The words ‘stunningly beautiful’ can also be used to describe the sound of the Halcro Eclipse Monos, because it is simply gorgeous. Effortlessly gorgeous and staggeringly real. Listening to Sarah Vaughan singing Ain’t No Use (from her album ‘The Divine One’) you can hear instantly why her nickname was ‘The Divine One’ (though she’s equally well known by her other nickname– ‘Sassy’.) 

But it isn’t only Vaughan’s voice that the Eclipse Monos illuminate. Listen to the double bass, particularly the differences in tone between high and low-stopped notes. Listen, too, to the haunting sound of Sweets Edison’s muted trumpet. Then there’s the tinkling but clear sound of Jimmy Jones’ piano, chiming in only as necessary but oh-so-effectively. But while you’re hearing all these things, what you don’t hear is the Halcro Eclipse Monos. The sound just exists in your room… like magic. A few tracks on in the same album, Every Time I See You has Vaughan demonstrating some of the vocal gymnastics at her disposal, and at the same time also giving us an inkling of where that ‘Sassy’ nickname came from! And once again the Halcro Eclipse Monos laid bare her talent like no other amplifier I have ever experienced. And I use the word ‘experienced’ rather than ‘heard’ deliberately… because the sound of the Halcro Eclipse Monos is truly a unique experience.

An unexpected delight was the precision of the stereo image created by these two monoblocs. The downfall of many monoblocs is imbalances in gain between the two completely different amplifiers, which results in image shifts. Not here! The central image is perfectly stage-centre, and all players are perfectly positioned in their places on that stage. Furthermore the sound-staging itself is also always perfect – never wider than it needs to be, but always exactly as wide as it should be. The soundstage seemed almost to be dynamic in its ability to accommodate the music being played. The ability of the Halcro Eclipse Monos to be sonically invisible was a constant joy. For example the guitar intro during Gloomy Sunday snapped me upright, even though I knew it was coming, because the illusion of there being a guitarist in the room, just in front of me and to the left, was palpable.

It was also exceptional on the Miles Davis track Blow (or, as I like to call it, Hello, you have no messages) from his last studio album ‘doo-bop’. The frenetic percussion is faultlessly reproduced, the depthiness of the bass is luminary and the ‘fullness’ of the sound-field exemplary. I have never heard this track sounding as good before. Listening to Miles’ Australian connection (the soundtrack to the film ‘Dingo’), the echoed trumpet lines are achingly soulful and, with the bird and cricket noises, the Halcro Eclipse Monos delivered the true sound of the Australian outback. The ‘coo-ee’ calls that both trumpeters (the other being Chuck Findley) extract from their instruments are so realistic it’s almost impossible to believe they’re issuing from a trumpet.

Link do recenzji: Halcro Eclipse Mono – What Hi-Fi?