Audiophilepure

This completely refurbished, three-box, 15ips, Tascam reel-to-reel tape deck, with bespoke enclosures, boards, parts, damping, and wiring, is the best effort yet from tape maven Greg Beron—and one of the two most lifelike source components JV has yet heard in his home. Though the speed, color, resolution, and, above all else, vanishingly low noise of the DS Audio Grand Master optical cartridge and EQ units have pushed vinyl playback considerably closer to the sound of tape, LPs still aren’t as naturally full in tone, continuous in duration and intensity, or audibly complete in their presentation as R2R tapes through the UHA SuperDeck. Of course, two-track open-reel tapes have built-in sonic advantages—not the least of which is the sheer amount of information laid down in their wider tracks and the higher resolution with which those tracks are scanned—all of which you can hear, par excellence, with Beron’s great new machine. Given the price of pre-recorded R2R tapes, the SuperDeck may be a wealthy man’s game, but if you have the dough and a hankering for the sound of the real thing, it will be tough to find a better full-sized tape player. 

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/mytek-brooklyn-bridge

While it’s unlikely that the main reason people will be buying the Bridge is for it’s prowess with vinyl, it seems rude not to at least put the phono stage to the test. Consequently, the Michell Gyro SE turntable is cued up with both Ortofon Rondo Red MC and 2M Black MM cartridges ready to mount in turn and a pristine copy of Chris Rea’s One Fine Day is given a spin. Despite expecting the unit to struggle with a low-output MC, the sound emanating from the speaker is sumptuous. Even better, switching to MM is a revelation, the album being delivered with all of its top-end sweetness intact. What’s more, bass lines are again punchy and taut.

Finally, it’s the turn of the headphone section. Putting it through its paces with a selection of different models, including the HiFiMan Sundara and Focal’s ultra-revealing Spirit Pro, proves no less impressive than what’s come before with the Bridge comfortably driving both the Spirit Pro and Sundara without any obvious issue. Differences between the in-phase and anti-phase sockets are subtle and more down to preference than outright superiority, but the overall sound is rich, detailed and difficult to fault.