Construction, very musical, sounds very analogue like

remote, prgrammable features, front panel

I was blown away by this CD player, I had been casually listening to several players in this price range, but was not planning to buy at the time. This player changed my plans completely and I have not been dissapointed yet. This is the best CD player that I have heard. I expected good things from the unit and my expectations were exceeded.

The only problem is that if you turn off the display there is no way to switch it on temporarily from the remote, so if you dont know the CD well there is no way to figure out where you are. using the remote is a little clumsy, especially if you also have the moon preamp (as I do). But the sound makes up for all this.

It get all parts of music presentation right

Similar Products Used:

Merdian 508.24, Audio Research CD2

Build Quality
Looks [Asthetically very pleasing]
Floating Sub-Chasis [suspended]
Seterate Power Supply

Over Hyped CD Player
Campflaged Sound
Restrained Dynamics
Sounds like a 500 Dollar Sony / Pioneer CD Player
Poor Remote [IR] {Too big and bulky, confusing to use}

15th June, 2001.

SIMAUDIO MOON ECLIPSE CD PLAYER

Serial Number :- A 211294 – CD.

Date of Purchase / Delivery :- 19th October, 1999.

Price Paid :- US $ 5,664/- + transport cost from Canada to Mumbai [Bombay] + Customs Duty [Indian].

Aesthetically very pleasing, superb build quality, but unfortunately that is all I can say in the defense of the Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD Player. As good and strong as it looks, so poor and weak it sounds.

Primarily a CD player is manufactured to be able to read Compact Discs and convert the same digital signal into an analog read out to be sent to your pre amplifier, so on and so forth………………….

I am not able to understand where the Moon Eclipse has gone wrong; it uses one of the best digital transports available in the market today [Phillips CDM 12 pro], although I have a personal preference for the Teac 32 [VRDS]; A separate outboard power supply etc. etc. etc.

I got the player more than 18 months back, and used it extensively in various set ups prior to my coming to a conclusion with regards the CD Players abilities and acumen’s.

Unfortunately there is not much I can say to applaud the CD Player. It is not musical, the playback lacks detail, almost as if 1 full octave has been removed. In the manufacturers / designers endeavor to smoothen out the rough edges of digital play back, shrillness of mediocre DACS have been controlled but at the expense of loss in detail.

Primarily I am a lover of ‘fatigue free’, ‘laid back’ sound, so I should be loving this player, but not at the expensive compromise of loss in ‘detail’.

There are other players in the market, around the same price range, give or take US $ 1,000/-, which in my opinion sound more ‘open’ ‘realistic’ ‘life like’ ‘natural’ etc. these are :-

YBA CD1 Delta
Audio Meca Mephisto II
Electrocompaniet EMC-1
Meridian 588 [Replacement for the 508.24]
Audio Aero Capitole
Gryphon Tabu

I would emphatically suggest all prospective buyers of a CD Player, with a budget of around 4,000/- US $ to 6,000/- US $, to audition the above mentioned players prior to deciding on a Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD Player.

The remote control definitely needs to be replaced. It not only weighs a ton and is too long and big, but is one of the most confusing IR Remote Control I have ever used or come across.

Testing and review carried out with :-

A] Equipment

Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD Player
Electrocompaniet EMC-1 CD Player
Ultech Audio UCD-100 CD Player + Sonic Frontiers SFD II [DAC]
Simaudio P-5 Pre Amplifier
Bryston BP-25 Pre Amplifier
Bryston 7B ST Power Amplifier
Dynaudio Confidence 5 Loudspeakers
vdH [Van den Hul] ‘The Second’ Balanced XLR Interconnect
vdH [Van Den Hul] ‘The Revelation’ Speaker Cable

B] Music

M.A. Recordings - Begona Olavide / Mudejar MA042A
Water Lily Acoustics - Tabula Rasa WLA-CS-44-CD
ECM Records – Making Music / Zakir Hussain ECM – 1349
Moment Records – Ustad Sultan Khan MRCD – 1006
Reference Recordings – TUTTI ! RR-906CD
Telarc – A tribute to Oscar Peterson CD – 83401
Chesky Records – The Raven / Rebecca Pidgeon JD 115
Mercury – Essential / Yello 512 390 – 2

Mazher Bashir JAFFAR

15th June, 2001.

Mumbai [Bombay] INDIA

e-mail :- schwinn@bol.net.in

www.schwinnwarehousing.com

Similar Products Used:

Electrocompaniet EMC-1 [Serial Number 1334] CURRENT USE.
Metronome T1A + C1A
Audio Aero Capitole 24/196
Meridian 588
Audio Meca Mephisto II
Meridian 500 + Sonic Frontier SFD II - MK 2.
Gryphon Tabu

Everything

Remote and plastic buttons on the main unit are not up to the rest of the system.

I am not going to repeat the usual comments.

I have purchased Linn Ikemi CD player about 3 month ago and I have thought that it was "THE player" considering the cost and what not ....until I have listened to this darn thing. Before I purchased the Ikemi, I was comparing it with Mark Levinson No.39, and I finally picked the Ikemi because the cost difference just did not justify the performance difference.
But when I heard the Moon Eclipse which was over $1,200 in cost here, I had to buy it in heart beat. It was that obvious. What everyone said about this player was true.

Their remote and those cheap plastic buttons are simply sh***y(Sorry, folks, but it's the only way I can describe them. It's that bad.). But I don't care because what comes out of this player is the best music I've ever encountered yet. Sorry, Wadia, Levinson and all the rest. As far as I'm concerned, the only truly musical CD players are Linn Sondek CD12 and Sim Audio Moon Eclipse. Until I hit the jackpot so I can afford the CD12, I'm sticking with this one.

Similar Products Used:

Linn Ikemi, Arcam FMJ CD23, Wadia 23, EAD CD-1000 MK2 and many more.

I've got one! (almost) (o'
Another under-priced-wonder from Sim Audio (I have the W5 as well)!
I Spent 4 hours with it in my system a few days ago. I felt it was out-performing quality players from both Wadia and Meridian.
Its ability to resolve instruments in 3d space are the best I've heard
in my system. Its very articulate but a joy to listen to as well.

Even though it looks like a million-bucks it ends up being a real bargin-
especialy for a Canadian. I would have to pay twice the price for a similar caliber imported player (American or European).

I have ordered one-and it will cost me slightly less than the Wadia 850 would have. But I would put it in the same league as the 860(almost twice the price!).

musical; natural; resolving/imaging/soundstaging abilities

remote clunky; button placement too low for CD controls.

Sim Audio (for people that know) produce world-class audiophile products at prices that are competitive, if not lower than most of the comparable competition.

First of all, build quality of the Eclipse CD player is first class, and it may look a bit funky, yet I find it very aesthetically appealing. How many CD players are not only spiked from the factory, but also have independent suspensions as well? This excellent design assists in resonance/jitter control right off the bat. A solid foundation/stand underneath the unit, and you're done- move on.

The Eclipse sounds very natural and musical, with excellent 3D imaging/spacial abilities. Agreed with one reviewer that it has the potential to be slightly on the bright side, but this is a minor quibble, and totally controllable through choice of other components and further 'tuning' through choice of wires (speaker, IC's, AND power cords). To expand on the above, I had found a slight'brightness'/digital glare at first when using the Eclipse through the Sim Audio P-5 SS preamp and my Audioquest speaker cables. Once I switched to an Audio Research LS16 tube preamp- and added Cardas Hexlink Golden 5C (previous top of the line prior to Golden Cross, and still preferred by some audiophiles) speaker wires- voila! it started to come together.

Also, use of Golden Cross XLR IC's is great choice, and I am also fond of Shunyata Powersnakes powercords with the Eclipse- very smooth along the entire frequency spectrum. Current amp is Theta Dreadnaught, running 400wpc into 4 ohms with 5 Totem Mani-2's (also a magical product- these speakers can 'disappear' in the right system). Reason for above choices is a combo of home theater AND 2-channel in the same system.

OK- this unit is a killer piece on its own- but the icing on the cake came when I added the final piece of the puzzle- A DCS Purcell digital upsampler. The Eclipse has a great feature- digital input/output (BNC). Also, the Eclipse DACs can read 24/96, and when all standard 16/44 CD's are upsampled to 24/96 through the Purcell, then passed back to the Eclipse, the result is nothing short of breathtaking. Any perceived digital glare evaporates, and you are left with a more analogue-sounding natural, musical presentation, yet with all the resolving; imaging; and spacial properties that the Eclipse can produce.

I can just imagine how the Eclipse/Purcell combo would sound with the matching DCS Elgar world-class DAC (capable of reading 24/192!! from the Purcell), mated with an Audio Research Ref 2 preamp and VT 100 MKII tube amp driving a pair of Verity Audio Fidelios with Cardas Golden series wiring- somebody get me a towel! Oh, oh, wait a sec,what's wrong? looking to the left and right, for some reason I can't seem to see the end of my soundstage- probably 'cause the ARC Ref 2 just made it the size of f*****g New Jersey!! (my ultimate 2-channel dream will have to remain just that for now...)

btw- I found the Meridian 508.24 very nice as well, but just that- nice, almost too polite. Liked it for some classic Jazz, and it does have a natural non-fatuiging presentation to it (a quality which can also be had in the Eclipse btw with the right components), but upon an a/b comaprison, the soundstage was just raised/widened ~ a mile when the Eclipse was substituted. The Eclipse I also found more dynamic. Hey- want a 'romantic' sound? Fine, then get the 508.24, a little Conrad-Johnson tube integrated, and a pair of Vandy 2CE's and a bottle of good merlot, and you're done. Want to lift the dark veil you've just made, and start 'hearing' the music again- get the Eclipse.

On the whole- it will perform much better across the entire musical spectrum, and with the Meridian, I would have to defer to a good audiophile buddy of mine whose classic expression applies- "you can't get there from here". My tastes range from classic 60's Blue-Note Jazz to Acid Jazz; Trip Hop; Rock; Alternative and classic 60's/70's singer-songwriters (geez- still tough to beat James Taylor; Carly Simon; and America- oh well, time moves on...). The Eclipse, especially through a good tube preamp such as ARC, and the Purcell upsampler has allowed me to now start forgetting about the components, and simply enjoy the music- and lets face it- isn't that what its really all about?

In summation, hats off to Sim Audio for producing the Eclipse- a wonderful piece, and magical when mated with synergistically satisfying components. Hey, I've gone from being an 80/20 home theater/2-channel guy to 50/50 almost overnight- in my opinion a major accomplishment!

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 508.24