what you are saying is partially correct, docb, there are buyers who are buying "blind", however, outside of the Ravel tapes, which are Angel recordings, the other tapes I am seeing explode in cost are primarily tapes whose provenance in the LP world is known as high quality, ie., Mercury, London Bluebacks, Living Stereo, etc., so that these buyers are not buying particularly blind, they have some knowledge of high quality recordings from other sources, but are pushing those tapes into outtasite territory. The question is are these recordings all that great, Steve has noted that many 4 trackers are better than 2 trackers depending on the recordings, etc. One of my hifi gurus, Arthur Salvatore, has indicated on his excellent website how many holy grail recordings from the '50s/'60s are just not that good, that technology had improved mastering and in some ways, recordings to the point that later recordings are much better than what came before, but he is talking primarily about LPs. Just as docb has noted, while many R2R people lust after a stereo 350, the ATRs, Studers, etc. machines are just so much better, evolved technology, etc. And with the improvement in TTP tapes, I wonder how these 4 trackers are stacking up to other technology, such as SACD and LP in similar price point gear...