As many of you know, I have embarked on a major project, digitizing most of my extensive vinyl and tape collection. Xavier has the identical digital set up as I do - PM2 and Pyramix 7 software with a Mykerinos card running on XP. All the digitizing is being done at 192/24. BTW, the PM2 is what Keith Johnson uses for his analog to digital conversions and all his digital recording including all the HRx files (of course, he invented the PM2!). When we did similar listening tests of the TP tapes to the the HRx versions, (Arnold Overtures and Exotic Dances) we found similar results to what Xavier's panel did, preferring the sound of the TP tapes. One difference is that there was more very deep bass in the HRx version of the Exotic Dances, only detectable with a big subwoofer. Not sure which is closer to the master tape, however. Talking with Paul, my understanding is that both the TP and HRx versions of both the Arnold and Exotic Dances were dubbed or ripped from exactly the same master tapes.
There are several major advantages to having the analog sources on hirez digital. First, I can store about 300 albums (at 3 GB per 45 minutes of music) on 1TB. So I can store 10000 albums (I actually about 15,000) on 30 or so TB. Currently that would take about 20 inches of shelf space with external 3TB drives, at a cost of about $1500. With Raid 5 and additional backup, that might double the cost. Those of you who have been to my place know how much room 10,000 records takes. Second, I can much more easily retrieve albums or even individual tracks of albums. That is a major issue, especially for R2R tapes. Thirdly, with the current really excellent declickers (I am using the pro software Izotope RX2) I can just about eliminate all the clicks and pops of my records without any negative audible consequences to the music. So my records sound better than the originals!
The main negative is that there is a very slight loss from going from analog to 192/24. For me the difference is only detectable by going back and forth, not listening in isolation. Ripping from analog also is very time intensive, since it has to be done in real time (plus the time to declick - which I do by batch processing on another computer). So doing 10 albums a day (I am retired!) will take about 1000 days to complete the project, I am guessing that this will take about 5-7 years all together. So far I have about 4 TB (or about 1200 albums and tapes) completed.
I have started with the Barclay-Crocker R2R tapes, and have ripped about 400 of them (I need about 45 more to have a complete collection). Using Steve Koto's dolby B decoder and a dbx II decoder for the few dbx II tapes, I think that the sound of many of these tapes is quite extraordinary. I have also started ripping my collection of British Decca classical recordings; I have completed about 300 of them so far. In the queue are the rest of my Decca collection, EMI, and records from the Absolute Sound Super Disc list. I also had earlier dubbed my collection of about 60 of the 45rpm reissues (mostly the Classic Record series of RCA Living Stereo and a few Columbia and Mercury) onto 15 inch 1/4 track tape - to avoid the short side change issue. I ripped those tapes also and processed them through the declicking software and the results were very fine.
Thanks, Larry