I have always been interested in tape recorders. In fact this was where I started my life as an audiophile, 16 years old, investing in a Radionette Multirecorder in 1968.
This was a smart, youthful, portable device for its time – see more advertisments here.
It came with a microphone, so I used it for interviews, for taping from radio, and not least, taping vinyl.
This last purpose soon evolved to become a main use, so I invested in a Tandberg stationary tape recorder, in fact two models, the first described here;
I nding up with a Revox A77 in the early 1970s. I am not sure how the Radionette passed out of my life, wish I still had it. A very clever piece of engineering, although Radionette and Tandberg were later merged, the poppy Radionette development department was closed down. Some years later, the merged Tandberg went bankrupt. The company had sadly been overwhelmed by cheaper transistor products from the east, according to the official story.
I used the Revox as a major music source for many years, but got convinced that data was the way to regarding music, or that this should be tried out, so I started using DAT recorders in the 1990s. I invested in a Sony handheld DAT player, and used three of their models, including the Sony DAT Walkman TCD-D100.
I bought at stationary DAT recorder, Sony DAT DTC-ZE700.
However DAT recorders are limited to the CD level of digital sound – or close to it. I soon got tired of that.
In the 2000s, I have used a Korg MR-1, and – very portable – a Cowon D2. Of course they don’t sound as good as the Revox A77. But that is like carrying a large heavy suitcase (15 kg), while the D2 is like a matchbox and the Korg like a deck of cards. Leaving all complaints aside, this development is amazing, over fifty years. That the Korg at all competes with the Revox in some respects, and yet is less than 2 percent of the weight (200 grams), is amazing.
Still – however interesting reproductions may be, they are reproductions. For music the rule is true that the less recordings and the less overlay of other recordings, the better. Less is more. Over the last years the source itself has become more important for me. Yet tape recorders in all forms retain their use. A hard disk or music server can be a taping system, although someone else has done the critical transition from analog to digital. As a “prosumer” I would like to do most of that transition myself, or have more choice.
I am sure digital will one day sound as good as analog, but we are not there yet. Not by far, in my estimate. This goes even for SACD sound, the best I’ve heard so far (DSD). One reason is that analog corresponds with the molecular level of vinyl. Whatever happens to the diamond in the track, this is so “retro” that we just have a mechanical arm doing the data reading, and this, in fact, is more sensitive than current bit-based interpretations of music. So in analog you get music, in digital – well, it is OK for a while, but when can we switch back, please. Of course, this comes with the challenge of using a physical/mechanical very vulnerable and finnicky system that must be setup right to sound its best, like getting a telescope into focus.
