One of the wonderful joys of owning a tape recorder is... recording.  Imagine.  

Everyone in the tape recording world knows that tape makes the original source sound better than it actually was. It blooms up the bottom and adds presence to the midrange and a shimmer to the top end that wasn't there before. Additionally it allows the music to layer out in such a way that makes more sense. It's got better clarity, focus and depth... More air, more space.

How it does this is another topic, but trust me it does. The tape bias is like an exciter and clarifier.  I guess when you pass a suggestion (signal) through something that resonates at 250K or so, whatever comes out of the other end is going be aligned pretty tightly and it is.

Before we go any further, in reality if it wasn't in the microphone feed some purists would say it's distortion of sorts but others will say that the board and all the electronics involved during the recording and mastering process are part of the sound.

So anyway, when you are recording a tape, you monitor both the source (input) and the tape (output) with never-ending fascination at how it "fixes it" as you go back and forth between source and tape when the machine is biased properly for the actual tape your recording to.
 
So the tape is a major STEP in the ladder to nirvana.  Another major step to Nirvana is the ZROCK2.  Anyone who owns one, knows that to remove it from their system after listening to it for years would be like a lobotomy.  So the ZROCK2, which adds the most incredible tone and expands dimensionality and weight, is another big STEP in the chain the nirvana.

Another major step is the DAC aka SOURCE component you use. This has to be as good as possible. A good DAC will have weight, liquidity and resolution. It is a major STEP in the ladder to nirvana.

And yes there's more... the resolution of the recording.  24 bit is a must, and 192 is nice when available. DSD is even better in the sense that it really can't be edited.

Finally and by far the MOST important is the recording itself.  It HAS TO BE GOOD, or all of the above will only make it sound worse.  The above is XRAY vision, so make sure what is underneath looks damn good... and that's the recording itself.  

Anyway, when we take a great recording, use a great DAC, feed the balanced outputs of the DAC into a ZBIT set to 75% and the output of the ZBIT to a ZROCK2 set to the magic spot, and the output of the ZROCK2 to the TAPE MACHINE, we in fact have created all these STEPS each one building on the other.

The end result is that you can take something is really good and make it unreal... or if you really wanted to, take something is is almost good and tip the scale over to the good side.  Each step seems to build on the prior one, so there is an exponential nature to it.  

This is why in today's world, when you can stream 24/192 bit "masters with limiting" of your favorite music, it makes sense to print it to tape because it will usually make it sound noticeably better, and you'll still have music when the internet goes out ; )

Not to mention, things that spin are always cool.  If you can watch it turn... that's worth something.

Steve