New York Times music critic clings to CDs

On a more serious response: It is not unusual for us to see young males (18-28) wearing pajama bottoms to groceries etc. Became a fad some time ago, vanished and then re-emerged. Harmless. Now if one were to wear pajama top but no bottom, that might be a problem. Mr. Krauss has quite a music collection.

No.

They are much like a bad set of speakers, they add too much color to the story. Their own color.

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Young males? Iā€™m pushing 50, but thanks for the compliment. Yep, picture taken on a Saturday morning, plus weā€™re in COVID lockdown, so lounging pants are in order! I donā€™t venture outside the house in these. Anyway, thatā€™s about 35 years worth of CDā€™s. LPā€™s and box sets are on the other wall. NAS with digital files is in the closet. Cassettes are packed up in the basement. No 8-tracks or reel-to-reel, though!

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I have some cassettes (chiefly from Musical Heritage Society) and a few open reel tapes. The one most notable to me is Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane in Dolby B. Own neither deck (Nakamichi and Revox) any longer and do not see them being replaced.

Had cassettes and a Nakamichi deck back in the day, now long since departed. Some friends in the audiophile community tell me that reel-to-reel is making a comeback! About 2000 CDs ripped to the internal drive of a sonicTransporter a few years ago are now sitting in a closet in plastic binsā€¦canā€™t bring myself to part with them (unlike the cassettes).

Had 3 Nacks finally the CR7 E, and a Revox A77

Nostalgia ainā€™t what it used to be

A hard drive is a bit easier to store than 10.5 reels :rofl:

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Reel to Reel decks are wonderfully nostalgic to my ears and eyes, and unlike cassette which was hamstrung by the physical size and limitations of the tape medium used, the best reel to reel decks using calibrated tape at high speed really give away very little to todayā€™s hi-fi equipment. I have two - a Revox B77/II and a re-furbished Pioneer RT-909. However, although the Pioneer gets an occasional play in my system, the (low speed quarter track and not re-furbished) Revox is basically a nostalgic ornament which sounds pretty dreadful by comparison and is never used.

The real comeback (at the ultra expensive end of hi-fi) for Reel to Reel is related to ā€˜The Tape Projectā€™. The Tape Project has been responsible for the release of master copies of a reasonably large number of classic albums in Reel to Reel format. However, these tapes cannot be played on just any Reel to Reel deck. From memory, the machines that are specifically re-built for the project (mostly based on older Technics decks) look stunning, but cost upwards of Ā£20k to Ā£30k or more. However, many high end audio enthusiasts are of the opinion that they (with the best pre-recorded tapes calibrated for the Tape Project) provide the highest available sound quality of any music source.

You can apparently have your high speed twin track Revox B77 or Technics RS1520 decks upgraded to ā€˜Tape Projectā€™ standard, but that too will cost a fortune, and by the way last time I looked the pre-recorded master copy reel-to reel tapes themselves cost around Ā£300 or so each.

Much as I would like to, I wonā€™t be joining the Tape Project folk anytime soon.

I know someone in the San Francisco area who deals and installs at the extreme high end of audio and is involved with The Tape Project (and is otherwise a Roon user). I have heard some of the master tapes played back through (as I recall) a reconditioned Ampex machine, tube electronics, and Rockport speakers in his demo studio. A truly hair-raising experience, but certainly not for the financially faint-hearted!

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Thanks for your very interesting opinion. Hereā€™s mine for your personal enrichment: I am fully convinced that reading the back of my morning cerealā€™s box is infinitely more worthwhile than reading anything published in the NYT.

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Fully agree and then some.