What is the science behind audiophile fuses?

Is everyone familiar with Murphy’s Law? It states that if something can go wrong it will.
Corollary 1: When left to themselves, things go from bad to worse.

My favorite: in order for something to become clean, something else must become dirty, but everything can become dirty without anything becoming clean.

HI, I see the issue of fuses like so many other things in the world of audio and that revolves around why it is worth buying a power cable, or any audio component from certain famous and expensive brands. A class D power amp can be had for less than $1000 and can play music from 20hz to 20khz. However, there are people who buy $100,000 power amps that also play 20hz to 20khz music. Those who can afford it will say that this purchase is because subjectively the music sounds better with that amplifier than with another one at a much lower cost. Spending $600 on a penny-priced fuse is one of those situations. I am not satisfied with the statements that a HIFI fuse has no effect on the sound of a device, based on the fact that the manufacturer would put it as standard if that improvement in sound was true. If we apply that same rule, why do 90% of the owners of amplifiers such as Boulder, Pass, Soulution, etc. buy a power cable, when the device already comes with one as standard. I don't know many people who keep their black power cords in their high-end appliances.

A whole other thing is personal experimentation with what a fuse in your audio system can do and whether you can hear the difference in sound and whether that difference in sound justifies the purchase. Each and every one of these issues are subjective and personal. It is very hard and slow to change a fuse in a device, and that the auditory memory does not betray you in that interval. For this reason, very few of those who have bought a HIFI fuse are willing to do those A vs. B tests, and in general terms we just assume the purchase and forget about it. All this under the idea that this new fuse is not going to cause the equipment to sound worse.

The topic, “Do more expensive amps/gear sound better than cheaper gear?”  didn’t exist a few decades back because we had a proliferation of Brick and Mortar Audio Stores.  One could walk in and hear a dozen combinations of amps, preamps, speakers, turntables and CD players and then decide for themselves what sounded best to their ears.  And if the sales person sensed you were close to buying they might escort you into their high end hifi room hoping they were not tugging on the line too hard to rip the hook out of your mouth.

These days the brick and mortar stores are more difficult to find and people prefer to shop online.  My son, for example avoids shopping at the grocery store.  He orders nearly everything online.  So it is easier to believe that all electronics sound basically the same and with little to no listening experience of a good hifi rig, they just order that SMSL amp from Amazon.

I have a SMSL Bluetooth amp on my back porch that I use with in ceiling speakers.  When I sold my Thiel speakers last winter, I set them up in my shop with that SMSL amp.  Thiels have the reputation of being hard to drive so I was kinda wondering if that little amp might burst into flames when I turned it on.  It was fine although I started with the volume turned down really low.

So I’m playing songs through my iPhone with Bluetooth to my Thiel speakers and I was amazed at how good they sounded at first.  Really shocked.  I turned up the volume a little and then I could tell that the sound was lacking.  But without the experience of hearing a good hifi rig, I can see how someone would be satisfied with the sound of these amps and not feel the need to spend more money- at least until they bring home a $2000 amp to try.

You get the 20-20k range with any amp but more money brings better bass, smoother highs, timber, 3d holographic sound, imaging, space, blacker background, etc.

The coolest experience with my rig these days is to play a Chorale piece.  The singers go wall to wall and up to the ceiling.  I can make out each individual voice in the choir vs. being just a cloud of sound.  It’s not for everyone but that gives me a thrill.