Slic Innovations Eclipse C Digital Cable

Following requests we have introdced the SLIC Eclipse C digital cable, exactly the same exceptional sound quality as the SLIC stereo interconnects, available as an RCA or XLR balanced version.

Full specification not coming soon, why?

Because there is no technical babble, no marketing waffle, features and benefits are simple to describe, this cable will allow you to hear detail that is in the recordings you listen to every day but the cables you were using did not reveal them. The SLIC title stands for Super Low Interference Cable, there has never been anything like it.

This cable is a single 1 metre long cable, longer lengths available using the drop down menu. Shorter lengths can be made but cost the same as one metre. We have added the option to up-grade the XLR version using either Oyaide or Furutech XLR connectors should you require this option, with the standard supplied XLR’s the SLIC sounds astounding, with Oyaide or Furutech XLR’s they sound astonishing!

Officially launched NOW. We have detailed 2 user reports below from audiophiles who were loaned the cables to evaluate for us.

Here is my honest appraisal of these “mystery” interconnects:

I will say this is one of the hardest appraisals I have ever had to do, not that I have not been impressed by what these mystery cables offer in sound quality terms, more the sheer inadequacy of the English language in expressing what I am hearing and not falling into using the same all too often used superlatives that have little meaning now due to their over usage, therefore I will leave all the gilding off and use language more familiar.

CONSTRUCTION

All I have is a rather nondescript pair of black shrouded interconnects with what feels like a plaited multi-conductor construction. I have been given no indication as to what materials have been used.

SOUND

All too often I will be impressed initially by a cable on first hearing and then once the initial euphoria has waned, I then begin to find weaknesses that were not immediately apparent at first hearing. It is for that reason that I prefer to wait at least a whole day BEFORE any opnions are formulated.

So, how do they stack up? Firstly, I will deal with the bass registers. I cannot detect any bass overhang with them at all. Bass certainly is fullsome and very powerful with superb definition and timbre. In most other cables I have heard regarding bass performance, it is without exception traded off in other areas like treble or midrange, or worse still, swamps, muddies and overwhelms the other frequency bands. Not so at all with this cable; the bass is almost “detached” (in a positive way) from the other frequencies, so any bass line is easy to follow as a seperate entity if one so wishes, without ever disturbing or imposing itself elsewhere in the audible spectrum. Whatever CD I played I could easily follow the bass lines without bloom or smearing – even the favourite tracks I have heard many thousands of times before over the years. I have just listened to Focus’ “Anonymus II” and it has completely blown me away with the clarity, dynamics a sheer raw energy this track contains, which all too often even high end systems manage to turn into a mushy cacophany. Pink Floyd’s “Wall” album has within the title track a tambourine well back in the mix that most systems allow it to fade in and out, especially when the dynamics get hectic, but this cable allows you to hear that tambourine so clearly and consistently right the way through no matter what else is going on in the music. Get the LP/CD out now and listen out for that tambourine in the background! So just for one moment I will add the typical cliche about hearing so, so, so, so much more from very familiar recordings I have owned for close on 40 years and more, played on some esoteric systems too. From a mere cable? Yep, no doubt whatsoever, it has ‘upgraded’ my own humble system by no small margin and that really is hard for people to swallow I will readily concede, but true it certainly is.

Likewise, the midband and treble registers operate within their own distinct “pockets” within the sound envelope. Treble is so “clean” and truthful with no ringing or splashiness, ambience details are conveyed so crisply and accurately it’s uncanny to say the least. Imaging construction is deep from front-to-back, tall top to bottom and way out beyond the speakers. A struck cymbal sounds exactly like a struck cymbal SHOULD do, full of energy and vibrancy, anyone can clearly hear wooden drumstick against metal, a struck triangle sounds so exquisite it makes you feel like rewinding again and again to simply enjoy that delicious sound! Live recorded music is live in every sense of the word with venue ambience and reverb stunningly recreated and it is shocking to hear that an audience actually SOUNDS like an audience instead of sounding like a frying pan cooking bacon rashers. This is further enhanced by the lack of any background noise, which I think is THE hardest parameter to achieve in a cable design with any pretensions to being high end.

SUMMARY

Make no mistake, this cable is certainly no “tone control” whereby you could use it to correct shortfalls or inadequacies in your hi-fi system. It does not have good bass at the expense of a muted or stinging treble, or vice versa. Top to bottom it excels in all areas of the audible spectrum.

Given that there are countless cables available to spend your hard-earned on, where in the great scheme of things would this cable rank amongst the herd? I have had through my hands over the years some cables costing many hundreds of pounds per metre and I cannot think of a single one gone before that had the performance this cable has. Sure, some had bass or treble performance to die for, but SOMEWHERE there was a trade-off, nor can I think of a single one that could match the eerie background silence this cable has and as for picking out the finest minutae in recordings and painting aural pictures in the air, none come even close. The one area where it does get it’s backside slapped hard is the appearance. I quizzed David Brook about that and he tells me what I have here is only a prototype with inexpensive plugs fitted and the production version will get top end Furutechs. That addition would make this cable legendary I reckon.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion then, in my opinion this cable effectively re-writes interconnect cable design in a radical way and the industry leaders should begin perspiring now. It does not act as a notch filter or tone control, it offers no hindrance to what a hi-fi system is actually capable of, it has no sonic signature of it’s own to worry about and ends the search for “synergy” because there are no peaks or troughs to synergise with. I will finally say that I don’t intend to persuade anyone else to put their hand in their pocket to purchase one on my say-so alone, as I will be doing that myself – no matter what the final price tag is. For more information I would suggest you contact David at MCRU.

When word gets out just how good these cables really are, then kindly remember you heard it here first.

Frank Marshall

Mr. Mike Scargill writes thus…..

Hi Eugene,

My thoughts on the interconnects you left me with over the weekend.
You left with me 3 commercial interconnects ranging from around £800 pounds to £3000 and a sample of the cable you are considering going to market with to gauge my view as to where I perceived it to sit in relation to these cables.

I started with the most expensive of the commercial interconnects and was amazed at the level of detail and clarity, it had a very neutral laid back sound with no hard edges which let you get right into the music.  When I compared the cable to the other 2 commercial interconnects you could clearly see why this one cost so much more. I listened to a few different tracks on the expensive interconnect finding it hard to move on as I got more into the wonderful sound which the interconnects produced.  I finally managed to pull myself away and decided to try out the other 2 commercial interconnects to see how they compared having settled on a single track test track which would allow me to quickly compare the cables.  It became immediately apparent that they were inferior in almost every respect to the £3000 cable which is understandable.  So I quickly moved on to the sample cable.

From the moment I pressed play I knew the sample cable was something special, the £3000 cable was wonderful and almost worth selling the car for, but the sample cable was better.  The cable had a speed and musicality which all of  sudden seemed lacking on the other 3 cables.  I was suddenly hearing subtleties and nuances in the music which I had never heard before,. the cable had an astonishing knack of drawing you in to the heart of the music in a way which you suddenly realized was lacking on the £3000 cable and the other 2, it had a sense of timing and rythm which you didn’t realize was lacking, now here was a cable I might consider selling the  house for. Going back to the £3000 cable it now sounded flat, dull and lifeless, lacking a seance of timing, speed. detail and clarity.  It was quite strange to be seeing a cable a few minutes ago that I just didn’t want to change out it was that good, suddenly sound so unmusical that I couldn’t wait to swap back to the sample cable.  Now it was not that the £3k cable was lacking in any sane sense it was simply that the sample cable was that much better at delivering music.

I listened to the same tracks which I had done with the £3k cable each time having subtleties in the music just leaping out at me.  The sample cabling is by far the most engrossing interconnect I have ever heard, far out performing the £3k cable.  I swapped several times between that one and the sample interconnect and every time I was picking up on sounds on the sample cable I had not heard on the expensive cable and it was not until I went back and specifically listen out that I would detect them on the expensive cable. I think this is because not only does the sample cable squeezes more detail out of the music it draws you in to the heart of the music in a way that the other 3 cables do not.

If the sound rendition of the 3 sample commercial cables are typical of the market for that given price bracket then the world of music is about to undergo a revolution and I can’t wait to see where it leads.

Regards – Mike