It gets better over time

[PYP]

I was playing Black Sabbath last night. The Wizzard. Had it cranked up.

Cool. OK, then I won't give you audio agida by telling you my setup sounds better than ever after one month of break-in (oh, no!) of an audiophile switch (I've been snookered!).

I sometimes wonder what I did in my previous lives to sit here enormously enjoying STREAMING DIGITAL. Was I a vinyl apostate and now am banished from the life of vinyl forever?

 

[Barry2013]

This brings back memories of some years ago when we had a divisive debate about Entreq groundin,g which I have no wish to revive, between those who trusted their ears and those who relied upon scientifically measurable data,
Suffice to say that I was content to rely on what I heard and I am still entirely satisfied with my Entreq ground boxes and much upgraded Entreq i/c speaker and power cables.
Same experience with QSA fuses and both needed a burn in period to sound their best,
Further reinforced within the last few days with a dedicated power spur for the system using Supra Lowrad Mk11 cable and a single QSA RedBlack wall oulet. It has taken three days to get a very clearly audible and significant improvement in sound quality, but it has delivered and my confident expectation reading of other members' experiences is of more to come.

 

[Kingrex]

Owe god, it's become a QSA fan boy thread. Time to bail from the Spawn I created!!!!!!!

 

[wil]

This brings back memories of some years ago when we had a divisive debate about Entreq groundin,g which I have no wish to revive, between those who trusted their ears and those who relied upon scientifically measurable data,
Suffice to say that I was content to rely on what I heard and I am still entirely satisfied with my Entreq ground boxes and much upgraded Entreq i/c speaker and power cables.
Same experience with QSA fuses and both needed a burn in period to sound their best,
Further reinforced within the last few days with a dedicated power spur for the system using Supra Lowrad Mk11 cable and a single QSA RedBlack wall oulet. It has taken three days to get a very clearly audible and significant improvement in sound quality, but it has delivered and my confident expectation reading of other members' experiences is of more to come.

It’s not about hearing vs measuring, but rather the variability of hearing relating to the complex of mental states. That being said, my experience is that some stuff does need burn in time. Fuses? I’m sceptical.

 

[treitz3]

That's a completely understandable stance. I was the same way before I actually heard it with my own ears.

Without getting into a long, drawn out post, I will just say this. When the fuse was put in? I immediately wanted to take it out. Some aspects were obnoxious, others were definitely not preferred. BUT, there were glimpses of, "hey, that sounds really, really good".

Over the course of a painful week, those little glimpses of promise became more prominent and widespread, the obnoxiuosness' subsided and there were other aspects that came into fruition that I honestly never expected.

TBT, I didn't even want to try the fuse in my system. I hated it when I put it in. Fast forward to present day? You couldn't pay me enough to take it out. This, coming from someone who never in a million years would have thought a fuse would make any difference whatsoever. That was then. My experience has taught me otherwise.

Tom

 

[sbnx]

Audiophiles form a spectrum of people. On the far end of one side there are the complete objectivists. If it can't be measured then it doesn't exist. They typically believe that all low distortion electronics are the same and all a speaker needs is a flat frequency response. Cables are snake oil and so is anything else. On the other end are people who trust their ears and pretty much everything can make a difference in the sound. In between these two we have a group that believes things like cables, powercords and power conditioners make a differrence. Then we move up to things like footers and damping plates. Then there are the non-traditional room tuning devices (aka Synergistic Research). Then we move into the realm of fuses and more esoteric things. It is just a matter of what is "a bridge too far" for you. Or perhaps your system isn't resolving enough to hear much of a difference in some things. For example, If somone has a sony receiver and a pair of polk speakers (not ot pick on sony or polk as they make fine products at their price points) connected with $20 worth of cables streaming from a sonos, then it would be silly to suggest they put an aftermarket fuse in the Sony receiver.

I contend that as you push your system higher and higher in performance and get a lower and lower noise floor then you would be absolutely stunned at the differences that can be heard. If you don't want to do that, then that is fine. Not everyone wants to climb a mountain. Nothing wrong with listening to music on your system everyday an not caring whether a fuse mattters or not.

 

[PYP]

Without getting into a long, drawn out post, I will just say this. When the fuse was put in? I immediately wanted to take it out. Some aspects were obnoxious, others were definitely not preferred. BUT, there were glimpses of, "hey, that sounds really, really good".

Over the course of a painful week, those little glimpses of promise became more prominent and widespread, the obnoxiuosness' subsided and there were other aspects that came into fruition that I honestly never expected.

Tom

That is my experience with break-in/settle in for new cables and components (I tried fuses many years ago in two different tubed DACs and gave up after the fuses - two different brands - failed during powering on after a few days of use. Ah, the sound of money flushing down the toilet.).

Is that expectation bias? I don't thinks so because I have two independent observations that I pay attention to. There first is the feline. When certain frequencies are out of whack he runs through the listening space at high speed and will not sit near me to listen (even if his favorite Mozart horn concertos are playing!). The other is my wife. Just at the point when I'm noticing the bad side of the cycle, she asks me to turn down the volume. After the component/cable settles in fully, she will pick her favorite music and turn it up quite a bit past her usual listening level. This happens every time I find a component/cable that works well in our setup (the others get returned).

I think this issue of break-in is only important for some folks who expect great sound out of the box and are soon selling the new gear (have read about this many times on forums).

 

[Alrainbow]

We audio folk invite a constant reminder of how does it sound
Far more then just shut the fuuu up and enjoy.
my car varies bigly and it’s cold or hot
Channels on serous xm vary in bandwidth
we force ourselves into levels of observations I think are counter productive.
down south I have a bit of a complex digital front end.
there are times it just sounds weird to me.
Reboot and all at times stays odd
but sometimes a reboot fixes it.
I never have this oddness on my iPhones and ear buds no matter what ones I use. But it’s clear to me at times I need silence way above music
working in my office I play music or tv
at times tv shows just annoy me
There music tracks even there dialog annoy.
it’s obvious a mental thinking my moods dictate genre.
I’m not a fan of classical but it’s calming no doubt.
I do love rock all kinds and it’s mostly what I play.

I not great at sleeping at times and I do notice to play music or even tv shows is different. Colors seem more intense
sound much more natural and detailed

I did read up on our senses we are constantly being attacked to almost all senses. if we rest and totally disconnect from all we can just an hour
Music seems better.
I do take a meds and Vitimins they have an effect too. As does food. But life has the largest impact on this.
get a bad phone call or a good phone call no doubt about it as effecting me.

 

[Alrainbow]

Anyone who feels there is no break in or even changes to our systems is far more happy than most of us.
I like to fix things and in audio it’s easy to hear it.
of coarse as an example varying the bias of an amp
it’s obvious to some others not.
the lucky ones don’t notice

just used my Cadillac In a good mood
classic vinyl channel
Cream white room.
Man hands playing drums as I drive
next was Pink Floyd great gig in the sky
I damn well know my car is not in the universe of my system yet it’s almost tears in my eyes just emotionally connected.
ps at the end of white room ginger baker does that kick drum thing jjst amazing
As I pull into a dump site windows down music blasting
an old 67 year fat guy rocking lol.

 

[ssfas]

That's a completely understandable stance. I was the same way before I actually heard it with my own ears.

Without getting into a long, drawn out post, I will just say this. When the fuse was put in? I immediately wanted to take it out. Some aspects were obnoxious, others were definitely not preferred. BUT, there were glimpses of, "hey, that sounds really, really good".

Over the course of a painful week, those little glimpses of promise became more prominent and widespread, the obnoxiuosness' subsided and there were other aspects that came into fruition that I honestly never expected.

TBT, I didn't even want to try the fuse in my system. I hated it when I put it in. Fast forward to present day? You couldn't pay me enough to take it out. This, coming from someone who never in a million years would have thought a fuse would make any difference whatsoever. That was then. My experience has taught me otherwise.

Tom

I bought an audiophile fuse for my streamer some years ago. It never made any difference that I could hear. I could easily be parted with it for £30. Apply within.

 

[ssfas]

I contend that as you push your system higher and higher in performance and get a lower and lower noise floor then you would be absolutely stunned at the differences that can be heard.

I did that and you are absolutely correct. It started with a mechanical digger, excavating under the pavement and putting in a new power supply to the house. A complete new electrical installation. Fibre-optic cabling. A rebuilt sound-proofed room. A DAC with possibly the lowest measured noise floor on the planet. Still using the stock supplied fuses.

 

[ssfas]

It’s not about hearing vs measuring, but rather the variability of hearing relating to the complex of mental states. That being said, my experience is that some stuff does need burn in time. Fuses? I’m sceptical.

Ironically, with fuses, it is very much about measuring. They are made to very tight performance specifications. You will find for manufacturers of quality commercial fuses that they publish the performance specification and measurements for all their products.

There are at least 6 ways to stop worrying about fuses:
(1) live in a country where by law you have to use mains fuses for which there is no legal audiophile equivalent (UK)
(2) buy hi-fi with internal fuses that are impossible to replace (Gryphon, many others)
(3) buy hi-fi with external fuses that you replace and consequently invalidate your warranty (Gryphon)
(4) buy hi-fi that doesn’t have any external fuses thereby depriving you the pleasure of replacing them (Luxman)
(5) look at the prices
(6) read the science fiction marketing verbiage

 

[Porsche]

my opus 1 sounds better every few hrs of use, stunning cartridge

 

[Alrainbow]

I did that and you are absolutely correct. It started with a mechanical digger, excavating under the pavement and putting in a new power supply to the house. A complete new electrical installation. Fibre-optic cabling. A rebuilt sound-proofed room. A DAC with possibly the lowest measured noise floor on the planet. Still using the stock supplied fuses.

may I ask what dac ?

 

[PYP]

Ironically, with fuses, it is very much about measuring. They are made to very tight performance specifications. You will find for manufacturers of quality commercial fuses that they publish the performance specification and measurements for all their products.

There are at least 6 ways to stop worrying about fuses:
(1) live in a country where by law you have to use mains fuses for which there is no legal audiophile equivalent (UK)
(2) buy hi-fi with internal fuses that are impossible to replace (Gryphon, many others)
(3) buy hi-fi with external fuses that you replace and consequently invalidate your warranty (Gryphon)
(4) buy hi-fi that doesn’t have any external fuses thereby depriving you the pleasure of replacing them (Luxman)
(5) look at the prices
(6) read the science fiction marketing verbiage

without being too highfalutin:
(7) consider that the designer voiced the gear a certain way and, if a fuse does indeed change the sound, you are in effect changing the designer's choice. (of course one response is that a $18K piece of gear, for example, cannot afford to use a $1,000 fuse which would push the price past a certain desired point even if they thought it was an improvement).