High quality reel-to-reel machines can sound fantastic. But, a lot of the tapes used on them were recorded at home, usually off the tuner or turntable, so the quality can suffer a little. If you can find factory-made pre-recorded tapes, the quality can be excellent. But remember, most of these tapes are decades old and may have started to shed their oxide coating and otherwise deteriorate. Tapes do NOT last forever. P.S. Try and find a ReVox A-77. Fantastic unit.