[jimtranr]

A couple of months ago I wrote the following to conclude an assessment of an upgraded power supply feeding a USB reclocker in my bedroom audio system: “Given all that I hear now, I think it’s safe to say that I’m done tweaking the bedroom system.” Heh.

With Wireworld’s announcement of its Series 8 cables, I was curious about whether the Eclipse 8 interconnects would better what I was already hearing with Eclipse 7s running from the bedroom-system DAC to its passive attenuator and from the latter to my solid-state amp. Wireworld’s “Series 8 Upgrades” information PDF said that I would hear “truly beautiful tone quality with greater purity and definition” as the consequence of an increase in the number of Ohno Cast Copper-7N strands (upping the cable’s gauge from 19 to 18) and a new insulation formulation dubbed “Composilex 3”. As a bonus, I’d experience “greater flexibility” placement-wise with the 8s, a welcome feature given the semi-tight confines of my equipment rack.

So I ordered two one-meter RCA-terminated Eclipse 8 IC pairs from Ivan.

Sorry I haven’t included photos here, but when the Eclipse 8s arrived I was anxious to get everything up and running, so into the system they went—oriented in accordance with the > output-to-input flow-direction symbol--as soon as I removed them from their packaging.

I discovered two things right away. First, Wireworld’s promotional announcement was spot-on with its physical description--the Eclipse 8s are noticeably more flexible than their Series 7 predecessors while retaining the quality “feel” of the company’s products I first experienced with my acquisition of Equinox 6 ICs way back when. Second, the 8s’ RCA plugs gripped the components’ input and output jacks somewhat tighter than the 7s’ plugs did, requiring just a tad more effort to push-install. Which is fine by me.

Listening comparisons are always tricky because, absent a means of being able to switch immediately from one comparison component to the other, the listener has to (1) rely on auditory memory and (2) be aware of the confirmation bias inherent in the “because it’s new, it’s better” mindset. And, impatient cuss that I am, I was in no mood to spend the time and effort required to swap Eclipse 7s and 8s into and out of the system for on-the-spot comparisons. With those caveats in mind, what follows is my assessment of the Eclipse 8 interconnects based on listening observations conducted from immediate-post-installation to the 90 or so hours they’ve “cooked” thus far on a combination of played-back ripped 16/44 or hi-rez-downloaded musical program (classical, jazz, opera, choral, “big” film scores, big band, and vocals) and Sheffield/XLO test disc burn-in tones.

The Eclipse 8s deliver on the promise of “tone quality with greater purity and definition”. That was noticeable even from a cold start and has been increasingly evident as burn-in has progressed. That’s not just my assessment. After just about eight hours of burn-in and less than 30 seconds into the track of the Turtle Creek Chorale’s rendering of Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow” (16/44 Reference Recordings rip), She Who Must Be Consulted asserted, “It’s better--the voices are clearer and the words more distinct.” That’s what I heard, too, along with more pronounced layering of the individual choirs and expanded venue space.

We followed that up with Mirella Freni singing “Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio” from the von Karajan-conducted Decca/London “Madama Butterfly” with Luciano Pavarotti and the Vienna Philharmonic (24/96 download). “Beautiful,” my wife said. “And better.” So was the separation and layering of the Vienna Phil in a deeper, more detailed, and somewhat wider soundstage as well as better definition bottom to top than rendered with Eclipse 7 IC’s in the mix, with subtle inner voicing, timbral nuance, and microdynamics more manifest.

All well and good, and on its own that would have been sufficient to warrant the Eclipse 8 upgrade. But what became increasingly evident as burn-in progressed—and whether the program was Henry Mancini conducting his “Peter Gunn” score (RCA, 16/44 rip), Sarah Vaughan intoning “But Not for Me” from her “Gershwin Live” stint with Michael Tilson Thomas (Columbia, 16/44 rip), Morton Gould traversing his “Fall River Legend” ballet (RCA, DSD128 download), or Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd riffing on “Desafinado” in “Jazz Samba” (Verve, 24/96 download)—was the sensation of the performers “working the room”…mine. It’s not that the presentation is more forward than I’ve experienced with the Eclipse 7s (it isn’t), but rather that the space occupied by soloists or ensemble is “airier” and—how to put it?--integrated more closely with that of my listening room. I’d gotten very close to the sensation of “being there” with the Eclipse 7s in place—but not this close.

So the Eclipse 8 interconnects are keepers. (Happily, the still-very-estimable 7s have found a new home—one pair replacing Equinox 6s in the home-office system and the other pair doing the same in the living-dining room.)

“So, Jim, since you’re so happy with your new interconnects, are you done tweaking the bedroom system?”

Uh, no. The current speaker cables are Blue Jeans/Belden. Given my experience with the interconnects, I’ve decided to replace them—with Eclipse 8s I’ve just ordered from Ivan.