Aries G2 and Denafrips Terminator Plus, but picked up a serviced Sony TC377 reel to reel out of curiosity last year. You are right. Recordings from my Denafrips DAC via the preouts on my 300b tube amp sound....different and unlike anything I have heard. Not necessarily better, but warm, enveloping and just incredibly enjoyable. My machine was about £300 and I use pre used tape, so I am sure I am not getting the full experience, but you can dip your toe in the water in a relatively affordable way.
My Akai GX-4000d is in the mail. Decided to get one for tracking guitars for my music.
My place in this hobby is going to prevent me from spending $150 on an album. I can buy 5 albums for that. I'll take the errors. And $500 for the reel-to-reel.....nope.
Diminishing returns. I agree 💯 %. It's like spending $5,000 on a car to get 3 HP & a slightly better handling
There are no “diminishing returns” - this is what people tell themselves when they cannot, or do not want to, afford spending more. The more you spend, assuming you buy the right stuff, the better it sounds. Simple as that. If you have a world class system, tapes will sound better than albums - but a world class turntable and phono stage will be better in some regards.
@@Fluterra right but how much better?
@@ShazeemKhanmore money does not provide a less audible increase in sound quality rather an increase in sound quality can be had in the same increments of sound quality through exponential costs. Basically, there can be a noticeable difference had at any price range, even being night and day, and it will cost you
@@fastlanerc5551 yes which I meant, I perhaps worded my comment wrongly, my apologies. I mean just what u said here. Is the amount of extra cost really that noticeable or worth it? (Given that one has a good system to start with). I hope I made sense?
Someone finally carved out some time for a listening session 😊
I worked in a commercial recording studio in the mid 90.'s. Every so often i would bring bring home a 2TR-15 IPS Master that we had just worked on. When played on my Teac A 330SX 2T through my Klipsch Cornwalls, i still rmember the hair on my arms standing up ,,from the fullness and dynamics . People go on about digital, but ive heard some fine Analog recordings first hand. Open reel is still worth its weight in gold. People are just finding that out again. A n d , the smart engineers never sold off their 1/4" 2TR and 2" 24 TR recorders.. Cause their gonna be using them again .
Excelent r2r. I own the same Teac only 4t
Like a lot of comments have said if you want great analogue music reproduction you need to go down the VHS route unfortunately not trendy thou but does sound amazing on a Hi -end VHS recorder .... Marry christmas to you & your family 🎉...
ive been using cassettes at high speed recording and playback using a modded 3 head tape deck and a home made cassette player and i love the 8 -16 kilohertz sparkle that they produce. i build my own preamps using NJM4558's and a modded NAB style feedback on the non inverting side. i also use 2 stages in the preamp as the transfer from the tape to the preamp has a high pass effect and needs to have the lower frequencies boosted to compensate. i tune these using square waves so i can make sure the square wave comes out un phase shifted and fully frequency balanced. all components are matched between channels to a tolerance of 1% so they are nearly exactly matched. the only problem using magnetic tape is that radio towers and cell phones cause lots on interference. im thinking of experimenting using 1 head for the tape and noise another for the just the noise and subtracting the noise from 1 head to the other and hopefully cancel the noise out or just reducing it. kind of how balanced inputs work. not sure when of if i will do this as it will require huge amounts of experimenting to see if this is feasible.
No invite, I'm so mad !!! 😉 ... how about an update on the Third Man Pressing once you've ran it through your ultra sonic cleaner👍
I did go get a job (and a career)...and I did buy not 1, not 2 but 3 reel-to-reels (all Teac/Tascam) because that is what I could afford. They weren't all the same...my first was the A-3300SX (not the 2T). That was my daily driver for a bunch of time. New records would be recorded to it and cassettes would be duped from that for the car, portable, mix tapes. Then the "I want to record bands" phase came in...so I got an A-3440 4-track and the 35-2B. I wish I could have afforded the 80-8 (at the time) or the 58 (what came later) but i couldn't. So, one learned to bounce, mix-down and keep going with 4-tracks. The 35-2B became my daily driver, even when not recording bands and stuff. Yeah, I wanted Revox (and Otari) but Teac/Tascam was what I could afford. I still have them all so I guess I got my money's worth out of them...40ish years later. There is no question, my worst R2R (A-3300SX) beats my best cassette deck (Nak Dragon). Nobody, particularly back then, set out to record live stuff with cassettes, except demos. Cassettes were, mostly for duping off of records, or the radio or pre-recorded. The whole concept was on the portableness of it all. For those that duped their records to cassette, it was out of convenience/cost, not because anyone thought they were better than reels. Everything has its place.
I used to have that Dynaco set up. The ST-70 wound up in Spain. I replaced it when I had a H.H. Scott system. I have two R2R because the A-3340S doesn't play 3 3/4 ips.
Bro when are the hoodies gonna be back??? I need the 1980 in a large asap!
My friend of 45 years now is a hoarder, the two main things he hoards are ever type of recorded medium and vintage equipment, at last count he had approximately 15 open reel decks, revox teac 4 track 2 track, all unfortunately stored either in his basement garage and house, the ones in the basement have mold on them as do all of the other equipment he has down there, he fancies himself as an audiophile but due to the utter chaos in his rather large house he has no room to set up and enjoy what he has, he probably has close to a thousand pre-recorded reel to reel tape, it might be more. He estimates he may have close to 300,000 records, cassette tapes and cds make up several thousand alone, i didn't mention all the pairs of speakers amps receivers he has, the problem is that none of it has been stored in what are ideal conditions as i mentioned about the basement, he keeps saying he wants to get rid of it but theres no where to set and test everything, he doesn't even know if many of the things he has even work. I have my old faithful teac x-3 still hooked up and still working,
Great video again, thanks. Only suggestion, spend some money on a quality DAC. You will be amazed at how good streaming can be.
I have that exact same tape deck, just can't afford any pre-recorded tapes to play on it :^) As for the sonic differences between tape & LP, I'd say that no matter how "clean" of a pressing you can get, there will always be some surface noise (higher noise floor) than tape recordings. I think to goes toward explaining what you were able to here regarding the subtle drum & distorted guitars sound you were hearing ..... and as you know, in the beginning, it all started with tape, so everything else is a compromise ..... Digital ?, that a whole 'nother thing .....
Wow. I didn't even know those reels were 2 track tapes. Figured they would have used the normal version. In some ways I kinda wish that VHS comes back as a new reel to reel format. Be a great way to reuse all that tape out there. If I remember right, wasn't it the only record that got pressed the year it came out? I just remember it being a huge thing that it was gonna be out on vinyl. 1 was white, the other was red. I know. Shocking eh? Can't believe its been 20 years since it came out. Really takes me back to when I bought it.
If you ever get the chance listen to a 4 track discreet reel to reel of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" or the Doors' "L.A. Lady" or Joni Mitchell's "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" or Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers" or any of the discreet 4 channel reel to reel tapes released in the early 1970's. You won't believe your ears!
blast from the past. I had a wonderful teac, would have to go in the basement and find it and look to get the model number. 20 some years ago when i actually had it hooked up, only had three factory tapes. played electric ladyland, best of all worlds, great fidelity and dynamics, better than vinyl. fat, smooth, gentle analogue, no digital harshness, any tape hiss? don't remember any. yes, probably best format. great they are issuing reel to reel tape.
Also, where did you get that Groovy Vertigo shirt at?
My dad had a reel to reel player he bought in Japan when he was in the navy. He had a few reels also. I remember listening to it. He wasn’t even a music aficionado or an audiophile. He eventually sold it.
I luv your vertigo tee..Some great prog was on that label Gentle Giant. Etc! Unfortunetly finding records on the original vertigo label is damm near impossiable
Back in the day a friend had the top of the line Marantz stereo equipment..he would play Mahavishnu " Inner Mounting Flame " at a very impressive volume and it was if the band was right there..of course..we were imbibed of the local green..the sound on a reel to reel is the best..better than vinyl hands down..the best listening experience !!!!
I have a Teac 3340, but it would need servicing before I could use it after many years of storage.
Could you record from a dig sourse onto the RTR and get that special saturation quality?
15 IPS, Very rare both Tape and machine and I am sure you paid well for that. Reel to Reel, best sound that I have ever heard and it was 40 yrs ago when I heard Aerosmith "Rocks" and to this day I still keep saying I am going to buy a Reel to Reel, it is the 3k price for nice Pioneer RT-909 with 10" metal reels.
At 15 ips, the tape noise is virtually nonexistent and the punchy bass of tape with the silky highs definitely make reel to reel tape the best analog format...
That’s the key statement, “the best analog format”.
Run it through a DBX 224 noise reduction system to really open it up and if you can find the DBX direct to disc recordings, they are absolutely worth it
@@bradleyerwin2900 I know... I'll take 96k or better with great mics, myself...
I got my copy of Elephant on reel to reel for Christmas. It's not an album i'm super familiar with other than the ubiquitous Seven Nation Army and a couple others. Playing it back on a Technics 1500US 1/2 track. Comparing to streaming from Deezer through a Wiim. Both sound really good of course, but there's far more depth and realism from the tape. The voices, the symbols, and of course Jack White's guitar just sound more lifelike. That being said my wife couldn't tell the difference. Is it possible I just enjoy watching the reels spin around? Maybe. The wife insists vinyl would sound better so I guess i'll have to get a copy and do a three way comparison to finally settle the score. At least for her.
In another video you had mentioned a Mitsibishi AMP (DA-M10, or M15) and gave it some praise.. You then spoke of the Mitsubishi systems built for them (Pre-amp,Recievers, meters, cassette decks etc..), and kind of rolled your eyes in disaproval... I was wondering what your issue with these system pieces were, because i just inherited 3 pieces (DA-M10, DA-C20, DT-10), and the DA-A10DC AMP... The AMP is the only thing that works properly... The other pieces all need work... What are your concerns/gripes about these pieces, so i know what i am in for attempting to get these repaired... Trying to decide if i am going to sell "as is", or spend the money to get them fixed.... Thank you for any insight from anyone who wants to chime in...