Overall I have done better substituing Verafi Swiss Digital Fuse boxes for any fuses (Essentialy an external circuit breaker) and installed a QSA wall outlet and added one of their plugs. Best of both worlds. Even before the QSA outlet taking out RED/BLACK QSA fuses for the top version of the SDFB ( about 35% of the cost of the fuses) was a HUGE sound quality leap and no worries about fuses blowing.
QSA : My take on their expensive products
- Thread starter CKKeung
- Start date
Your barking up the wrong tree and derailing the thread. SDFB should respectively be left in it's own thread of which there is one.
I disagree. @Jeff4598 offers a direct comparison between a QSA red/black fuse and a competing product. That's the kind of data point that many of us come to WBF to find. There is plenty of unnecessary noise in this thread; that particular post is in my opinion far more signal than noise.
Some people used to just put some copper tube in place of the fuse, which is probably a similar risk to a SDFB for a 2A fused device. One or two people sold 5x20 copper fuse blanks. I was just now doing a search for one and came across this. It's called a Magritte fuse, for obvious reasons. It really should say on the side CECI N'EST PAS UN FUSIBLE
Like most threads, healthy discussion has ended. Now it's people who don't know proselytizing their faith in what they hope is right. Wishing for others to validate their hope and prairs. I'm gonna block this thread and step away. I'm no better and have 0 to add.
I get your point Rex, but personally I like to see more free wheeling discussions as long as they’re not troll-based. Otherwise, some of these threads can start to resemble fanboy promotionals.
Of course, if it’s an officially sponsored thread, and it’s divulged as such, that’s another story.
I appreciate free-wheeling discussions as well - as long as they are happening within a thread that appears to be dedicated to such discussions. If the title of this thread was "Audiophile fuses and alternatives" then I would expect the discussion to be free-wheeling. But that's not the name of this thread.
There seem to be a few individuals who see very specific threads as the place to proselytize for whatever it is they want to talk about instead. This is unfair to the rest of our community. This thread is one example, but an even worse example might be the thread entitled "New Network Acoustics eno2 system". An individual interested in learning more about the eno2 isn't going to learn much from that thread as there has been way too much "thread drift". I just wish that folks would create threads of their own when they feel they have a lot to say about a particular topic that doesn't fit well under any existing thread.
If I understand your post I am concerned about your safety.Just replacing the fuse leaves you open to componenet failure with no safety net and possibly a subsequent fire or at the least damage to the component. The SDFB is an external circuit breaker programmed to open and disconnect AC at the point the fuse would have failed in order to interrupt the current.
Depends if you trust the SDFB to model a fuse. Breakers have different time-current curves to fuses. This is because breakers are intended to break extremely quickly in fault conditions, whereas fuses can sustain an overcurrent based on the performance curve. An accurately made 2A slow blow fuse will bear a current of 3.8A for 30 minutes.
Perhaps SDFB should test and publish their data sheet, which you will fund most reputable fuse makers do.
A big problem with audiophile fuses is that their small batch production makes their performance much more inconsistent that mass produced fuses, for example the solder time, which has to be very short. Which is why they often blow. Innuos recommend using a higher current rating. i.e. replace a 2A with a 3.15A or 3.5A.
Fuses really are best mass-produced by machines than made by hand.
Having pointed out to the UK seller of QSA fuses that QSA in Hong Kong may be using fake Bussmann fuses (many "Bussmann" mains fuses found on eBay are Chinese fakes), there has been a deathly silence.
There is no "barking up a tree" going on here, especially by comparing to another product. This is exactly what we want to do, in order to get the best sound and value for our money. The most important part of his comment was that he actually had the products in his house, and compared them. Many people just give a half educated guess.
An update.
Dedicated line installed a couple of days ago along with a single QSA RedBlack wall outlet and a new 80w mains fuse for free from Uk Power Networks who were excellent. Honourable mention to Futureshop too who got the Supra Lowrad Mk11 mains cable to me within 24 hours.
The electrician was recommended to me by a distributor and did an excellent job too.
A fair bit of work to organise but no pain no gain.
So its only been up and running for about two days. No mega improvement immediately after installation but no surprise. Some audible improvement, but late last night and today the benefits are significant and I am sure more will come as the wall outlet beds/burns in.
Much improved clarity, channel and instrumental separation and bigger and better soundstage now very clearly evident. Noticeably better bass response too from the Hailey Reference 2,2s. Much more musical too.So very happy indeed. A really cost effective upgrade for around £2k
The article in the last regular HiFi Plus was very helpful so worth checking out.
Highly recommended!
Best wishes to all for Xmas and the New Year.
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