Fuses need time to break believe it or not. All electronics in general, some more than others of course, benefit from burn in for 100 to 200 hours of electricity going through it. If you have good listening skills, you will like the fuse (or component) much much better after it has time to break in. Don't listen to people who can't sort out music or playback characteristics. They will typically also not be able to hear a difference between a stock power cord, or duplex or even interconnect cables and the hifi higher priced kind of cables, fuses included.
The Master fuse and SR Purple duplex were quite remarkable on my high end system. Good luck on your upgrades.
I'm trying a couple of these out, one in the PSU to my network switch, and one in my headphone amp. They haven't burned in at all, but I'm inclined to say that they might have too much noise filtering compared to the Purple's. I had this issue with some of their other recent UEF products, where the reduction of grain and noise is dramatic, but the sound ends up being overly smooth and dull. Baby=out with bathwater.
Maybe just one in the network side of my system (where the Master Fuse was too bright), but it could be that a second one in the amp is too much and I will go back to the Purple.
If this changes in the next few days, I will leave a comment about it. But immediately everything is really smooth. Too smooth.
I can’t believe my eyes. The pink fuse is not a joke either. Although it sounds like one after Quantum, Black, Blue, Orange, Purple, Master... did I miss something?
You seem to know a lot about every possible Synergistic fuse color. Are you affiliated with them? dealer, marketing, etc?
Why would they knowingly send out an inferior product if they know that the fuse is a weak link in the chain?
@hannibal71 , I do not know Mac gear at all, but does Mac ship it out with the absolute best of the best electronic components in it? For example the best of the best resistors and capacitors? Or would a Mac owner/operator have to have that done on his or her own or order it from Mac that way? Fuses may be on the same principle.
Since Verafi‘s Swiss Fuse Box audiophile fuses have become an anachronism. The demonstrable benefits of ‘no fuse’ have simply put paid to the concept to the point where one has to wonder when serious audio manufacturers will move to circuit breakers rather than fuses. And as a nice side effect the ridiculous price gouging by fuse manufacturers will fade into memories of the past
I recently purchased a pair of MC451's and am very happy with them. Being somewhat new to the HiFi arena, I am now starting to hear and learn about 'tweaks'. Of course I want to believe that all of these little things help because after all, we are all chasing better sound! My question is, (and I have not formed an opinion if fuses help or not) why wouldn't Mcintosh who is playing in a super competitive market, install their own 'special' fuse if they thought it would improve the sound? Why would they knowingly send out an inferior product if they know that the fuse is a weak link in the chain? Mac definitely has the wherewithal to test their products and could make a small change like a fuse!
As with so-called "climate science," these days a "model" is nothing more than a model. They are never anything more than a theory competing with other theories. Come on in - the water is fine.
No one can tell you whether/how your system, room and/or ears will respond to some new addition. There are simply too many variables.
LIKEWISE: no one can possibly know whether a new addition (ie: some kind of disc, crystal, fuse, interconnect, speaker cable, etc) will make a difference, in their system and room, with their media and to their ears, without trying them for themselves.
Some companies offer a 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee, so- those that are actually interested, have absolutely nothing to lose by trying (experimenting with) such.
Anyone that knows anything about the sciences, realizes that something like 96% of what makes up this universe, remains a mystery.
For centuries; humanity’s seen, heard, felt and otherwise witnessed phenomena, that none of the best minds could explain, UNTIL they developed a science or measurement, that could explain it.
The Naysayer Church wants you to trust their antiquated science (1800’s electrical theory) and faith-based, religious doctrine, BLINDLY (their credo: "Trust ME!").
Theories have never proven or disproven anything. It’s INVARIABLY testing and experimentation that proves or disproves theories/hypotheses.
IF you’re interested in the possibility of improving your system’s presentation, have a shred of confidence in your capacity for perceiving reality and trust your own senses: actually TRY whatever whets your aural appetite, FOR YOURSELF.
It is true that hearing is not listening. Listening, like decent conversation "skills", is a learned perception. It takes practice no matter how keen, acute, fully functioning the hearing is, to listen to sound a person must put effort and attention to get better at hearing the abstract details. Without practice, and especially if the person has never heard the component, all is air. I have developed sophisticated listening skills over many years, composing, playing, and also developing a high end sound system. No doubt the trolls will love my comments.
I think many potential fuse purchasers, after replacing their fuses 4 or 5 times for each new fuse color, are waiting for the red, black, blue, purple, orange and pink striped politically correct inclusion fuse.
I love SR fuses but will probably go no further than the Purples. Fuses are "filters" quite obviously. I don't know why the grumps get so worked up over them. Everything in the electrical chain is to a greater or lesser extent a filter.
I have just tested the pink fuse in my system. I already had both SR Master and purple. I find the pink to be very good and definitely worth the money IMO. - more dense and colorful than the purple, in some way it can feel like that also compared to the master, but the master is more transparent and dynamic.
SR master first and pink down the line seems to be a very good combo.
I have upgraded my system with ADD Powr sorcer and wizard lately, and adding master fuse to the sorcer and pink to the wizard took them even further. All together that has transformed my system beyond what I thought was possible.
Yeah, I also have a hard time believing anyone isn’t hearing a difference unless they are putting them in a router or something. In every component I’ve used aftermarket fuses had an equivalent effect as a power cable, and each one sounds different. They also create what absolutely must be measurable differences in frequency response and transient energy. There are enough YouTube videos put there comparing different ones, and the difference clearly comes through even over compressed video.
I mean it’s wild, even the shade of light and contrast in the LCD displays changes.
The main components I understand are quartz sand, as a vibration damper, and various ferrite-like minerals that reduce noise. They also seem to greatly increase the current a component can draw from the wall.
I'm interested in how the Pink sounds, esp if it corrects the midrange excess of the Purple.
Wolf said he tried an fancy fuse. He didnt say which one so really no help to this discussion. Further, he has tended to dismiss some of the tweeky stuff in the past and so has a predisposition of doubt. Probably a good thing. I have no interest in fuses or in anything Ted makes. Because of Ted and because of some of the claims made on their site.
I was waiting for this question to arise about so much product churn from Synergistic Research. It was an audible improvment when I swapped my factory component fuses for Orange then Purple and then Swiss Digital Fuses. It's certainly not that SR fuses don't improve things, it's just the regularity of having to reinvest or suffer from FOMO. The lovely thing is that I replaced 4 Purples with Swiss Digital fuses 6 months ago and so when Pink came out I was already off the merry go round and feel great about it. I change components so It's very nice to know my SDFs can be reprogramed. I look forward to trying different slugs in the future. I expect to see OEMs begining to encorporate the SDF type fuse into new designs.
I've tested Fancy Fuses (a while back) and noted that they do nothing to improve the sound of gear over a basic fuse, aren't provided by any manufacturer that I know of, can be rated improperly and blow for no reason (trust me) and generally are ignored by most audiophiles. Otherwise they're great. Buy them...lots of them...go ahead...
I have owned all types . A buzz fuse is a bottle neck plain and simple .
it is zinc steel a horrible conductor,in the metals index around a 18
copper like Hifi tuning silver,copper, or their gold over copper are in the63+ category , 3 x better conductor = that in less noise resistance.
if youtrulywanttohear aBig improvement Danish Ansuz ,AAvic use several technologies and munches of different types of Tesla coils ,no BS they are exceptional vs any other brands. My brother has them on his line conditioner
as well as Ethernet switch at many price points starting under $2500 then stortz
which lower noise further plugging into empty rca,or Ethernet ports. Not cheap
but this technology is in their all in one integrated amp, streamer and dac ,starting at$5500 a true bargain and each product is very good the forte 3 is $11k
and 2- $8 k, with the excellent Borresen line their X series I have heard and a bunch of trickle down technologies.
@dekay.....No 'substantial differences' in that 'product market' per se....it was typically in what one was 'listening to', time, place, space, and fellow trippers....
Carlsbad2, I used a slug. Next time it will be a jumper, maybe silver. The funny thing is that although their were immediate changes, they were subtle. What really shocked me was that after about two weeks of heavy play, all of a sudden my bass increased pretty dramatically. I didn't purchase fuses because each of my NAD 2600 amps took 6. The cost of the fuses would have exceeded the cost of the unit!
I am now running a Lumin T2 streamer with a Master fuse and a McIntosh 12000 integrated with a purple fuse. The Master fuse in the Lumin really helped the soundstage expand. The purple.... not so sure.
carlsbad2, I know. The first rule of hifi fuses: You blow ‘em you’ve bought ‘em. When I get a chance, I’ll look to see if I still have one my blown fuses lying around. Destructive testing is my favorite.,
Btw- I didn’t hear a difference with hifi fuses in my amps but a hifi fuse in my previous DAC made a difference.
@captaindidactic Your report that bypsass (putting a jumper or slug in) resulted in much better sound is totally consistent with my experience.
I don't think audiophile fuses can ever approach the performance of a jumper. Fuses have to blow and to blow they have to have a significant resistance and low melting point. Jumpers don't have to blow.
The real answer is replace your fuse with a breaker, thus the SDFB which will outperform any audiophile fuse.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.