New pink fuse from SR

[pmiller]

"I did some looking at my main system, the Sugden mono blocks etc. I went to install the master fuse in my DAC, and to my surprise there was a purple fuse in it? I don’t recall changing that?" Without question I have found that failing to recall I have already Modded equipment -in some fashion or another- is one of the first signs of insanity. My father used to say "what the hell, as long as you are as happy as though you were in your right mind, there is no harm.
I have now become somewhat interested in SR's Master Fuse. From the little I have read about it the theory or sales pitch for the fuse seems to be that properly placed you only need one fuse per system. That seems like a very ambitious task for one fuse and following your post you also don't seem to buy that approach. Can you describe what the difference is you have noticed with this fuse -other than the price- over other fuses in your system. More specifically, do you believe this fuse is really worth the $500.00++ bucks compared to the paultry $350.00 Pink fuse for example?

 

[Hilroy48]

I have stopped worrying about money in this hobby a long time ago. Each time I make a change, there has been an improvement which I can hear.

I added the master fuse in my integrated amp, and yes the difference was noticeable. When I added the pink fuse in my pwr cond, the tone was more musical, warmer, richer. From there I played the same tracks again, and added the pink in my DAC and CD player, The vocals became more front and center. The rim shots on the snare are nice and tight, sound very real.

On my main system, I decided to order pink fuses for my Pre amp, pwr cond and CDT player. He didn't have the values I needed for my mono blocks, so I am taking a chance on purple fuses for my amps.

The purple was far better than the orange when I swapped it to my phono stage. That is the spare purple I forgot I had in the system, Played some Eva Cassidy on the turntable and I was even more impressed than before.

 

[pmiller]

"I have stopped worrying about money in this hobby a long time ago." I do well understand the quick-sand effect this has on those that have become committed. Every once and a while -while considering my investment- I experience a sobering moment but thankfully it soon passes.
"Each time I make a change, there has been an improvement which I can hear." Perhaps with age or experience I have found myself returning 25-35 or so percent of the "improvements" I have ordered. The economies of scale issue comes into play more and more - to your ear the better your system becomes the more difficult it becomes to effect yet another improvement. I still believe improvement is possible - otherwise this would really no longer be a hobby- but effecting improvement that has some proportional relationship to the cost of the item(s) seems to become more and more difficult. As an example, I recently became interested in- for want of a better description- plates from a company known as Audio Realignment Technology carried by Scott Walker. These items were written up in Stereophile or some other mag as being quite an improvement. They are not cheap but I decided W-T-H and I ordered one for a test. I have already been experimenting with strategically placing carbon sheets around my components. To my surprise the plates from ART did NOTHING that the carbon sheets I had been experimenting with had already done. The carbon sheets were less than 1% of the cost of the ART plates.

 

[Hilroy48]

Rest of my fuses for my main system will be here Friday. I am excited to get those in.

 

[pmiller]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Iamrael]

Have any SR fuse users tried the “SDFB” and prefer the former?

 

[Hilroy48]

Due to availability, I ended up with the following.

Purple fuses in both mono blocks.
purple fuse in Phono stage
Master fuse in DAC.
Pink fuse in CDT, PRE Amp, And Power conditioner.

System completely dead quiet, more bold, more present. Spacial separation is increased. Sounds like a new sound board guy was hired for the concert to be honest. The mix and volume is very pleasant.

 

[pmiller]

You still have some break-in I guess, if that really happens with fuses. I have found/imagined a change in sound as the fuse breaks in.

 

[Jack Pot]

The SR Purple fuse died in my dCS Vivaldi Apex DAC after only 3? years of use. I took the plunge and replaced it by a SR Master fuse. Hopefully, it will last more than 3 years. I also bought a SR Pink fuse to replace the SR Purple fuse in the dCS Vivaldi transport. The dCS clock still plays with a SR Purple fuse.

Results immediately after insertion:
1. SR Master in the DAC brings massive improvement in lower frequencies but also in the timbre of instruments. Excellent separation and soundstage. An astounding leap in performance, even at this equipment price level. However, increased glassiness, harsh sound. The fuse is very directional: reversing it brings a much more tranquil presentation, but hardly an improvement over the SR Purple fuse.
2. SR Pink in the transport brings the same qualities, including drawbacks, as the SR Master but in much reduced "quantity". The fuse is very directional: I needed to reverse it to obtain the desired improvements, including drawbacks.

I am used to SR fuses sounding harsh and glassy on first play. 24 hours of continuous play have passed and I had a second listen. Glassiness is slowly receding, and so is the "in-your-face shouting". As usual, it will take abt 100 hrs burn-in to get rid of the drawbacks. Hopefully.

Conclusion: these fuses have the potential to deliver on their promise. But they blow up, as did my SR Purple in my DAC. That could make them very expensive at SR Master price level. And there is the hassle of directionality. It demands faith in the eventual end result to insert the fuses the "right" way. Finally, why impose the tedious burning-in on SR customers. Could the fuses not be sold "precooked"?

 

[Jack Pot]

I forgot to add: some users report "meh" results using SR fuses. Could they have inserted the fuses the "wrong" way? The "right" way is "bombastic" and "aggressive" out of the box, not pretty at first auditon. But faith in the burn-in process will deliver the goodies. Eventually.

 

[Hilroy48]

My systems sounds better each time I play music. I have left them on for 6 hours a day at times to help the break in

 

[Jack Pot]

My systems sounds better each time I play music. I have left them on for 6 hours a day at times to help the break in

100 hrs/6hrs = 17 days SR fuse burn-in to unlock the potential.
I just reached 90 hrs burn-in. Last night the sound "fell into place" (after abt 80 hrs).
IMHO, the solution offered by Swiss Digital Fuse Box is sounder. And apparently sonically superior to SR fuses (as witnessed on the SDFB site). However, it will invalidate OEM guarantees in case of failure. This is probably the reason why Ansuz, Nordost, Shunyata, Synergetic Research and the like are not exploring the idea. Perhaps OEMs should offer the concept, fully covered by the manufacturer's guarantee.