US audio magazine The Absolute Sound’s annual Editors’ Choice Awards have been published in the March issue, and this year there are 6 tape decks that pick up a ‘gong’. Last year’s awards (5 of them) went to combination of new, vintage and hybrid decks and this year’s selection follows the same pattern (and actually features mostly the same decks as 2023, with one addition). Jonathan Valin is again the reviewer for all things tape related. Here’s the list of Award-winners:
J-Corder’s rebuilt Technics 1500, which comes with “a wide range of options that make customization a breeze.” Apparently there’s a more detailed review forthcoming from Valin sometime this year.
France-based Analog Audio Design’s TP-1000 playback-only deck, which is new to the Awards this year is. Again, there’s a fuller review forthcoming, but in the meantime Valin says it’s “the best sounding quasi-affordable tape player [he has] ever heard, challenging the sonics of the Big Boys in every regard and exceeding them in the bass.” It is also, he adds, “a flat-out steal at $20k. Buy it while the price remains low!”.
Sonorus Audio’s “virtual plug-and-play” ATR10 (based on the Revox PR99 chassis), which is described as “warm and beautiful sounding”. The Award listing has been updated to reflect the latest MkII edition, although Valin hasn’t reviewed that version yet.
United Home Audio’s Ultima 5 features again for the second year running, taking the place of the Ultima 4 which was previously listed in the 2022 Awards. Valin’s entry, which reads largely as per last year, says, “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 his SuperDeck (from which it borrows some of its technology).”
Similarly, Metaxas & Sins’ Tourbillon T-RX features for a second year running, having already also won The Absolute Sound’s Product of the Year Award in 2022. Valin describes it as “the most compact, coolest-looking, best-sounding portable tape deck [I have] heard” and “the very model of highest fidelity”. If you haven’t already, you can read his earlier full review at www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/kostas-metaxas-t-rx-tape-deck/
United Home Audio’s Tascam-based SuperDeck completes the list again this year, and is “one of the two most lifelike source components [Valin] has yet heard in his home.” (The other, if you’re interested, is DS Audio’s Grand Master optical cartridge which “has pushed vinyl playback considerably closer to the sound of tape”).
You’ll find the complete list of all Award winners – across all audio categories – in the March 2024 issue of The Absolute Sound. (They’re not published online yet, but they usually get added to the website in a series of blog articles around April.)
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