Can we finally put Reel to Reel out of its misery? Put it to rest people.

I agree that tape has a different sound than digital, but most of the difference between the two formats comes through when recording and not as much when playing back. A digital recording of a tape recording will very much sound like tape and you won’t notice the difference, but a digital recording transferred to tape will add some colorization but will still have the characteristics of a digital recording. It’s like trying to colorize a black and white photo. The "magic" of analog is the way that tape saturates and distorts in the recording studio compared with digital which can’t handle any amount distortion.

This isn't quite correct. A properly operating recorder will generate a bit of 3rd harmonic (which is innocuous to the human ear). The 3rd is often in enough amplitude that it will mask higher ordered harmonics, which to the ear will make tape sound smoother- particularly at or near saturation. This will be true regardless of the source of the recording. This 3rd harmonic makes tape good for taming the highs in digital systems, which like it or not have distortion called 'aliasing' (since the digital world does not like to admit to distortion). Aliasing is a form of distortion that is best described as a form of IMD in that the tones generated are in relation to the Nyquist frequency. Any harmonics that might exceed the Nyquist frequency are 'wrapped around' back down into the audio band and get interpreted by the ear as brightness.

This will be true regardless of the source of the recording. This 3rd harmonic makes tape good for taming the highs in digital systems, which like it or not have distortion called ’aliasing’ (since the digital world does not like to admit to distortion).

That is a good point. I’m more referencing clipping distortion. Once a digital file has distorted or clipped, analog tape cannot fix a distorted digital recording. A lot of the harshness you hear from a digital recording and digital plugins is from clipping which may be very faint. Recording a digital recording on tape which suffers from the "loudness wars" for example won’t tame or fix the distortion in that instance.

Now I want to bring up azimuth because I feel I only vaguely touched on it. Yes azimuth on tape can change overtime as it ages. As a reel to reel or cassette tape ages its azimuth changes from beginning to the end of the recording overtime, most likely due to loss of lubricant in the tape and slip sheets, and shell friction/variations each time it is played. This can happen and it can become noticeable. 1/60 degree azimuth error is enough to deaden the treble response of reel to reel or cassette. If you are adjusting azimuth with a test tape to enjoy prerecorded music you are doing it wrong.

When you own a Dragon with NAAC correction, you can hear it making corrections multiple times on worn out old tapes that were played many times. Many make judgments on the format using worn out tape, worn out heads, machines that are improperly calibrated, and they wonder why their reel to reel doesn’t sound like a Studer at Abbey Road Studios. This is what Nakamichi actually said in a brochure.

naks.com/products/nakamichi_dragon.html?fbclid=IwAR1FwROEUoCJBteINlT FZe8S5wMKxhLrdeQg8l42t2J_IoOaPCr_lC_x_nk

"Proper azimuth alignment is one of the most important factors in achieving the best possible tape reproduction quality. Ideally, playback head azimuth should be adjustable so that even tapes recorded on other decks will be reproduced with the recorded frequency response and sound quality fully intact. Commercially available music tape, tapes borrowed from a friend, tapes in which the shell has warped slightly (a common occurrence) all actually require some degree of playback head azimuth alignment to provide the best possible reproduction quality. Further, inaccuracies in cassette shell symmetry result in completely different azimuth alignment requirements in forward and reverse on auto reverse decks, often causing a significant variation in sound quality with machines that don’t have azimuth adjustment."

Now above is for playback, but azimuth adjustment was also useful and always changing when recording as well. If the tape’s path and track(s) is/are not precisely perpendicular to the recording head (or at its best angle to it) as we know, you will have reduced fidelity in the recording process. Many cassettes had ’variable’ QC when it comes to cassette shells and the mounting of tape within them (reel to reel shells wear as well). As a result, being able to vary the recording head azimuth for the tape in your deck when ready to record was a good thing. For that reason rec az adjustment was more popular and useful than variable play. Also with headwear it might be necessary to readjust the azimuth after some time.