Graphene Sluggo - Unlocking Sonic Scenery
Henceforth to be abbreviated as "g-slug", the Graphene Sluggo from Vera-Fi Audio is getting its own review from me because a few sentences in existing discussions won’t satisfy my desire to fully share my thoughts about these. I feel ready to write, as the last two g-slugs I bought have about 20 hours on them, and the initial four have about 50-60 hours on them. I feel confident enough now to expound. These g-slugs are fascinating creatures; they are not your friendly neighborhood slugs.
For info on the prerequisite purchase needed to use g-slugs, see my review of the companion product, the Swiss Digital Fuse Box (HERE). (There’s an option to choose a g-slug for an upcharge on any SDFB purchase, and currently, SDFB owners get a 20% discount for upgrading.) If you don’t know what a SDFB is, my review was pretty in-depth and should give you most of the info you’d require. I’m a bonafide slug connoisseur with 13 slugs in my digital music streaming system. Yes, THIRTEEN, and soon to be fourteen when a new component arrives! Some devices have more than one slug, and I have them in subwoofers, external power supplies, everything I can manage because sonically it affects each device. Slugs replace fuses in your components’ fuse holders and SDFB is a non-sacrificial overcurrent protection device installed upstream from the fuse holder inline with alternating current. The SDFB is the key to slug town.
I’ll start at the end by getting to the point now, then walk through some details and my recommendations. G-slugs are better than other slugs. They are solid copper cylinders the size of standard fuses that have vacuum deposited graphene on the surface -- and its a thick, solid matte black coating with no etchings on the surface.
If you just want the gist, g-slugs make any device with a fuse holder (and a SDFB upstream) produce more linear, extended frequency response that constructs a soundstage and its sonic images with greater precision and dimensionality than you currently experience 
. They bring you one step closer to 3-dimensional life-like music reproduction and help vanquish speaker locations, perceived room boundaries, and obstacles to musical immersion... your worst enemies!
Okay, first thought: Solid copper slugs sound better than fuses and reduce resistance between fuse holder endpoints drastically... to almost zero, right? Is that all that matters? If that were so, then everyone would use humongous 6 awg copper conductors for all cables to get really low resistance. The reality is that there are many other aspects of the power conduction chain, like dielectric properties, crystal barriers, and a bunch of other properties of various materials, their shapes and surfaces, construction geometries, etc, that result in various sonic consequences. Most of the slugs I had been using were solid copper and I chose to hand-sand and polish the surfaces to a mirror finish and clean them carefully in order to extract the finest high-frequency details (yes, this is effective in resolving systems), which is related to the well-known "skin effect" of conductors. Yet, a graphene-coated surface dramatically outperforms my best attempts at solid copper slug surface modifications.
To get the point across, here’s a hypothetical numerical rating scale of 1-10 with my best estimates to compare sonics of the different options I’ve tried inside fuse holders:
If a stock fuse with a tiny resistive wire is a 1 and sounds the worst, then:
Before g-slugs, my whole system was filled with mirror-finish copper slugs, which are all much better sounding than fuses, except my subwoofer amps, which have gold-plated copper slugs. Here’s what I experienced...
Firstly, two large sized g-slugs went into the amp. WHOA. When you first install these, it’s very energetic feeling like you are very close to the performance stage due to the inrush of newfound detail retrieval and emphasis on mids and low treble. I have experience using the top capacitors from Duelund, Jupiter, and V-Cap, and this initial experience is similar to using V-Cap CuTF caps by themselves. It’s like viewing the soundstage with a fish-eye magnifiying glass, which is interesting and highly resolving of details within that particular viewpoint, but it isn’t natural or a linear response. The copper in the slugs gives it the appropriately warm midrange similar to the copper in the CuTF caps, and the graphene enhances the top end. But, I found that g-slugs require about 4-6 hours of burn-in to relax, open up, and evenly express resolution across the audible frequency range and up into the very high frequencies, beyond what your components normally output.
In comparison, the best combination of linear and extended frequency expression that I’ve found in the world of capacitors is the relatively new Jupiter COMET silver foil. Using these by themselves or as a bypass cap in combination with the top V-cap or Duelund caps can be stunningly gorgeous, detailed, and realistic. Yet, they still can’t quite transform the listening experience like what the graphene coating on a g-slug does, which is like uncorking latent resolution and frequency extention, particularly beyond 10-12khz for exceptional spatiousness and realism. It brings out more spatial information that informs your mind of the implied locations of sounds within the soundstage. It also gives you more complex sonic textures, more defined images, and a more even and filled-out sonic picture.
When I was doing testing recently, I took all of the g-slugs out and went back to all polished copper slugs in non-subwoofer components. There was still a lot of details with the copper slugs, but immediately I noticed that the the sound stage flattened out in depth and my speaker locations were revealed with the particular recording I was listening to. I had forgotten how non-existent the speakers had become within the room when the g-slugs were installed. The front wall of my listening room had also previously disappeared, but now seemed to be a containment boundary. There was a loss of space/air in all directions with an obvious roll-off in high frequencies and the sound quality took on a quality that I can only describe as "stylized", as opposed to what was previously effortlessly natural. This is hard to describe, but it was like a more artificial sound quality, and the experience was more like listening to a recording of music or the reflection of a live performance off of a wall instead of a live performance itself. It was no longer a natural, linear frequency response, so the perceived realism suffered. Admittedly, I was a little shocked that I had forgetten how I had previously experienced music in the same room only a couple weeks prior.
I began progressively adding back the g-slugs to my components, and what unfolded with each successive addition were greater overall resolution, more evident spatial relationships and image location stability, a sense of space and transparency, and also a feeling of immersion into the musical experience and my satisfaction with it. These g-slugs have some real magic about them, and that’s why I’m writing this. Lastly, I think the contrast between silence and sonic substance widens, so it *seems* like there’s a "blacker background" from which the sounds arise from, but I think it’s actually about your components simply producing more sonic information to build a more convincing sonic scene than it is about removing interfering low-level noise. I think there’s something about the super-conductivity of the thick graphene coating that is more than a noise-filtering application.
In order of highest to lowest impact in components I installed g-slugs in:
1) upgrading from polished copper slugs to g-slugs in the amp had the largest effect, then
2) DAC
3) preamp, tied with the streamer’s external power supply
4) Farad Super3 linear power supplies for modem and Fidelizer router separates. Effect here was minimal, so I’m using the copper slugs in them.
My recommendation is to put a g-slug(s) in your amp. If you don’t like it, ummm, I would be shocked. If you have a DAC, do that too. I think a good goal would be to make approx 50% of your slugs g-slugs, and use slugs with a very smooth polished or plated surface in your other components. If you put g-slugs in ALL of your components that use IEC fuses, then you may end up with a need to balance tonality because of the additional top end energy, but for me, that’s not a problem because I have 101 ways to accomplish that balancing act, from power cable connectors, to which components they are powering, to capacitor combos connected to ground planes, to modifying acoustical treatments, etc. In other words, the things that you previously used to boost high frequencies may become obsolete. Overall, tonality of the g-slugs is really excellent and I'm using a lot of g-slugs to gain all the extra resolution I can. They extend all the way in both directions, and give you meat and bones and body... and the beauty of the finest airy details, too.
I feel justified in my enthusiasm about g-slugs after they’ve burned in for awhile. They are transformative in a way that is similar to going from a stock fuse to a SDFB with a copper slug. If you want a higher resolution sound system, g-slugs. If you go from a stock fuse and zero SDFB’s in your system straight to a SDFB and a g-slug on your amp(s), please leave your comments here for me to read! :)
Actually he needn’t do that at all, especially not simply because you instructed him to. No one here is obligated to conduct research to satisfy you. As an FYI, when people refer to "blind" testing, it doesn’t mean an actual blindfold is used. It only means the test subject doesn’t know the DUT. That’s what makes it "blind." |
That's an extraordinary claim. You should probably alert the moderators if you think there's illegal or borderline illegal activity here. You can use the contact us link that is at the bottom of each page.
Please stop. Politics don't have anything to do with this. |
Wow...and the improvements keep accruing...I am starting to wonder if it will do major improvements to "female vocals", Diana Krall & Eva Cassidy, specifically at low volume 45db, 50db now...Hmm. It probably does. Either way, who knew about these hidden joys and expansive esctacies of Graphene...Such a great thing, it appears.
|
@whart To date I’ve seen “0” product of this phoney nature accepted and compatible with high end audio Product manufactures. Perhaps gladmo can Enlighten us with his Slug use on his “ top-notch system” lol don’t hold your breath do hold on to your wallet. This isn’t a tweak it’s a joke. @ditusa Thanks Mike from Mike Perhaps the sluggo will work on a fishing leader line for walleye Cheers
|
You betcha...sluggo could change the water’s vibrations and drive all the fish towards ya. If you let it burn-in in the water long enough, all the fish might start singing in the water like Eva Cassidy, low level listening spls, of course (~45db). Who knows? Anything’s possible with such multipurpose tweaks. |
To me, I get the idea that a circuit breaker might make more sense than an old fashioned fuse, but never went down the rabbit hole of "audio" fuses and don't have much to contribute on circuit breakers other than that I try to specify copper buss bars on service panels and tend to go a little overkill on household wiring, using good quality products--not just bare minimum in terms of gauge. (I'm not an electrician or tech but usually rely on commercial electricians for the household stuff and on specialists for all the oddball tube stuff I run). But, don't know if there is any sonic difference among circuit breakers. This seems to me to be a way to avoid fuses, but had to ask about the gear warranty issue. No axe to grind here. Thanks. |
Advice to the OP...
My guess is the OP had a nice experience dealing with Mark as did I, and likes the idea of supporting a small American business, as do I. The idea of the SDFB made sense to me, so I bought one. I liked it, so I did not send it back. I have no doubt Mark would have refunded my money as promised if I did not. I paid full price for it and I have no financial interest in Verafi. Since then I've changed components twice and sent it back for reprogramming to match the different fuse values. Turnaround was very quick and inexpensive. Rather than claiming "illegal" activity, perhaps just keep quiet if you have no direct experience, or buy one and report your direct experience. It will only cost you shipping both ways and surely you can afford that? As far as manufacturer warranties are concerned, getting the SDFB blessed by any mainstream manufacturer would be cost prohibitive at best, but probably impossible, and whoever asked that question knows this. It is no different than Accuphase stating that using any other power cord than the one supplied is "Prohibited". I'm sure no Accuphase owners have ever used an aftermarket PC.
|
Basically, you remove the fuse from each component, or all the fuses in the component. Then add the slug into the fuse holders. All fuses are not solid slugs. Then you add the circuit breaker/fuse to the power cord of each component, and you have to order the new circuit breaker in the amount of the fuse you pulled? Each piece needs to be attached to the proper component. Then you need to order new power cables to add the new circuit box to the power cord? I'm not surprised it sounds better, fuses are basically little resistors. Removing that pinch point should open everything up. Along the lines of adding better power cords. How much are you into it? I see you have to purchase 3 different pieces for each component. circuit box, slug, cord. Am I wrong? What was the price to add to each component? Think something like this has merit around the $100-200 per component price. Or maybe just add it to the amp, where it should help the most. |
I have a bunch of SDFB’s. Your choice of "shorty" power cable that goes from the outlet to the SDFB matters, but somewhat less sonically than the power cable that goes from the SDFB to your component. VeraFi offers a couple different pre-built options for this. I do a lot of DIY component mods and cable builds, so I built my own shorties for my components to match my preferences for AC cabling and connectors. For my subwoofers, I needed longer shorties so I ordered cheaper, larger gauge AC cables from Amazon. |
If you can use a very short adapter instead of a shorty AC cable, NEMA 5-15P to IEC C13 adapters are nearly invisible, sonically speaking, and very inexpensive. By the way, Mark from VeraFi did not compensate me to write this review. I wrote it out of pure appreciation and gladness about enjoying my sound system. |
@emergingsoul You’re not replacing an circuit breaker, if that’s what you mean. You are just adding a device inline between your component and the AC outlet it plugs into, and replacing a fuse with a slug of the same size. For more info, you can see my review of the Swiss Digital Fuse Box for an explanation (linked near the beginning of this review), or the walkthrough video on Vera-Fi Audio’s product page for the SDFB, near the bottom. |
@gladmo Not your fault but the seller of the product needs to do a better job with their pictures to illustrate what the Hecks going on with this thing. Something so simple should be easier to explain. Maybe it's worthwhile but it just seems rather cumbersome and potentially dangerous if you've got something inserted where the fuse normally goes and somehow the added attachment is not used and forgotten about well that presents serious problems. |
For those that are into the fuse replacement game AND the cable replacement game it seems you need to buy a sluggo (graphene cost $276 Cdn), the SDFB $547 Cdn plus another high end power cord. I mean if you already have an AQ Hurricane High cord going to your amp you'll probably want the smallest size available to go from your SDFB to your wall. Without the power cord you're in for $800+ Cdn for the fuse gear plus whatever you need to pay to be satisfied with power cord. Wouldn't make sense to go with a stock cable. Multiply that by however many fuses you feel the need to replace, but if replacing one makes a difference it would make sense that replacing them all would be even better. |
The UK has the safest electricity supply in the world since all power cords are mandated to have fused mains connections. I remember seeing that in some audio review article and always thought, how neat is that? To have the fuse in the power mains where it connects to the wall. Looks like someone saw the value in that and came up with the Swiss Fuse Box, allowing one the luxury of skipping/experimenting with anything down from the mains outlet. Since it’s a regular thing in England, one would wonder how much a mains power cord goes for. A quick look online shows all manner of English mains cords for anywhere around $3.10 to $141.43 and that was just on the first page. All fuse protected. I’m sure the Swiss Fuse Box is built to a much higher standard and is more versatile but maybe not for what they’re asking, but hey, no one else is making and marketing one for the US. If one could correctly wire an English wall outlet that would meet US standards, maybe one could do this on the cheap provided the cord passes audiophile standards here, stateside. Here’s the audiophile approved one from the UK.
And wouldn't you know, the same company makes one specifically for the US. A fused mains connection that'll work without rewiring your wall outlet.
All the best, |
If you think this is "a bridge too far" you should check out some of their other product offerings, like the Lotus Harmonic Enhancer and the Meow Electro-Acoustic devices. |
bill_k I like the Meow GR even more. Notice that it comes in two colors: Titanium Black color will give a high dynamic range. Ruby Red color will give a warm and rich music ambient. https://verafiaudiollc.com/products/meow-gr-by-tombo-audio-titanium-black |
@larryi - I’m not sure your question was answered, but I’ve found the greatest gains in their effect on the server and preamp, in equal proportion. Second would be the dac. Last would be the entire linear power supply chain for source equipment; meaning modem, routers and switch. Use on my two other amps equipped with a replaceable fuse came last for gains in SQ. In response to greater clarity of function/application asked for by emergingsoul, the Swiss digital fuse box basically takes the protective function of the traditional fuse out of the equipment in question, and digitises that protection into a little silver box located just before the equipment itself, or right after the power outlet, connected by your existing power cord and an adaptor, or a short length of power cable termed a pigtail. I have not noticed a difference in sound quality either way. What I can say in relation to larryi’s comment about the additional connections required to connect the SDFB to the related power outlet, is that the simple effect of replacing the bottleneck the traditional fuse has always been suspected of creates such a profound uplift to sound realism, that the additional regular connections and single cable required matter so much less in the big picture. While I have no doubt audiophile grade connectors and pigtail might make yet another difference, just what I hear is beyond explanation and belief. Of course we could hardwire within the piece of equipment in question to replace the fuse, but the simplicity of just replacing it with the sluggo has its tremendous benefit of convenience. I have tried the graphene sluggo without the SDFB in place, and the rewards are very small in relation to the replacement of the fuse with the entire SDFB set up, and certainly far too small to leave my equipment unprotected with omission of the fuse box. i have never been in doubt that power delivery meant the most to sound quality and realism: the SDFB merely underlines that fact so convincingly, I have not heard any better with any power cable or distributor prior. It is my belief this technology with come to replace traditional equipment safety in the years to come.
In friendship - kevin |
That doesn't make sense to me. Can someone explain this concept, how this device can improve the sound vs not using the device? I understand the need to use it for safety but how can it be better for SQ over eliminating it?
|
| Post removed |
| Post removed |
Eyes glazed over 2 paras in. I suppose am glad that somebody here understands all that and can maybe apply it to their system. I went to the SDFB website for perhaps a dldimpker explanation but. .nope same electrical engineer goobledy-gook. No idea whatsoever if this is useful info to me for my system. The only components in my system I know for sure even have fuses are the Maggie 1.7is. |
@dwcda - the SDFB set up consists of the externalised digital fuse box, a pigtail power cord and a sluggo. The sluggo can be used to replace the fuse without concurrent use of the fuse box and pigtail, but this leaves the equipment in question unprotected. And yes, with and without listening is best done after everything has been running for a few days already, and after having fresh changes settle in over a couple of tracks at least. It takes effort, but isn’t rocket science ; )
In friendship - kevin. |
@kevn definitely not rocket science, or any kind of science. Obviously I’m not asking how the sluggo can be used alone, I’m asking by what logic an external fuse can improve SQ vs no external fuse. Using that logic I’d guess you could skip the sluggo and just use your normal fuse with this device and get most of the supposed gain. |
@dwcda - please forgive me, I misread your response, and conflated it with gto’s. Yes indeed, I thought it was clear that the sluggo is what is doing all the work - the fuse box itself merely serves as protection for the removed fuse, and is not there to improve sound quality. The point is that the improvement with the sluggo in place is so great, it renders the degradation introduced by the fuse box marginal. But don’t listen to me, listen to your system with a sluggo and the fuse box protection in your server/streamer/pre - it’s all fully returnable.
In friendship - kevin |
You said the exact opposite of that, in enough detail to make it not a slip of the tongue. If the product is good, it should be good enough not to make up virtues.
|
@dwcda And anyone else that chooses to listen to my opinion, installing anything in place of an actual fuse designed by the manufacturer is absolutely ridiculous. We’re not talking a yes or no belief in cables there’s actually a total equipment failure possibility. I’m dating myself here but just curious as to how many have actually wrapped a fuse with tinfoil in a car only to have something short and burn out ? With regards to that slug or anything of that nature in the ac line improving the sonic nature of your music that is a preposterous pile of …. IMO. Cheers |
@1971gto455ho, To show how important fuses can be here is a story from Paul at PS Audio, Here's a subject that simply drives some people nuts. Fuses. Change the power fuse in a DAC or preamp and the sound changes, depending on the type of fuse you change to. I first became aware of fuses and their sonic differences in the 1980s. We were working on releasing the 200C power amplifier, designed by Bob Odell. This 200 watt per channel amplifier was the best sounding power amplifier we had ever produced and we labored long and hard polishing every part and decision to perfection. In those days we relied upon an output fuse to protect the loudspeaker and the amp from each other. Too much current passes through the amp and the fuse blows, disconnecting the power amp's output. The prototype amplifiers didn't have output fuses. It wasn't until we got to the production versions that we added them, and that's when the trouble started. The production amplifier didn't sound as good as the prototype: thinner, weaker, with less bloom and midbass strength, relative to the prototype. Why the two sounded so different was a real head scratcher. When faced with such differences, you start removing any changes between the two until they sound the same. It didn't take long before we discovered it was the damn output fuse. Short it with a clip lead and the fullness of the music returned. This vexed us greatly because we wanted the sound of no fuse while enjoying the benefits of its protection. Different types of fuses sounded differently too. We gold plated the fuse and its holder to see if that would help. It did. But not a lot. We even tried bypassing it with a small capacitor. That helped to, but wasn't a good idea. And neither solved the problem. In the end we came up with a clever scheme. We took the feedback for the amplifier not from the amplifier's output, but from the output of the fuse. Thus, the fuse was included in the amplifier's corrective feedback loop, and the fullness returned to the music. (For those of you giving this some thought, we also added a 100Ω resistor in parallel with the fuse so if the fuse blew the amp would remain stable). With the clarity of hindsight there are many explanations of why this mattered, damping factor changes not the least of them. The point of the story is simple. Fuses matter. But why should they matter in the AC circuit? I don't have a great answer handy. But we'll look some more tomorrow. |
I’ve spent a bunch of money on SR fuses and they made a meaningful positive impact in my system. Today I come across this ad/thread. Does anyone have experience going from Purple SR fuses to this thingy majigger? If so, where is the best spot for 1 possibly 2 (not 3 or 4)? Preamp, class D monoblocks, DAC/streamer? |
@dwcda - I believe you have misread that quoted statement entirely. No slip there and entirely in keeping with everything else I’ve said. Do not mistake the fuse box itself for what brings the sound quality gains - its only function is to protect the equipment, to the possible effect of subtle signal degradation, clearly. The gains all come from the sluggo that has replaced the fuse, which you could adopt without use of the SDFB, but with the risk of leaving your equipment unprotected. I will not be responding any further - from a read of your discussion history, it appears you have made your mind up based on your unsuccessful experiences with listening tests due to sighted confirmation bias, beliefs that also appear to spill over into the realm of fuses - nothing more I say will convince you otherwise, if so. But if you’re still open to exploration, dont let that discourage you from developing your listening ability to a more heightened state, and also from realising that sighted bias runs both ways, for those who believe only in the rational side of science, while leaving out the empirical. In friendship - kevin |
@veerossi I very recently installed an SDFB × graphene slug in my tube amp that had an SR Orange fuse in it. The largest difference for me was the expansion of the width and depth of the soundstage, and that sense of 3D surround. To a lesser degree there was a bit more dynamics and accuracy in the bass, and a general feeling of a smoother and more accurate tonality to female voices, sax, and piano. Not jaw dropping like some folks have reported, but an immediate and obvious positive change in the listening sessions. It's a definite keeper for me and I'm ordering a second unit to try in both my DAC and Pre. The fact it's a no risk tryout makes it easy. |
Nothing to misread. The rewards from the graphene sluggo alone are very small in your opinion. Hard to misconstrue that. From a read of your discussion history it appears your HiFi experience began April 2020. At that point you changed the UK three flat pin socket faceplate of an electrical socket to one that would fit the US pin configuration and you were shocked at the difference. Since then it seems every tweak gets your approval and anyone who disagrees displays combative horror of arrogant ignorance that boggles the imagination. Seems like kind of a lofty opinion for someone 4 years in.
|
