^ Exactly, Geoff ... My very ´eavy.... very ´umble Uriah Heep Island Tapes, UK c cassettes from the Golden Age of Recording Technology til 1972 before Noise Reduction outperform modern 24 bit digital Japanese UH CDs hands down, both in dynamics (natural flow of music) and details (nuances) not to mention musicality. Despite they are mass produced using high speed copying. They sound quite incredible in a car as well, still after 40+ years.
Noise reduction only lessens tape noise (as it was meant to do obviously) but flattens real dynamics. Practically noise reduction on tape is exacly the same thing as backround noise in vinyl play. I never cared either of them, they are just backround noise due to the media in question. The actual signal on tape/record (recorded music) is all I have cared for. I have never used noise reductions whatsoever. That´s other peoples´ fantasy.
Furthermore, I never couldn´t stand digital distortions (whatever they may be) but like analog ones because they sound quite natural (right) to my senses. For me noise reduction is just another form of compression. What a bloody waste of time :^ )
