Digital Remasters, Tapes & Records

I grew up listening to the Rolling Stones on transistor radios of one kind or another - a very low-fi world, until recently. I now live in a Hi-Fi world of tubes and am left wondering how did we get to that sound?

It’s not just a better system. The music has changed - it’s better. No tape hiss, not hum, no static, and better dynamics.

I like my Bluetooth HugoTT connection better than many of my records.

What was the frequency response & stereo separation of an LP? I guess that depends on the pressing, but a lot of my old records are not high quality.

No doubt the digital equipment has improved dramatically in the last 30 years so it makes sense to remaster.

I recently heard a reel-to-reel tape in an audio shop that was running at high speed, but even that had a bit of hiss and not sure it had the dynamics of digital. It also seemed to magnify details in the singers voice in a hyper-realistic way (like listening to a high speed photo.)

Are the digital remasters (on iTunes) higher fidelity than the original LPs?

Are reel-to-reel high-speed tapes better than the best LPs?

I always wanted a reel to reel rig & still do, but where the heck do you buy source material from this century?

I’ve also heard some remaster I don’t like because the songs are altered to much.

What are your thoughts?