US audio magazine The Absolute Sound’s annual Editors’ Choice Awards flag up a selection of the world’s best-sounding kit, and it’s great to see a category for tape decks again this year. In fact, the magazine has been a clear supporter of the revival of tape, with some pretty good coverage of decks etc.
Last year’s awards went to combination of new, vintage and hybrid decks and this year’s selection follows the same pattern. In fact, it features four of the exact same decks as the 2022 awards: J-Corder’s rebuilt Technics 1500, Sonorus Audio’s ATR10 (based on the Revox PR99 chassis), United Home Audio’s Tascam-based SuperDeck, and Metaxas & Sins’ brand new Tourbillon T-RX.
The only slight change this year is United Home Audio’s new Ultima 5 deck (with optional OPS-DC outboard DC power supply), which takes the place of the Ultima 4 in last year’s awards. Reviewer Jonathan Valin writes, “Greg’s [Beron] latest tape deck, the Ultima 5 OPS-DC simply beats his previous wunderkind out in every possible way, approaching (though not quite equalizing) the glories of Greg’s SuperDeck (from which it borrows some of its technology).”
Here’s the full article: www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2023-editors-choice-tape-decks
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