TimePortal Testimonials

Unsolicited Customer Testimonials sent to David J. Schulte and TimePortal Cables

Every client has paid The Upgrade Company LLC in full.   No kickbacks, no commissions, no fees of any kind for recommending our products and services.

February 2012

The following letter is unsolicited and is written to David Schulte, founder of The Upgrade Company, out of the sheer joy of now having a system that has restored music to my home.  As a retired college professor turned businessman, my time is limited and the available leisure I fill with music.

For the last forty minutes, I have been seated in front of my stereo system listening to Rossini overtures.  This was one of the first SACDs I purchased when SACD first hit the market.  Frankly, I never liked the way it sounded.  No sound stage, little differentiation between instruments—everything seemed to run together.  Now, on the system that The Upgrade Company has fundamentally built for me, the disk sounds glorious with a great soundstage and wonderful differentiation between instruments.  What depth, what tonality, what precision.

For some time, I had contemplated upgrading my system.  My dedicated SACD player was Sony’s first, and while it was an outstanding piece of equipment in its time, it created a soundstage that was less than satisfying. Reviews of more recent Sony products and products by others told me, now is the time to step up.  Furthermore, my Sony blu ray player was an entry level machine and while good, was not great.  Then I came across a review of the Oppo 95.  I spent time on the web reading reviews of the Oppo and also talking to folks from a couple of independent A/V stores who of course did not sell the Oppo but had solid opinions based on years of experience in the industry.  Everything pointed to replacing my two pieces with the Oppo 95.  My only concern was not its delivery of blu ray material but its ability to deliver high quality audio for my extensive SACD collection.  Well, I purchased the Oppo, and was delighted but still desired more.

One of the web sites that I read that helped convince me to purchase the Oppo was The Upgrade Company.  This site also talked about turning the Oppo into a machine that could rival the reproduction of music of machines costing $70,000.  Wow.  Bold statement. But was it a reckless statement?  Was this snake oil or the real McCoy?  A couple of reviews of The Upgrade Company accused its founder, David Schulte, of being a charlatan.  There was only one way to learn for myself:  I called The Upgrade Company and spoke to Schulte directly.

What I learned after numerous conversations with Schulte—and does this guy make himself available—is that he knows his industry, he knows the equipment he sells and upgrades intimately—who needs the manual when you have Schulte--and, most important, that he is a person of integrity.  When a small but rare problem occurred to my Onkyo 5508,  before I could finish describing the problem to him, he told me that he was shipping me a fresh 5508 and that he would cover the cost of shipping the new one to me and the cost of returning the damaged one to him.  That deserves another Wow.  Schulte does business the way I do—quality before profit.  With Schulte, you not only get his outstanding upgraded equipment—the Onyko and the Oppo are what he said they would be after his upgrade--but also his guarantee.  It is as if his personal integrity is found in every box that that he sends to you.

One last point before I give Schulte a swelled head.  I also purchased TimePortal power cords, speaker cables and interconnects.  What a difference these make, truly make.  I had good cables before, but TimePortals are truly as good as the most costly cords on the market today.  These make a huge difference even if you do nothing more to your present equipment.

Sincerely,
Alfred Balitzer, Ph.D.

A brief bio on Dr. Balitzer can be found on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Balitzer

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October 2011

TimePortal Reference RCA Analog Interconnects and TimePortal Reference Powercord

Thought I'd surprise you with a TimePortal review for your website!

The last couple of years I have been a silver cable guy - not until a friend directed my attention to the TimePortal Reference RCA's with a mix of silver & copper 99.999% wire with extensive shielding - and a 100% Buy Back Guarantee - not much to worry about.  When I received the cables about a week later, boy - did the TimePortals deliver. First of all the absence of "background-noise/digitalis" is striking and unusual.  Natural timbre seems to flow effortless - one is really just enjoying the music - not even looking for flaws - there simply aren't any.  All the "State of the Art" parametres are there in spades - details that merge into a musical wholeness, 3D, transparency, dynamics, black background, strong low end etc.

I've owned many RCA analog interconnects up to around $5,000 usd - the TimePortal's best everything I've tried by large margin - and at this price the TimePortals are truly a bargain - a real no brainer. 

The TimePortal Reference Power cables were also a positive surprise - they will settle down your HiFi setup - yet increase information retrieval and increase musicality from your signal source.  They cleanup the artificial's and without getting clinical - the live feeling moved 2 levels up. The best powercables I have ever heard in my 30 years in HIFI.  These "babies" really make a difference that everybody can hear/notice - unless one is totally deaf :-)

Martin I. Denmark

TimePortal Reference power cord and analog RCA interconnect testimonial  for David J. Schulte & TimePortal Cables

 Thanks for sending the power lead and interconnects to demo.  I have to confess I wasn’t looking to trial new interconnects or a power cord, or find any sort of excuse to spend more money. However, once I got them in the system and started swapping-out a few times, my views changed.  The Oppo 95 Signature Edition upgrade has had lots of use now and is sounding very good.  Strong bass.  The TimePortal interconnects seemed to emphasize that, but the quality of bass was significantly improved.  I thought I was already using good high end ICs, but they turned-out to be rather grey sounding in comparison. The TimePortal Reference interconnects were a real step forward.  There was significantly more drive and energy, and all the low-level things were opened up as well.  

The Usual Suspects

Like many users of high-end audio equipment, I have the usual collection of power cords, each with own unique appearance and flavor.  The flood of designer power cords that have hit the market in the last decade reflects listeners’ concerns for interference and coloration in the audio signal. Some of the power cords are like snakes, while others are like garden hoses- and then there are the bizarre woven kind that look like expensive automotive brake hose.  The one thing they have in common is that they each sound different but to my ear do not markedly improve the sound much more than a stock power cord with a couple of fer¬rites attached.  Enter the TimePortal all silver 9ga triple shielded power cord with pure 24k rhodium AC and IEC fittings:  this is truly a breakthrough product that actually cleans up the sound the minute it is installed.

Since I was planning to use the cords with digital front end, which I had just gotten back from The Upgrade Company with the latest upgrades, I had to wait a few hundred hours until the upgraded units burned in; I then would be able to evaluate the improvement made by the power cords themselves.

With extra time on my hands, I burned in & A-B’d the TimePortal cords with all kinds of equipment. I consistently and immedi¬ately perceived improvements in focus, image depth, with a very black background, improved resolution, less grunge and haze.

When I finally connected the two TimePortal power cords into my upgraded EMM Labs CDSD-SE and DAC6e-SE, I achieved spectacular results.

As good as TimePortal power cords have been in my experience with all types of high end audio equipment, I find that digital electronics benefited the most.  Aftermarket power cords can be very expensive, and in that market the TimePortal Reference power cords  are on the side of economical.  However, TimePortal’s Reference power cord is a bargain at any price, because I cannot imagine running my digital front end now with any other brand of power cord.  Even sky-high priced cords I own and have demo’d.

UCLA Professor of Music and Composition,  Paul Reale (retired)
Also see Paul Reale’s EMM LABS testimonial