I've heard the TD-1. Sounded amazing as a matter of fact. However, both units my friend tried were brand new and defective. He bought one (that's the one I heard) and then brought it back to exchange but the second one had the same problem. He was brokenhearted because it sounded so good, but there was no way he could use it due to the glaring defect.
He ended up with a TAB Funkenwerk thingy instead, which also sounds great (maybe not *quite* as great, but it works). Good luck getting one though.
The other unit he owns and loves is one I recommended to him, the DITTO DI box from Groove Tubes. As a DI box it really blows away much more expensive units, we did a bunch of blind listening tests against other DI's and DI/preamps (the Millenia was one of the few that held up to it). GT now makes a DI/preamp called the "Brick", which I haven't heard but is based on the DITTO so it has definite possibilities. GT also makes the SUPre which I mentioned earlier. GT gets overlooked a lot, and they make some good stuff. But GT preamps probably don't have the sound you are looking for.
I don't know the Toft ATC-2. There's a lot of stuff on that for $1,000--two channels of preamps, eqs, and compressors. If I'm looking for a single channel preamp for $1,200 I'd much rather go for the gold and get the very best preamp money can buy for that, without all the features. I want all the money in the sound, not the features.
Back to the TD-1. It did sound wonderful. You would need to buy it from a place that would be cool with you returning it, just in case. Just for the record, Millenia was no help to my friend who was sold faulty TD-1's that had exactly the same issue--and they wouldn't even admit there was a problem. You'd press a button to change to a certain setting and it was like you were sending AC current right out the audio lines. Deafening, and painfully so. A *serious* problem that was repeatable and rendered the unit unusable. The buttons also felt a little fragile, and there were some minor fit and finish issues. For the money you demand a high standard. That may have been an early production run unit, and maybe they've worked the kinks out by now. Millenia certainly has an audiophile type reputation, so if the TD-1 interests you I say at least check it out.
