Shouln't be on the market

Ever wonder what's going on when reviewers (including the big name audiophile mags) claim a product is the best audio component they've heard in 35 years and others claim the same product is a total sham and will do nothing but waste your money? How could two reviewers rate the same product so differently? Such is the case with the TDS, which I'd read about for years but wasn't prepared to shell out $300 or more for. But when I saw the new TDS device selling for only $35.00, I had no choice but to try it. Like all of the other reviewers I noticed a distinct difference with the unit plugged in between my Monarchy Digital Interface processor and my Sim Audio Celeste-5080 integrated amp. While it did widen the soundstage, there was a clear loss of delicacy and resolution of detail in my system. I thought that could be attributed to the cheap interconnects that come with the TDS. But the real reason I pulled the unit out the same day I put it in is that it introduced a horrid static distortion into the sound that was unbearable at lower volumes. No component, no matter how cheap, that creates this horrid distortion should be allowed on the market. I know I've read other reviewers that say "get longer interconnects to remove the TDS from your sensitive gear". Well, I'm not spending hundreds of dollars for good quality 2 meter interconnects. I'm cutting my losses... I got out of TDS and only wasted $35.00

makes sound more harmonic smoothes out nasties clears the picture more listenability better hand out and chill factor
good social enhancer

has sonic fingerprint not terrible but varies with hookup may work out and may make it off and unpleasant you must test first for compats

ye old mixed bag o' trix this here TDS were talking about the active audiophile so called model. when it works it pops the lid on the music and lets it flow be warned that said unit will not can not make a junker rig sound like a big buck audiophile tweak valhalla. cann not make silk pure out of sows ear, remember ? in good not insane system can really ad a nice refinement to the sound the ear brain mechanism isnt as confused or something you relate better to the music like you arent thinking around your equipment to get to the point.open the box up and you see what u get for your money quality better than cheezy but not what youd feel all warm and cozy about middlin' work. if tommy taddeo wants to show his stuff he ought to make a true 'phile model not this good enuf for circuit city thingy. wanna bet were gettin about half of what it could sound like ?

Similar Products Used:

sce harmonic enhancer has no signature but opens sound up but doesn't fix problems as well as tds

yet to be discovered

the same

Having only received the TDS II yesterday, the build quality and idea of the designer are open for discussion. As soon as more is known about the sound of the TDS II, that information will be posted here.
The first thought that comes to mind when the cover is removed and the insides are given a close lookover is that this is the product of an eccentric sensibility in product design.
The box that forms the shell around the pc board is made of the thickest and heaviest metal yet observed in a unit of this type. Military use is the feel. Could take a direct hit by a small arms round and survive. Think heavy.
Next you will see what looks like a small pc board neatly laid out and well thought through. Clearly by someone who knows what he is doing. On the other hand, the parts quality appear mediocre, and design compromises are in evidence.
For example, the board is a small square that looks like it was intended to fit in a much tighter case, and the parts are tightly crowded. There are two schools of thought on this, either you want everything as close as possible to minimize path length, or you want the parts spread out a ways to reduce interference from radiated fields.
The visible problem is that the transformer is placed on the pc board near other parts where the inevitable hum and radiated 60 hz fields can cause interference. The second problem is that there is only room for marginal energy storage in small electrolytic caps which are placed within rattling distance of the transformer.
If Taddeo had wanted to market an audiophile product, he could have kept the original pc board where the processing takes place, and moved the transformer, capacitors, and rectifier section all onto another board, in order to decouple the processor from vibration and radiated fields.
At this price range he should have also included high grade foil caps to help stiffen the power supply and thoroughly filter out r.f. energy, electrolytic cap ringing, and other stray noise.
No such luck this round. On balance, the p.c. board gets an A grade for layout and a B- for engineering considerations.
Then, in an interesting turnaround, he uses top of the line Cardas RCA jacks and wires them to the p.c. board with premium silver wire.
Overall, the result is not unlike placing racing tires on a Ford Crown Victoria. Yes, it will improve some areas of performance, but it cannot substitute for performance engineering in the engine or suspension.
Then, as previously described, the whole thing is cased in a heavy steel shell. You could literally drive over this box and not harm it.
This literature that accompanies the TDS II is sub minimal. No information is given about usefulto know parameters. Input impedence ? Output impedence ? Don't ask.
At the end of the day, the sound matters. Once broken in and done its thing on a hundred or so well known disks,
The All Seeing Eye shall return and inform you of what happened.
In closing, the box looks and feels tweakable for those that go for that sort of thing. And yes, Virginia, we intend to tweak the pants off it.

Similar Products Used:

HRS harmonic recovery system

The TDS-II "Harmonic Enhancer" is a small black box that connects through your tape loop. The unit extends the high frequency information in a recording, similar to another product (different company) that has been out for several years and I have owned the consumer version of that other company and eventually sold it. I've also tried the 3D "spatial enhancement" boxes but TDS is far superior, IMO. Not only does it give your stereo system greater clarity and detail but it also enhances the imaging and ambience in a recording like nothing else I've heard. The effect on most recordings played through TDS is like that of hearing a newly remastered version of the particular recording. If you've spent a lot of bucks on various components, tweaks, etc. and still aren't quite satisfied with your system, try TDS (available from Audio Advisor). This just might do the trick- it sure did for me!

Let's see:
Cons: All intellectual - "How can I put a $400 black, gimmick box in my multi-kilobuck system? Blasphemy!" "I have two other black boxes I bought in the eighties holding down the floor in the back of a closet. They didn't last a week." "Harmonic enhancement - its got to be a joke!" "I'll throw away $400 because I'll probably be too lazy to send it back."

Pros: All subjective - "I've been experimenting with it for nearly three months and I now think I can't live without it." "The sound has greater reality and richness when it's on. When it's off the sound is thin and flat. I hear no problems. How can I not like it?" "How can I be so pleased with something so stupid?" "I really don't want to like this thing, but I'm hooked!"

P. S. If an audiophile friend comes over, you can always throw something over it. It's not very big so it's an easy addiction to hide.

5 stars for the thrill-for-the-buck.

I have had the TDS in my system for two months now. My system is a minimalist approach for two simple reasons: to preserve the signals that make up the always so elusive stage and for the sake of my wallet. Now with that said I would hope you understand why I am so hesitant about introducing anything else into the reproduction chain. Yet I was so darn curios about this TDS Harmonics Reconstruction black box (for the record I’m also talking about the TDS Passive Audiophile) but feared that my system with it would gain in some respects and lose in others. At least would have to add one more interconnect to the chain...
Short Version:
I listened to it for TWO minutes and said, -"it's staying". TDS is between the MF X-10D and the power amp. TDS is over one foot above and away from my power amp. Would I recommend the TDS? Yes, I would! Listening at very good (warm, full bodied, great staging) recordings with the TDS gets even scary sometimes. The increased 3db in gain (out of nothing since it has no power source inputs seems magical), +1db from the X-10D (a total of 4db gain) and a new extended bottom end gives you such an added detail of crisp, clear, low level information, background information, acoustics information, articulated, fast and dynamic, sweet trebles soar in a presentation with a punch that will surprise you and scare you because of the unexpected ways it jumps at you. I put it in and have never looked back since.

Detailed Version:
Because of reports posted here that indicated the TDS adding weight to the low mid section and also reading reports about the “leanness” of Kimber Silver Streak I figured those two should balance each other and that’s the combination I went with two months ago.

I tried the TDS in different places in the chain, between the MF-X-ACT and MF-X-10D but where it really worked best in this system was directly before the power amp as recommended by the manufacturer. (There is no preamp in this system.)

So all this preamble, how does the darn thing sounds! Well, since the 1970’s I had never heard again a component that will actually bring out new information on the CDs that I’ve heard tens of times over and over again! All my CD’s do sound like remastered versions. Whenever this happens I consider the improvement to be a major step forward. The TDS is a major step! although I must caution “forward” depends on which direction your system is facing.

For one thing, the heavy little black box will boost your volume (signal) level (TDS Audio says by a gain of 3db) but it is passive. It has no power source! It truly seems magical. Subjectively the floor level remained the same but every music peak and valley and transient had (about 3:1) more punch to it. *It adds no noise of its own but it will make more evident any noises inherent in the source recordings. The plucking of acoustic guitar strings, the climax on the voice of a singer it’s all more articulated. You get a greater “feel for the road on the music” as it rides through the musical pieces. And at times it may surprise you and even scare you because of the unexpected way the dynamics jump at you. This last part took me a little bit to get used to.

The tonal balance seems to be rich through out all across. There is more of everything and I could hear no prominence in any particular area. The low end seems more extended (I imagine due to the higher gain) and the high end will have the characteristics of what it’s feeding the TDS. The mids are presented as warm and articulate but remember all this is subjected to your music source components with the interconnect you are feeding the TDS with.

Now this is something I’ve never seen (hear) anything do before: The TDS improved the timbre of everything. Specially Brass sounds rich and full. Electric Guitars Ahhh so textured! Kick Drums, vocalists, choruses, acoustic guitars and its string decays, flutes, violins & cellos, you name it! Synths, they were all easier to identify and savor their inflictions.

Along with this there was what appears to be a “selective reverb like” added to the music tracks. I say “selective” because is not all over the spectrum, nor on all the tracks... just for some instruments sometimes and on certain tracks. The TDS is retrieving ambient information that because of mixing or whatever got buried on the production CDs! Yes it’s there!

Where this was most impressive was on Caryn Lin’s Tolerance for Ambiguity from Alchemy Records (alcd1010) an electric violin album that I so love but regreted the thin sounding and flat staging of the recording. The TDS fleshed the sound, improved the stage from flat to at least double layered (it won’t do miracles) BUT what blew me away were all these other cues and little parts buried on the last threshold of the background that loud as I’ve played never heard before! My TimeLife 70’s collection finally sounds pleasent! Fleshed and layered!! So now wait, that means rich recordings will sound heavy right? Not at all! I love Chesky’s Women of Song album. I’ve never heard such a present performance as when I played Track 11- Columbus by Christy Baron. It sent chills along my spine and the highest scale with widest grin across my face. What the TDS does to the already great staging of Chesky’s tracks is really astounding. Significant amounts of air on the stage. Really impressive.

Now not everything is Rosy. There are a couple of “small” caveats that you need to be aware of. *Because the way the TDS works it is very susceptible to Magnetic Fields which means it can easily pick up on hums generated by power supplies and anyother MF sources. Plan to place it as far away from these as feasible. Before the TDS I could bring the sensitivity of my power amp to the max without it making a peep of hum! with the TDS I had to bring in like 1/3 back to eliminate the hum although it didn’t really seem to have affected the power output level capacity because of the input gain increase. Very very low listening levels are hard to control.

Obviously you will need one more interconnect. Get one that is neutral and in the same level as the rest of your system. Whatever it is, the TDS will more than make up for it.

NO Body has mentioned this but TDS Audio places a minimum requirement for the TDS and it is that the load be of a minimum not less than 20K ohm. Which I believe is easily met by most power amp components out there with around 50K ohm inputs but just in case...

As final thought, how much you get out of the TDS will depend on the resolution of your system. The TDS knows what to do and does everything right. I highly recommend it. I think State Of The Art Hi End systems might not benefit from it but for all the rest of the world out there it may just take your system to its next level.

Happy Listenings.

Related Equipment: Sansui CD-X317 CD as transport, Kimber Optilink, MF-ACT DAC, Kimber Silver Streak Interconnect, MF-X-10D tubed buffer, Tara RSC Prime interconnect, TDS Passive Audiophile component, Tara Quantum Ref. MKII Interconnect, Carver TFM-55 power amp, Original Monster Speaker Cable, dbx labs soundfield V speakers (modified.)

For some reason beyond me the combination of Silver Streak + Monster m1000i + TARA Quantum Ref. MKII interconnects didn’t work out with each other in this system. It made the soundstage huge yes, but also all sense of immediacy and presence was lost. The closest musician was 10 feet behind the speakers. So I tried other interconnects Tara Prism 22, XLO ER-4, MIT T-2’s. Of all these the one I liked the best was Prism22 but it lacked in openness, low level detail and transparency. So I tried some Tara RSC Prime and it provided what I was looking for in an interconnect to add to the chain with minimum impact. Monster m1000i went out. (at least for now.)

I'm going to make this kinda short and sweet until I have more time to live with and do more thorough comparisons of the TDS Passive Audiophile in and out my system. I have been going through a process of almost complete system upgrades over the past couple of months, each change being for the positive. Some upgrades have made what I "would have" considered substantial improvements in realism, some to a lesser degree.
But without a doubt, this little black box from TDS has added by far the most "realism" to my system. It's like the speakers just disappeared from the room. A much greater sense of "there in the room with you" to everything. A bit hard to believe, to be honest. I read the comments and reviews from others, but it was a bit of a shock when I heard it for myself.

Is it doing anything wrong? Dunno...too soon to say. But whatever it may be doing wrong...or doing to degrade the resolution of my system, it is doing far more to improve it. I'll take the tradeoff any day,if there are any.

Will comment more as I have a chance to do more thorough comparisons.

Just go out and get you one....with a 30 day money back guarantee you can't go wrong.

If you have trouble finding it, give me a call at 334-479-8361. I'll be glad to get one for you.

Well, I hate to be the wet blanket, but I really had a far less favorable reaction to this unit than the other reviewers. For the record I am reviewing the TDS Passive Audiophile, purchased new from Audio Advisor for 359.99.
The first thing I did was set the unit up right between amp and pre-amp. In this configuration, I absolutely hated it. All sense of transparency in the midrange was lost. I've heard people describe this sort of sound as "wooly". I suppose I can agree. It also seemed to add an audible amount of noise... this, I later discerned, was due to it's proximity to either my amp or my pre-amp's dedicated power supply. In all fairness, when the the TDS was moved far away from ACsources and amps it became far more bearable.

Next, I tried it in the tape loop. Better, for some reason. But, by better, I mean, almost as good as the sound without the TDS!

I tried it most succesfully between DAC and pre-amp. This was the most liveable natural sound I could find, so I based most of my in depth evaluation with the TDS located at that stage of the chain.

First, the gain it adds is quite substantial, making it very difficult to do a "switch-back-and-forth" type comparison by flipping the switch on and off. It seems to boostthe mid-bass especially giving rock recordings a sort of splashy sound. After extending listening of Elvis Costello's "king of america" I became very annoyed with the TDS and just had to shut it off. It really adds a level of fatigue to my system that certainly is not present otherwise.

A lot of reviews have claimed that this broadens the soundstage... well, the soundstage is indeed larger, but the imaging just goes out the window. It gives it a sort of widescreen sound

Overall, its seems to push everything foward and jam it together in a very unnatural way.

Results may vary by system and listener of course, definitely not for me. If you have 400.00 burning a whole in your jeans, buy some new speaker wire.

System:

Amp: Music Reference Rm10
Pre: Music Fidelity Nuvista
CD: Rega planet as transport, Music Fidelity X24K DAC Kimber AGDL digital cable
X-PSU for DAC
Speakers: B&W CDM1SE's on target stands, sand filled
Tuner: Music Fidelity X-plora
XP Strata 800AV line conditioner
Salamnder racks
Cables: Kimber Pbj, Hero, MIT T2, Montster M2.2, Kimber 4pr, 4tc, AudioQuest Ruby.... always switching!

Alright people,no BS here,just what I think this device is capable of doing.It will take your money and waste your time.This product does not deliver.It will not give you the feeling of being there.Oh, when you hook it up,you will notice the difference when you flick th toggle switch.It will sound louder and seem to bring out the mids,they will definitely come out,but without this piece of crap hooked to it,everything sounded better.I totally agree with Rob Damm on this one,except I don't care if I spoil anybody's party.This thing stinks. First my system:Fisher 500C receiver,Kyocera 310-CX CD player,Project 6.1 turntable going through a Musical Fidelity X-LP phono stage,Paradigm Mini monitor and Monitor 3 speakers.
I hooked it up between the receiver's preamp and amp stages.Listened to it.Compared the sound quality with the unit hooked up to the receiver and playing the receiver direct.I noticed that while the TDS was inbetween the preamp and amp stages,the sound quality was greatly diminished,the bass was greatly reduced,both mids and highs were cut quite a bit.It sounded muffled,as if I put a box over the speakers.Yeah when I switched the TDS on it did sound better,but not any near as good as the receiver playing straight.It also introduced distortion into the signal,and no,I didn't have near any power source.
I also checked the interconnects to see if they could the problem,but they checked out fine on everything else.
My recommendation,keep your money.This is nothing but a bunch of hype to make you believe you are getting a better sound.And for those you who think this unit works,try listening to it out of the signal path and not just flick the toggle switch.
I give this the lowest rating possible.I would give it a 0 but they don't have it.

The creators of the True Dimensional Sound device claim it restores lost harmonic information to recorded sound. After living with the device for over a year, I can only concur. The subtleties of music become much more apparent, even during orchestral power music. Greater clarity and heightened dynamics are definitely provided by this small unassuming box. The effects of this device are not relegated to a particular frequency range. Bass information below 100Hz (down to 20Hz) became more powerful in my subwoofered system with a concomitant increase in bass articulation. All aspects of the recorded soundstage became much more apparent and lifelike. What I found astonishing was how this device enabled me to hear much further into what the composers and engineers intended. Music that I had previously dismissed as mediocore because of the performance or recording suddenly became palpable and much more enjoyable to listen to. For the rather reasonable price, this thing is akin to going from Rat Shack zipcord to Nordost SPM in your system (not a bad idea either if you can do the tariff). What the box does is push--not nudge--your system forward in the direction it was heading. It will not turn a mass market receiver into a Audio Research/Krell extravaganza. If your equipment has revealed some of music's felicities already, give it a try! You might become addicted.