Hello
there,
I have just
discovered this extremely lengthy thread about SR fuses.
Took me
days to read it, but it was interesting read.
Some peoples claim that fuses do improve
sound, that they are directional, some are bushing whole concept.
I’m very skeptical,
not leaving in USA, SR dealer in my home country do not offer 30 day money
back guarantee, so all risk is mine.
And I’m not
fun of their products, I used to have (5 years ago) some their IC cable ( I do
prefer Tara labs cables ) I used to have their PC cable I do prefer Shunyata.
Once dealer
of SR tried on audition to convince me that Galileo MPC was better than usual
one, in system he changed 4 MPC’s to Galileo MPC’s. I could not hear any
difference.
So I’m very
skeptical. I do not believe that fuse can be directional.
But few
days ago friend called, he is season audiophile and he is running high-end service
, in some integrated amplifier of his client there are 2 SR black fuses 1.6A (been
used for long time so they are burned) , do I want to try them ?
Why not,
nothing to lose just 2 hours of time.
They are too
small for my preamp or poweramp, so we have put them in my AudioAero CDP which needs 2
fuses (500mAx2).
In my CDP I
already have some 5-6 years old Create
Audio fuses ( do not know exact model) and never have compared them to stock
one. Just bought them cheaply from some guy.
So we have
run 6 tests.
- Create Audio x 2. # to establish baseline
- Create Audio x 1, SR black x 1 –
degradation of sound
- Create Audio x 1, SR black x 1
(so we have changed direction of SR black) in this in was better then in
2)
- SR black x 1, SR black x 1 (in
good direction)
- SR black x 1 (direction changed
to find the proper one), SR black x 1 (in good direction) # both SR in
good direction
- Back to Create Audio x 2 # to confirm that we are not imagining things
Our
conclusions, fuses do change sound consistently (big surprise to me)
SR fuses
are directional (huge surprise to me) !
In wrong direction SR do degrade sound (nuances, air is
lost, music is lifeless) in right direction there is more air , sound is more
smooth, cleaner then with Create Audio.
But Create
Audio x 2 sound more alive there is better PRAT, more energy. But it is matter of
taste some peoples can prefer 5) some 6).
It would be
great if strengths of Create Audio (PRAT) and strengths of SR black (air,
smoothness, quietness) could be combined. That would be a winner.
Personally
I’m very sensitive to music drive, so I’m not upgrading to SR black.
But now I’m
convinced that fuses are directional and they do influence sound in not so
small degree. It is easy audible.
I can summarize
that 100USD for fuse is outrageous rip off, but 100USD for such change in sound
for better is really a good deal.
Now I’m thinking
about comparing verictum X-fuse and SR blue fuse in my preamp.
Regards
