The Tape Project is real and quite alive. At the high end audio shows, they are used regularly by exhibitors who want to demo their stratospherically priced gear with the best source material.
As an audiophile in my late 50's, and the owner of a Tascam 44 semi-pro reel to reel deck, I can attest to the potential fidelity of the format. While my deck is not festooned with the tube electronics available from the Tape project, I am able to get some marvelous sound onto tape when I use a quality microphone and mic pre-amp.
The Tape Project re-masters analog (and a few digital) recordings from the studio source tapes, and releases first generation copies at 15 ips. They take great care in the process to make sure that all of the studio master tapes are played back (for creation of the new master) on machines that have been set up exactly as the master tapes were originally recorded.
The tape project also sells rebuilt tape playback machines and offers rebuilds of Technics RS-1500 and Otari MX-5050 tape machines. These machines are not refurbished; the results are better than new specifications.
While I haven't personally heard any of these tapes or machines, nor could I afford them, if I win the lotto, I'm heading there to buy!