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Post by MartinT on Jun 18, 2014 17:04:30 GMT
Part I - Balanced Interconnects
Description
The SLIC Innovations Eclipse C balanced XLR cable is a substantial offering, thick and quite resistant to tight bending and very nicely presented and finished in a black braid. The XLR plugs on my sets are Black Rhodium, although various plug options are offered. No significant details of materials used are available but there exists a patent (no. EP 1 509 932) from which construction details may be gleaned. Reasons given in the patent for the cable’s performance include improvements in skin effect conductivity and magnetic field interaction between nearby conductors, although much of it is lost in the usual impenetrable patent-speak.
Two 1m pairs were kindly loaned to me by MCRU but have now been purchased as a permanent fixture in my system. My two runs are used in SACD Player > Preamp and Preamp > Power Amp runs, giving a fully balanced system path for optical disc playback.
For comparison are my previous Yannis 223.5 ConnectLitz silver XLR cables, themselves high performers which have seen off Kimber Select KS-1121, Tellurium Q Black XLR, Canare Star-Quad XLR and Mark Grant silver plated XLR cables in the past.
There was a small improvement in sound from new over the course of a few days, but not nearly as much as I am accustomed to with, for instance, silver cables. I believe that MCRU burns them in on a cable burner before sending them out.
Listening Notes
k d lang – Drag: more space around Lang’s voice. I could hear the studio for the first time. Big dynamics and her soaring voice really tested midrange clarity. Reduced sibilance and the ride cymbal really sounded like metal being struck. I played at a higher volume than I’m used to (a common theme with these cables).
Jeff Beck – You Had it Coming: a real sense of menace to some of the track openings, especially Loose Cannon.
Jeff Beck – Emotion and Commotion: fantastic impact but less harshness when the songs got very busy. Joss Stone’s voice incredibly lifelike in I Put a Spell On You.
Christina Pluhar & All’Improvviso – L’Arpeggiata: wonderful delineation of fine detail. Lovely delicacy to the dulcimer and startling attack on the Spanish guitar.
Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms [SACD]: the drum in So Far Away had metronomic timing and started and stopped very quickly. Some nice left/right swirling that I had never noticed before.
Prince & The New Power Generation – Diamonds and Pearls: the massive wall of sound in Thunder retained the various strands of the music and hung together wonderfully as a performance. This has always been a good test for any harshness in my system.
Damian Rice – O: the drum strikes in Delicate had proper shape in the big acoustic, putting me right there. The cymbal decay went on and on into a whisper-quiet shimmer.
Philip Glass – Violin Concerto, Eschenbach, Houston SO: lovely violin sound, highly vivid and with truly thrilling orchestral climaxes.
Albeniz – Suite Española, Frühbeck de Burgos, New Philharmonia: brass crescendi that took me aback with their attack in Castilla.
I listened to many more pieces but you probably get the general idea by now.
Sound
To summarise what I am hearing in my system, the SLIC XLR cables bring the following benefits:
- 1.There is more very fine detail, especially noticeable when it was previously buried in the mix. It isn’t just more detail appearing, there is space around the notes improving overall definition. Further listening reveals things creeping into my awareness that I hadn’t noticed before.
- Quiet sections of music reveal more cues about the soundstage and recording venue. Reverb around the room, the noise the air volume makes, people shuffling, sub-bass shudders.
- The volume seems quieter even when I’m pulling some serious decibels (I was hitting 95dB at my listening position during the Jeff Beck, for instance). There is a sense of the presentation sounding less busy, and appearing lower in volume, because the strands of the music are better separated; overall definition is up and glare is well down. I’m setting the gain 2-4dB higher than I’m used to.
I have not mentioned bass or treble simply because I can hear no enhancement or deficiencies throughout the frequency range. These findings are for my system with my ears. Since cables can only subtract from the signal, the above comments should be seen as saying that the SLIC XLR subtracts the least of any cable I have ever used.
Conclusions
Balanced cables, due to their superior connection and common mode noise rejection, tend not to exhibit the dramatic differences that single-ended cables do. It has therefore been a surprise to hear such an upgrade in presentation over the Yannis. Cable choice is just the final tuning and should not be seen as a tone control or a fix for poorly performing components. However, the greater the system resolution, the more subtle changes become audible and that is what happened in my system. So this is one solid rung up the performance ladder for me.
Only you can decide whether this cable represents good value for money, and only after you have auditioned it. In the context of my system, the two pairs represent 1/50th of its total cost and I consider that to be a very satisfying value proposition for the performance yielded.
Price
See the MCRU site for prices according to length and plugs selected.
My system as in my signature.
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Post by ninanina on Jun 20, 2014 18:46:19 GMT
Well it seems that we are 'allowed' to discuss the SLIC on this forum, how very refreshing..!! I love my new SLIC rca cable....best I have ever tried and I've tried loads of them over the last 30+ years (that makes me feel very old!!!) It's a strange cable in some respects.... what I mean by that is that I certainly do not find it an 'impressive' sounding cable at all.. what it does though is produce music with an amazing naturalness that once heard is difficult to pass up... yes it's expensive but I found I could not do without it once it was in my system. I tried a number of pretty expensive cables before deciding on the SLIC  I did also try a recommended 'studio' type cable for £20 and found it sounded just that.... a £20 cable.... total rubbish in my system and to my ears.... it was the Gotham thingmy bob and it just sounded rough in my system..  |
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Post by MartinT on Jun 20, 2014 18:59:38 GMT
Bev, this forum's ethos is open and free speech. As long as the forum rules are followed, we won't be directing the discussion at all and we will never be swayed by trade presence.
Having now put a single-ended SLIC in my system, I am running both XLR (two runs) and phono versions. I know exactly what you mean by not sounding impressive. They are anything but; they kind of sneak up on you, and suddenly you realise you're hearing a wealth more detail and spacial cues than ever before. I'm intending on writing up the single-ended version once I've really got a handle on it (this run is phono amp to preamp so it's used for vinyl only), but please feel free to write your thoughts about it.
As for the price, I've tried to clarify the meaning of value in the past. Value is a personal thing and indicates that you see a fair exchange of money for (in this case) performance. There is no such thing as 'rip-off'! You buy what you are willing to pay, and if you're not willing to pay the price then you won't have bought it! For me, the SLICs are approximately twice the price of the Yannis and give an incremental performance increase. As the law of diminishing returns goes, that's a fair expectation. In any case, there are FAR more costly cables out there so everything is relative.
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Post by John on Jun 20, 2014 18:59:56 GMT
For me different cables can work in different systems I could not live with the Gothams either but each to their own I not heard the SLIC and at the moment would be far to expensive to justify and also happy with balance I get but interesting so many people are getting good resuts
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Post by ninanina on Jun 20, 2014 21:22:27 GMT
So has anyone tried the SLIC speaker cable yet??
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Post by MartinT on Jun 20, 2014 21:47:40 GMT
No, I know nothing about it.
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Post by ninanina on Jun 20, 2014 22:13:00 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Jun 20, 2014 22:27:13 GMT
Interesting. A little lower in price than my Tellurium Q Ultra Blacks, which have seen off very expensive Kimber Select KS-3035 and Analysis Plus Big Silver cables in my system. So far only NVA LS7 has matched the TQ for sound quality.
I'm really not in the market for more speaker cables right now, but I'll have a listen if I get the chance.
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Post by ninanina on Jun 20, 2014 23:05:44 GMT
I'm not in the market either but if the RCA is anything to go by then we must try it  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jun 21, 2014 10:53:47 GMT
Next time I'm down would you like to try my Exposures ?
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Post by MartinT on Jun 21, 2014 12:07:18 GMT
Oh yes, now that would be fun!
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Post by MikeMusic on Jun 21, 2014 15:20:07 GMT
Manky old stuff I had considered giving away or selling for pennies as I had 3 pairs of it !
This has been the biggest surprise I had when comparing
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Rank: Soloist
Posts: 24 
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Post by . on Jun 21, 2014 22:00:46 GMT
Thus far I cannot find ANY cable that can even get close to what the SLIC Innovations Eclipse does. It is not an exciting cable that draws immediate attention to itself with excitement and fireworks, but rather it just transmits pure music in a totally natural way without any colouration or distortion. Turn the volume up as far as you like and there is never any "blare" or a perceptible increased level of loudness that makes you wince and want to turn it down again. I always thought it was the limits of amplification and speakers that caused the "blare" but I now realise that it is the cable that is responsible for this distortion. Yes I know that it's price is somewhat daunting to some, but trust me when i say it does end that continual search for the right cable to "synergise" with your system, because that is yet another hi-fi myth that has been well and truly buried by SLIC.
Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the speaker cables to match and if they are as good as the Eclipse interconnects then I am positive they will get my system to perform at it's best with regards to cabling.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 21, 2014 22:13:16 GMT
I will reiterate my thoughts on the SLIC's performance in case some people think there is some sort of group hypnosis going on here.
I agree with Bev and Frank that they are not sonic spectaculars, what they do is subtle and take a little time to 'get'. Where I depart is that I want to set their contribution in the scheme of things. They won't fix a poor system, no cable will do that (except possibly one carrying about 20kV). They are a step better in performance over the Yannis, themselves very good cables. They are worth having if you can afford them and if your system is up to the performance level and well sorted. They cost twice as much as Yannis but they are not twice as good. That cannot be.
I do recommend them, but with the proviso that everything else must be working well or else you'll be wasting your money and you will be disappointed. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jun 22, 2014 14:29:13 GMT
Next visit to MM towers please
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Post by The Brookmeister on Jun 22, 2014 14:47:57 GMT
Martin has the speaker cables sat on his desk at work hopefully, when he has evaluated them Frank and Bev can have a listen.
I have been experimenting with USB, Ethernet and tone-arm cables the last being the hardest to do as the mini 5 pin din is very difficult to
work with, Eugene has promised me mains but that will be a while away due to the extra costs to tool up for the design.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 22, 2014 20:12:03 GMT
Yes, I collected them from work yesterday. Will find a clear evening in which to try them out, thanks David.
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Post by The Brookmeister on Jun 24, 2014 20:12:32 GMT
Just finished a SLIC tonearm cable, trouble is I cannot listen to it as my silver wired Jelco was the wrong colour, I ordered black
and they sent me silver so I am waiting for the black one to arrive tomorrow then plumb it all in and see if it makes a noise!
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Post by DaveC on Jun 24, 2014 21:55:43 GMT
Just finished a SLIC tonearm cable, trouble is I cannot listen to it as my silver wired Jelco was the wrong colour, I ordered black and they sent me silver so I am waiting for the black one to arrive tomorrow then plumb it all in and see if it makes a noise! I use Photoshop when this happens. Dave |
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Post by The Brookmeister on Jun 25, 2014 7:54:47 GMT
Just finished a SLIC tonearm cable, trouble is I cannot listen to it as my silver wired Jelco was the wrong colour, I ordered black and they sent me silver so I am waiting for the black one to arrive tomorrow then plumb it all in and see if it makes a noise! I use Photoshop when this happens. Dave LOL funny Dave! |
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