Swiss Digital Fuse Box Anyone?
- Thread starter MacF
- Start date
Hi Mark;
One a bit specific question maybe - as I have Nagra VPA mono blocks which use two 5A slow blow fuses per block what should be the configuration of SDFB? And in sense of ordering how to order with two sluggos?
Thanks in advance!
G
OK I made a jump and ordered two SDFBs for my Nagra VPA blocks as somehow I was waiting for quite some time to get one more missing SR Purple fuse (I need 4).
I am not really a big fuse believer as I tried many without any or minimal benefit and the first one I noticed something was SR Purple.
Reading this thread and the info about SDFB, it was the first "fuse" that made sense and it had logic behind hence I decided to try it.
So first things first - contact with Mark and Damien was absolutely a pure joy - super nice and helpful guys (i ordered wrong connectors on the piggy tail) while also keeping their word in sense of timings (which for me is super important!).
Secondly, goodies arrived super fast (yesterday) nicely and neatly packed which is also a big plus with very clear instruction manual (not that it is a rocket science but still I appreciate the effort someone puts in writing a manual).
Sluggos and piggy tail look really professionally done while SDFB box is sturdy and also nicely put together.
Took me several minutes to install the things on the mono blocks and both green lights after blinking several times turned into solid green so I was ready to go.
Some impressions will follow soon as I managed just now to start listening to the music - but so far so good.
Few pictures of the goodies..
I am not really a big fuse believer as I tried many without any or minimal benefit and the first one I noticed something was SR Purple.
Reading this thread and the info about SDFB, it was the first "fuse" that made sense and it had logic behind hence I decided to try it.
So first things first - contact with Mark and Damien was absolutely a pure joy - super nice and helpful guys (i ordered wrong connectors on the piggy tail) while also keeping their word in sense of timings (which for me is super important!).
Secondly, goodies arrived super fast (yesterday) nicely and neatly packed which is also a big plus with very clear instruction manual (not that it is a rocket science but still I appreciate the effort someone puts in writing a manual).
Sluggos and piggy tail look really professionally done while SDFB box is sturdy and also nicely put together.
Took me several minutes to install the things on the mono blocks and both green lights after blinking several times turned into solid green so I was ready to go.
Some impressions will follow soon as I managed just now to start listening to the music - but so far so good.
Few pictures of the goodies..
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Look forward to your report. I’ve got a pair coming soon too. And yes, Mark is super nice.
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Based on what I hear now and incorporating price point of SDFB vs. some insanely and even less insanely priced fuses with mambo jumbo alien technology behind, there is absolutely ZERO doubt in my mind SDFB is the way to go.
As I stated above in my post regarding SDFB - first fuse i heard some benefit was SR Purple and SDFB kicks it out easily. As the model above is already 20% or more above the price of SDFB there is just no point to even think of it (for me at least).
But I'll take SDFB to a friend's place in the next two weeks who is a hard-core fuse roller, and we'll see.
For what it's worth, I prefer the SDFB with Tellurium Sluggo to SR Purple & Master Fuses feeding my Gold Note Integrated by a wide margin.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Not here in my equipment. Will never go any other direction other than the SDFB in any component.
Not entirely clear what your question is. While I await a couple of SDFB, I’ve got all QSA red and red-black fuses in my system.They left the SR Purple and pre-Master AM beeswax fuses well behind, but at a pretty penny, even of Tweek Geek’s inventory clearance prices 18 months ago. Will the SDFB be an improvement? TBD.
To step back, I think of fuses not just as protection, but also as the last stage of the power cord, from source to the component’s power supply. Aftermarket fuses try to get more out of what the power cord has to offer sonically. The SDFB handles that in a different way, but the basic idea is the same.
The other thing to be aware of is that a fuse is in part a component like any other, with its own sound, intentionally voiced in the case of aftermarket fuses. Thus, one may or may not like that voicing (I couldn’t stand that of the SR Blue). The SDFB tries to accommodate that issue by providing a choice of sluggos that have different effects on the neutral-warm continuum (and in whatever other ways).
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Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Actually you are correct but I did hear a considerable improvement in performance with the SDFB in every component I have inserted it into the audio chain with.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Good question, is the Purple SR Fuse? Is your amplifier? Really have given it zero thought.
I purchased an SDFB from Mark when they were first introduced. In fact, I began the thread we're on now. After I installed the SDFB & gave a listen, I couldn't believe the initial trepidation I burdened myself with. Don't overthink it. Directions are clear & consice. Installation couldn't have been easier. I sold the SR Master Fuse I had in my integrated & moved a purple fuse over to a power supply. Never looked back!
I replaced the 2 Red/Black QSA fuses in my Goldmund amp and it is a massive upgrade. SDFB is what all decent gear should have- a circuit breaker rather than a fuse.
Hello and good evening to you, Jeff. You mentioned a massive upgrade. Knowing what a QSA B&R can do, what sonic benefits did you observe? I am quite interested in hearing your observations on this one.
Tom
Tom
It is going to be hard to not sound hyperbolic but I will do my best to avoid sounding like it's a religious experience (but it is). My first pass at it is this: QSA sounds like it made your equipment better at doing it's job. SDFB (just the amp so far) makes it as if there is no "thing" doing a "job". It's just music. It sounds like you fixed something that was broken. It sounds like your amp is 6db more powerfull. Huge decrease in subtle ringing you did not know was there. Sounds as if you massively upgraded your amp's physical isolation- overload is just absent at almost any volume- limits I had ascrbed to mechanical feedback or room over load are GONE. Using a CD player as I do, there is a sense of "continuousness " that reminds me not so much of LP but of R to R playback - in the realm of tone, solid images, microdynamic information, subtle expressive changes in intensity- and this goes for things way back on multitrack recrdings. In the most central way everyone is playing MUSIC- SOUND is not a thing anymore. You arer allowewd to apreciate talent and forced to admit some performers you liked are not as good as you had thought. In absolutely no sense is it "too much". Increased treble extension is matched by tonal sweetness and complexity. I have never heard acoustic Bass notes bent ike this before. Good recordings are stunning but Hendrix at the Fillmore East is like a sonic missle that gets into your heart and mind. To be clear I do not like LOUD and I abhore treble glare. This is delivered with natural tonal balance and no distortion or pain. Awaiting 2 more and the upgraded pig tails. Just do it. Let me know what you think. BTW 20-30% of this may be attributable to Vera Fi's Snubway which I installed within a few days of the SDFB. For circa $1,200 just get both!
Hello and good afternoon to you, Jeff. Thank you very much for your detailed reply. It sounds like it is really checking all of the boxes and then some.
I just got the Veri Fi Snubway in a couple of days ago and plugged it in, but I have been so busy that I have not had the time to crank up the rig and listen for any changes. If it really is that much, it should be easily detectable. In theory, at least. I know full well, these things can be very system dependent sometimes.
Question for those who have multiple SDFB's - is there a preferred spot where the Swiss Digital Fuse Box is most effective? (I.E. - Pre, amp, source, DAC, Clock, etc...?) Or is this the same thing.....situation dependent?
Tom
I just got the Veri Fi Snubway in a couple of days ago and plugged it in, but I have been so busy that I have not had the time to crank up the rig and listen for any changes. If it really is that much, it should be easily detectable. In theory, at least. I know full well, these things can be very system dependent sometimes.
Question for those who have multiple SDFB's - is there a preferred spot where the Swiss Digital Fuse Box is most effective? (I.E. - Pre, amp, source, DAC, Clock, etc...?) Or is this the same thing.....situation dependent?
Tom
