Ballfinger’s gorgeous reel-to-reel tape decks are a love letter to high-end analogue audio

Vinyl? Pah. For full-on analogue, you need a reel-to-reel tape deck. Fortunately, Ballfinger has four going on sale later this month, and they’re all gorgeous. The M063H1 (€9500) is the baby of the group, its precision aluminium chassis housing a ‘basic’ two-speed playback-only deck. At the other end of the range, the fatter of wallet can enjoy the M063H5 (€24,000). That unit ramps up the specs, with three-speed playback, a high-end headphone amp, an editing system via a control knob, and – in possibly the most important factor for anyone wallowing in a mix of drool and nostalgia at this point – wooden side panels. Once ubiquitous in the recording industry, reel-to-reel decks are reportedly making a comeback, and are favoured by artists like Lady Gaga. The only snag is you might need to be her to afford one.