It IS more efficient. Don't get me wrong, I make my mix tapes on my PC and convert them to tape afterwards. It's really very practical. But that doesn't mean I can't hear the difference
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When I really want to enjoy music, i play a record or a 2 track tape at high speeds.
Since I don't record music myself (unfortunately!) I have no reason to go digital. But it is efficient, indeed.
There's a lot of producers recording their digital mix onto an analog 2-track tape before putting it on a CD. I'm not sure about that. It does take the 'edge' off, but a tapedeck shouldn't 'add' anything. It's a big misunderstanding that tape (or tubes, same story) sound 'warm'. They can, but then they just distort your sound.
I try to get my tapedecks to reproduce exactly what I throw at them. And some of them can, indeed. I haven't seen a CD recorder that can do that, so far.
I do think my sound card gets quite close, when set to 24 bits 192khz
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I'm off to bed now. My english is getting more crooked by the post.
I'll hopefully be seeing your reply in the morning.