QSA : My take on their expensive products

[Barry2013]

My friends and I are interested in QSA fuses and power receptacles only.
However they offer so many models :

https://quantum-science-audio.com/

A HK retailer is my friend and he agreed to lend us some of the models for home-trials.
Not many, only 5 models of fuses and 3 models of power receptacles.
Even so, it took two groups of friends and several gatherings during the past two weeks to get hold of their characters/performance.

We started with QSA fuses : Yellow ; Purple ; Red ; Black-Red ; Silver.

The Red, Black-Red & Yellow fuses.
View attachment 84492

The very but not most expensive Silver fuse. There is a very minute gemstone installed near one end of the fuse.
View attachment 84493

We tested them one by one, from the affordable Yellow to the extravagent Silver in a Holo May Level3 DAC, the original fuse of which was a Schurter gold-plated fuse.
Other popular fuses had been used for comparison too, such as SR Blue, Brimar (the HK brand) and a Powerhouse top model.

In summary, each higher QSA models surpass the lower models completely and in all aspects.

The Red is the "watershed model".
IMHO it surpasses all the common/popular audiophile fuses in the HK market!
However please note that its price is more than two times of these popular brands/models.

The magic really occurred when coming to the Black-Red fuse!
Not only possessing better performance in all sonic aspects, it astonished my friends and I by its Musicality and Naturalness.

It's pity that I was occupied on that day and unable to join the gathering to listen to the Silver fuse.
In fact the QSA retailer was reluctant to lend it to us initially. Maybe because it's so expensive.
Anyway my friends compared Silver to the Black-Red and eventually two of them were convinced (or addicted?) and ordered Silver instead of Black-Red.

Thank you CK
Very helpful.
My four violet and three yellow QSA fuses have made a big improvement to the sound quality of my system.
I suspect I will not be able to resist the lure of the red at some stage!

 

[rando]

Could you provide a few examples?

One of those was already provided which should be more than sufficient to establish I share a skepticism of what is actually employed to these devices with the person who started this thread.

 

[wil]

I bought 4 of the blue. My amps take 2 each. A 3A and a 500mA. Unfortunately my amps blew both the 500mA. Worst part, the small fuse is to the heaters and more integrated in the circuit. Able to influence more.

I did not do any sort of back to back listen. I just put them in. I don't know it made my long term impression to me of better or worse.

I was intrigued by the comments of power cords and what people spend on them. Members seem to faun all over themselves and friends when they spend $5K to $14K for a power cord. I'm not an engineer. I think I'm an open minded electrician/consultant. In my mind, why couldn't a fuse have as much impact as a power cord? And really, show me where power cord manufacturer provide scientific basis for a $8k cord sounding "better" than an $800 one.

I personally find most accessory prices high. Footers, racking, cord, interconnect and speaker cables, receptacles. Even equipment has gone stratospheric. Yet people buy the stuff and seem to find it a benefit. So why not enjoy a $6k fuse if your income allows it. That's great in my mind. Because, come on, my family and friends look at my modest system and shake their heads. To them their Sonos system brings just as much enjoyment to them. And my god, why did one of my friends spend $12k on a bicycle. Whats that all about. He got taken, right.

Rex, I think the difference between a 12k bike and a 12k jewel-bedecked fuse or outlet is that there is real and obvious engineering and component quality that goes into a bike. The experience of riding a $500 and $12k bike is so profoundly different that expectation bias is not even a factor.

This is not say that a fuse cannot change (or color) or even "improve" ones listening experience. I don't know. But, when it comes to these uber expensive fuses my BS meter goes into the red zone.

If someone did a controlled, unsighted and documented listening test with a group of people, then my perspective might change.

 

[Maril555]

He has no interest in fuse, and did not bother to try any. So the comment is no use. If he tried it and told us these fuse are not useful, then it’s a valid opinion and it will be appreciated.

I think I would still exercise my right to express my opinion Whenever I feel like it

 

[CKKeung]

Have you ever compared with Jodelica?

I have not, because it's rather unpopular in HK.
Although it's a Japanese brand, it's said to be oem by ATL of Taiwan.
Not inexpensive, an unplated copper duplex receptacle model similar to R0 of Oyaide costs around usd300.

シーエスフィールド/JODELICA/THE SOUND SOURCE Ⅱ

CS FIELD ASSOCIATESが、国内外の優秀な技術者とコラボレートし、画期的オーディオ・デバイスを開発する注目のブランドJodelica （ジョデリカ）の壁コンセント「THE SOUND SOURCEⅡ」。

www.cs-field.co.jp

In fact there is an even more uncommon Japanese brand called Cross Point.
Their models look beautiful but are as expensive as QSA!

?????CROSS POINT

A friend of mine bought one from Japan and said that it's much better than his previous SR Blue receptacle.



I didn't ask him to bring it to our gatherings. To do so he has to uninstall it from his wall mains.

 

[romaz]

I'll share my experience with QSA fuses. I've played around with fuses over the years, enough to know they can make a difference. I've tried a variety of inexpensive fuses from the likes of Bussman and Schurter. Yeah, they get the job done but that's about it. I've tried fuses from HiFi Tuning, Audio Magic (including the Beeswax SHD), and the full range of the SR fuses including their new Purple fuse. It was with SR's Orange fuse that I felt the fuse became a necessity. Before that, it was more I could take it or leave it. But even with the SR Orange, the improvement wasn't huge. It was a tweak level improvement that was worth its asking price of $150. If there is a downside to SR fuses, they are prone to blowing and I've blown 6-7 of these fuses over the years.

I decided to try a QSA fuse after reading about how their $28 entry level fuse was performing about as well as the SR Orange fuse. Yes, I saw QSA was also selling a Silver fuse for $5000 USD (the $10,000 Gold fuse is not yet available) and I said to myself there was no way I'd ever buy a Silver fuse but I took the chance on a Red fuse for my preamp (which has a soft start) and this fuse retails for $1422. These fuses can be purchased here in the U.S. through tweekgeek.com and Mike Garner, the owner, is excellent to deal with but the Red fuses are special order and so I went straight to QSA in Hong Kong and they had the fuse in stock. I wired them the necessary funds and I received the fuse here in California after about 5 days. The Red fuse came with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Their warranty also indicates they will replace a blown fuse up to 3 times within the first 2 years after purchase.



To cut to the chase, this Red fuse is amazing. It isn't just a little better than the SR Orange, it is a Grand Canyon chasm like difference. Yes, the ground floor drops but the presentation is livelier and more dynamic. Bass is more plentiful, cleaner, tighter, and better defined. Vocals have more presence. Treble is more refined. But ultimately, what was so good is how natural everything sounds. You can play louder without strain or fatigue and you can listen at whisper volumes because there's so much more presence. After a week, I had enough. I went back to QSA and asked to send back this fuse in exchange for a Silver fuse and so I did what I said I would never do. I also ordered a Red fuse specifically for my SGM Extreme. QSA makes fuses expressly for digital gear that is designed to address HF noise better and so obviously, these fuses are intentionally filtering. I already knew this because I have bypassed fuses before and I know what that sounds like. The improvement in SQ from a Red fuse was far greater than what I have heard by bypassing a fuse.

The Silver analog fuse (for my preamp) and the Red digital fuse (for my SGM Extreme) arrived 3 days ago:



Yeah, I'm a crazy lunatic for spending this much money on fuses but I'm a happy crazy lunatic. As good as the Red fuse is, the Silver fuse is just better and not by a small margin. It does all the things a Red fuse does but takes it up several notches. The clarity over the Red fuse is just unbelievable. More space, images have greater density (but not at the expense of speed or agility), and unreal transient response. The presentation sounds more relaxed but the Silver fuse is capable of explosiveness that the Red fuse can't match. Supposedly, the Red fuse takes 2 days to burn in while the Silver fuse takes 7-10 days but at day 3, the combo of Red in the Extreme and Silver in my preamp is really as good as I could hope for. There's no way these fuses will be returned.

I have tried the Silver in both a Vinnie Rossi L2 preamp with Takatsuki 300B tubes and a D'Agostino Momentum HD and with either preamp, the jump in SQ is beyond what I'm getting from anything else I've tried with either of these preamps. To go from the stock Electro Harmonix 300Bs to the Takatsukis is a nice jump in SQ but not as big as the improvement gained from an SR Orange to the QSA Silver fuse. The improvement gained from the stock footers on the Extreme to a quad of CS2 1.5 footers is a nice gain but is not as big as what I'm hearing from just the Red fuse. Not really even close. I'm evaluating a $9k Shunyata Omega QR power cord for the preamp and the gain over an inexpensive $200 TG SLVR power cord is nowhere near as substantial as what I'm hearing from the Silver fuse. I'm currently evaluating the new Synergistic Research SX Ground block with a full loom of SX ground cables:



The impact of completely grounding my entire system with this >$10k ground block + cables is substantial but the impact of a single QSA fuse is still greater.

If you're the kind of audiophile who is open to spending $10-20K for a power cord, then something like a Silver fuse could make sense, otherwise, QSA makes fuses that start at $28 but having evaluated various power cords over the years including the High Fidelity Cables Pro Series, Nordost Odin 2, and others, I have yet to hear a PC that makes the same difference as this QSA Silver fuse.

I have no affiliation with QSA. They are based in Hong Kong and I am based in the U.S. I have my guesses but I really have no idea what they have done to these fuses. I have no measurements I can offer and I suspect they don't either. Even if they did, I don't think measurements would convey just how large the gap in SQ I'm hearing with these fuses. Yes, these are sacrificial items and eventually, they could blow although they are willing to replace or repair their fuses during the warranty period. You could always choose to uprate the fuse but then you would have to accept the risks that go along with that and so consequently buying a fuse this expensive is not something I can condone but in my case, I already know I will be exchanging this Red fuse I bought for the SGM Extreme and will upgrade it to a Silver.

 

[CKKeung]

I'll share my experience with QSA fuses. I've played around with fuses over the years, enough to know they can make a difference. I've tried a variety of inexpensive fuses from the likes of Bussman and Schurter. Yeah, they get the job done but that's about it. I've tried fuses from HiFi Tuning, Audio Magic (including the Beeswax SHD), and the full range of the SR fuses including their new Purple fuse. It was with SR's Orange fuse that I felt the fuse became a necessity. Before that, it was more I could take it or leave it. But even with the SR Orange, the improvement wasn't huge. It was a tweak level improvement that was worth its asking price of $150. If there is a downside to SR fuses, they are prone to blowing and I've blown 6-7 of these fuses over the years.

I decided to try a QSA fuse after reading about how their $28 entry level fuse was performing about as well as the SR Orange fuse. Yes, I saw QSA was also selling a Silver fuse for $5000 USD (the $10,000 Gold fuse is not yet available) and I said to myself there was no way I'd ever buy a Silver fuse but I took the chance on a Red fuse for my preamp (which has a soft start) and this fuse retails for $1422. These fuses can be purchased here in the U.S. through tweekgeek.com and Mike Garner, the owner, is excellent to deal with but the Red fuses are special order and so I went straight to QSA in Hong Kong and they had the fuse in stock. I wired them the necessary funds and I received the fuse here in California after about 5 days. The Red fuse came with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Their warranty also indicates they will replace a blown fuse up to 3 times within the first 2 years after purchase.

View attachment 84648

To cut to the chase, this Red fuse is amazing. It isn't just a little better than the SR Orange, it is a Grand Canyon chasm like difference. Yes, the ground floor drops but the presentation is livelier and more dynamic. Bass is more plentiful, cleaner, tighter, and better defined. Vocals have more presence. Treble is more refined. But ultimately, what was so good is how natural everything sounds. You can play louder without strain or fatigue and you can listen at whisper volumes because there's so much more presence. After a week, I had enough. I went back to QSA and asked to send back this fuse in exchange for a Silver fuse and so I did what I said I would never do. I also ordered a Red fuse specifically for my SGM Extreme. QSA makes fuses expressly for digital gear that is designed to address HF noise better and so obviously, these fuses are intentionally filtering. I already knew this because I have bypassed fuses before and I know what that sounds like. The improvement in SQ from a Red fuse was far greater than what I have heard by bypassing a fuse.

The Silver analog fuse (for my preamp) and the Red digital fuse (for my SGM Extreme) arrived 3 days ago:

View attachment 84649

Yeah, I'm a crazy lunatic for spending this much money on fuses but I'm a happy crazy lunatic. As good as the Red fuse is, the Silver fuse is just better and not by a small margin. It does all the things a Red fuse does but takes it up several notches. The clarity over the Red fuse is just unbelievable. More space, images have greater density (but not at the expense of speed or agility), and unreal transient response. The presentation sounds more relaxed but the Silver fuse is capable of explosiveness that the Red fuse can't match. Supposedly, the Red fuse takes 2 days to burn in while the Silver fuse takes 7-10 days but at day 3, the combo of Red in the Extreme and Silver in my preamp is really as good as I could hope for. There's no way these fuses will be returned.

I have tried the Silver in both a Vinnie Rossi L2 preamp with Takatsuki 300B tubes and a D'Agostino Momentum HD and with either preamp, the jump in SQ is beyond what I'm getting from anything else I've tried with either of these preamps. To go from the stock Electro Harmonix 300Bs to the Takatsukis is a nice jump in SQ but not as big as the improvement gained from an SR Orange to the QSA Silver fuse. The improvement gained from the stock footers on the Extreme to a quad of CS2 1.5 footers is a nice gain but is not as big as what I'm hearing from just the Red fuse. Not really even close. I'm evaluating a $9k Shunyata Omega QR power cord for the preamp and the gain over an inexpensive $200 TG SLVR power cord is nowhere near as substantial as what I'm hearing from the Silver fuse. I'm currently evaluating the new Synergistic Research SX Ground block with a full loom of SX ground cables:

View attachment 84650

The impact of completely grounding my entire system with this >$10k ground block + cables is substantial but the impact of a single QSA fuse is still greater.

If you're the kind of audiophile who is open to spending $10-20K for a power cord, then something like a Silver fuse could make sense, otherwise, QSA makes fuses that start at $28 but having evaluated various power cords over the years including the High Fidelity Cables Pro Series, Nordost Odin 2, and others, I have yet to hear a PC that makes the same difference as this QSA Silver fuse.

I have no affiliation with QSA. They are based in Hong Kong and I am based in the U.S. I have my guesses but I really have no idea what they have done to these fuses. I have no measurements I can offer and I suspect they don't either. Even if they did, I don't think measurements would convey just how large the gap in SQ I'm hearing with these fuses. Yes, these are sacrificial items and eventually, they could blow although they are willing to replace or repair their fuses during the warranty period. You could always choose to uprate the fuse but then you would have to accept the risks that go along with that and so consequently buying a fuse this expensive is not something I can condone but in my case, I already know I will be exchanging this Red fuse I bought for the SGM Extreme and will upgrade it to a Silver.

Hi Roy,
Long time no chat.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
There is a long thread on AS forum.

My friend Hols has learned much from you, and been poisoned by you too!

 

[romaz]

Hi Roy,
Long time no chat.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
There is a long thread on AS forum.

My friend Hols has learned much from you, and been poisoned by you too!

Lol, Peter. It is you guys in Hong Kong who are leading the way.

 

[TDX]

I think I would still exercise my right to express my opinion Whenever I feel like it

It’s assumption with no action, feel free to throw more of your assumptions.

 

[Maril555]

It’s assumption with no action, feel free to throw more of your assumptions.

Neither was I assuming anything, nor I’ve made any judgements about the alleged sound quality improvements provided by fuses and outlets.
I’ve expressed an opinion on the value proposition of both, which is rather quite questionable.

 

[Maril555]

It’s assumption with no action, feel free to throw more of your assumptions.

No worries, I do feel free

 

[Kingrex]

500ma fuse for the 845s that have 3.25A heaters?

The 3A is the main power fuse at the IEC. There is another 500mA fuse I was told by my tech goes to the heaters.

 

[Kingrex]

I'll share my experience with QSA fuses. I've played around with fuses over the years, enough to know they can make a difference. I've tried a variety of inexpensive fuses from the likes of Bussman and Schurter. Yeah, they get the job done but that's about it. I've tried fuses from HiFi Tuning, Audio Magic (including the Beeswax SHD), and the full range of the SR fuses including their new Purple fuse. It was with SR's Orange fuse that I felt the fuse became a necessity. Before that, it was more I could take it or leave it. But even with the SR Orange, the improvement wasn't huge. It was a tweak level improvement that was worth its asking price of $150. If there is a downside to SR fuses, they are prone to blowing and I've blown 6-7 of these fuses over the years.

I decided to try a QSA fuse after reading about how their $28 entry level fuse was performing about as well as the SR Orange fuse. Yes, I saw QSA was also selling a Silver fuse for $5000 USD (the $10,000 Gold fuse is not yet available) and I said to myself there was no way I'd ever buy a Silver fuse but I took the chance on a Red fuse for my preamp (which has a soft start) and this fuse retails for $1422. These fuses can be purchased here in the U.S. through tweekgeek.com and Mike Garner, the owner, is excellent to deal with but the Red fuses are special order and so I went straight to QSA in Hong Kong and they had the fuse in stock. I wired them the necessary funds and I received the fuse here in California after about 5 days. The Red fuse came with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Their warranty also indicates they will replace a blown fuse up to 3 times within the first 2 years after purchase.

View attachment 84648

To cut to the chase, this Red fuse is amazing. It isn't just a little better than the SR Orange, it is a Grand Canyon chasm like difference. Yes, the ground floor drops but the presentation is livelier and more dynamic. Bass is more plentiful, cleaner, tighter, and better defined. Vocals have more presence. Treble is more refined. But ultimately, what was so good is how natural everything sounds. You can play louder without strain or fatigue and you can listen at whisper volumes because there's so much more presence. After a week, I had enough. I went back to QSA and asked to send back this fuse in exchange for a Silver fuse and so I did what I said I would never do. I also ordered a Red fuse specifically for my SGM Extreme. QSA makes fuses expressly for digital gear that is designed to address HF noise better and so obviously, these fuses are intentionally filtering. I already knew this because I have bypassed fuses before and I know what that sounds like. The improvement in SQ from a Red fuse was far greater than what I have heard by bypassing a fuse.

The Silver analog fuse (for my preamp) and the Red digital fuse (for my SGM Extreme) arrived 3 days ago:

View attachment 84649

Yeah, I'm a crazy lunatic for spending this much money on fuses but I'm a happy crazy lunatic. As good as the Red fuse is, the Silver fuse is just better and not by a small margin. It does all the things a Red fuse does but takes it up several notches. The clarity over the Red fuse is just unbelievable. More space, images have greater density (but not at the expense of speed or agility), and unreal transient response. The presentation sounds more relaxed but the Silver fuse is capable of explosiveness that the Red fuse can't match. Supposedly, the Red fuse takes 2 days to burn in while the Silver fuse takes 7-10 days but at day 3, the combo of Red in the Extreme and Silver in my preamp is really as good as I could hope for. There's no way these fuses will be returned.

I have tried the Silver in both a Vinnie Rossi L2 preamp with Takatsuki 300B tubes and a D'Agostino Momentum HD and with either preamp, the jump in SQ is beyond what I'm getting from anything else I've tried with either of these preamps. To go from the stock Electro Harmonix 300Bs to the Takatsukis is a nice jump in SQ but not as big as the improvement gained from an SR Orange to the QSA Silver fuse. The improvement gained from the stock footers on the Extreme to a quad of CS2 1.5 footers is a nice gain but is not as big as what I'm hearing from just the Red fuse. Not really even close. I'm evaluating a $9k Shunyata Omega QR power cord for the preamp and the gain over an inexpensive $200 TG SLVR power cord is nowhere near as substantial as what I'm hearing from the Silver fuse. I'm currently evaluating the new Synergistic Research SX Ground block with a full loom of SX ground cables:

View attachment 84650

The impact of completely grounding my entire system with this >$10k ground block + cables is substantial but the impact of a single QSA fuse is still greater.

If you're the kind of audiophile who is open to spending $10-20K for a power cord, then something like a Silver fuse could make sense, otherwise, QSA makes fuses that start at $28 but having evaluated various power cords over the years including the High Fidelity Cables Pro Series, Nordost Odin 2, and others, I have yet to hear a PC that makes the same difference as this QSA Silver fuse.

I have no affiliation with QSA. They are based in Hong Kong and I am based in the U.S. I have my guesses but I really have no idea what they have done to these fuses. I have no measurements I can offer and I suspect they don't either. Even if they did, I don't think measurements would convey just how large the gap in SQ I'm hearing with these fuses. Yes, these are sacrificial items and eventually, they could blow although they are willing to replace or repair their fuses during the warranty period. You could always choose to uprate the fuse but then you would have to accept the risks that go along with that and so consequently buying a fuse this expensive is not something I can condone but in my case, I already know I will be exchanging this Red fuse I bought for the SGM Extreme and will upgrade it to a Silver.

I find it interesting a fuse is better than bypassed the fuse block.

I also understand the sentiment about a fuse and power cord. If people are spending thousands on power cords, why not try a fuse. They are both critical links in the power supply chain.

If fuses were more like circuit breakers and resettable, I bet people would be a little less hostile towards them.

I'm still waiting to find what can be done about my 500mA. No idea why they would blow. The manufacturer told me the stock are a slow blow 500mA. So I had the correct ones.

 

[Tango]

I'll share my experience with QSA fuses. I've played around with fuses over the years, enough to know they can make a difference. I've tried a variety of inexpensive fuses from the likes of Bussman and Schurter. Yeah, they get the job done but that's about it. I've tried fuses from HiFi Tuning, Audio Magic (including the Beeswax SHD), and the full range of the SR fuses including their new Purple fuse. It was with SR's Orange fuse that I felt the fuse became a necessity. Before that, it was more I could take it or leave it. But even with the SR Orange, the improvement wasn't huge. It was a tweak level improvement that was worth its asking price of $150. If there is a downside to SR fuses, they are prone to blowing and I've blown 6-7 of these fuses over the years.

I decided to try a QSA fuse after reading about how their $28 entry level fuse was performing about as well as the SR Orange fuse. Yes, I saw QSA was also selling a Silver fuse for $5000 USD (the $10,000 Gold fuse is not yet available) and I said to myself there was no way I'd ever buy a Silver fuse but I took the chance on a Red fuse for my preamp (which has a soft start) and this fuse retails for $1422. These fuses can be purchased here in the U.S. through tweekgeek.com and Mike Garner, the owner, is excellent to deal with but the Red fuses are special order and so I went straight to QSA in Hong Kong and they had the fuse in stock. I wired them the necessary funds and I received the fuse here in California after about 5 days. The Red fuse came with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Their warranty also indicates they will replace a blown fuse up to 3 times within the first 2 years after purchase.

View attachment 84648

To cut to the chase, this Red fuse is amazing. It isn't just a little better than the SR Orange, it is a Grand Canyon chasm like difference. Yes, the ground floor drops but the presentation is livelier and more dynamic. Bass is more plentiful, cleaner, tighter, and better defined. Vocals have more presence. Treble is more refined. But ultimately, what was so good is how natural everything sounds. You can play louder without strain or fatigue and you can listen at whisper volumes because there's so much more presence. After a week, I had enough. I went back to QSA and asked to send back this fuse in exchange for a Silver fuse and so I did what I said I would never do. I also ordered a Red fuse specifically for my SGM Extreme. QSA makes fuses expressly for digital gear that is designed to address HF noise better and so obviously, these fuses are intentionally filtering. I already knew this because I have bypassed fuses before and I know what that sounds like. The improvement in SQ from a Red fuse was far greater than what I have heard by bypassing a fuse.

The Silver analog fuse (for my preamp) and the Red digital fuse (for my SGM Extreme) arrived 3 days ago:

View attachment 84649

Yeah, I'm a crazy lunatic for spending this much money on fuses but I'm a happy crazy lunatic. As good as the Red fuse is, the Silver fuse is just better and not by a small margin. It does all the things a Red fuse does but takes it up several notches. The clarity over the Red fuse is just unbelievable. More space, images have greater density (but not at the expense of speed or agility), and unreal transient response. The presentation sounds more relaxed but the Silver fuse is capable of explosiveness that the Red fuse can't match. Supposedly, the Red fuse takes 2 days to burn in while the Silver fuse takes 7-10 days but at day 3, the combo of Red in the Extreme and Silver in my preamp is really as good as I could hope for. There's no way these fuses will be returned.

I have tried the Silver in both a Vinnie Rossi L2 preamp with Takatsuki 300B tubes and a D'Agostino Momentum HD and with either preamp, the jump in SQ is beyond what I'm getting from anything else I've tried with either of these preamps. To go from the stock Electro Harmonix 300Bs to the Takatsukis is a nice jump in SQ but not as big as the improvement gained from an SR Orange to the QSA Silver fuse. The improvement gained from the stock footers on the Extreme to a quad of CS2 1.5 footers is a nice gain but is not as big as what I'm hearing from just the Red fuse. Not really even close. I'm evaluating a $9k Shunyata Omega QR power cord for the preamp and the gain over an inexpensive $200 TG SLVR power cord is nowhere near as substantial as what I'm hearing from the Silver fuse. I'm currently evaluating the new Synergistic Research SX Ground block with a full loom of SX ground cables:

View attachment 84650

The impact of completely grounding my entire system with this >$10k ground block + cables is substantial but the impact of a single QSA fuse is still greater.

If you're the kind of audiophile who is open to spending $10-20K for a power cord, then something like a Silver fuse could make sense, otherwise, QSA makes fuses that start at $28 but having evaluated various power cords over the years including the High Fidelity Cables Pro Series, Nordost Odin 2, and others, I have yet to hear a PC that makes the same difference as this QSA Silver fuse.

I have no affiliation with QSA. They are based in Hong Kong and I am based in the U.S. I have my guesses but I really have no idea what they have done to these fuses. I have no measurements I can offer and I suspect they don't either. Even if they did, I don't think measurements would convey just how large the gap in SQ I'm hearing with these fuses. Yes, these are sacrificial items and eventually, they could blow although they are willing to replace or repair their fuses during the warranty period. You could always choose to uprate the fuse but then you would have to accept the risks that go along with that and so consequently buying a fuse this expensive is not something I can condone but in my case, I already know I will be exchanging this Red fuse I bought for the SGM Extreme and will upgrade it to a Silver.

I would say @romaz did not exaggerate in his report. These fuses I found make as much the sonic difference as when I change a phono or pre amp...way more difference than footers without having to wait for a month for sound to settle. Many ridiculed them but tried in their system and did not give them back to dealer..haha. I don't use them. I can say because my friend sell them here in Thailand. Easy to get a demo. We also have so many videos made from different systems comparing fuses but I cannot post because they come from a private chat group. Easy to hear the effect.

 

[tima]

These fuses I found make as much the sonic difference as when I change a phono or pre amp...way more difference than footers without having to wait for a month for sound to settle.

Perhaps you, Tang, or another of the folks here who have them could post videos of before/after audiophile fuse. I have never tried any of these, I read the reports of how they bring a significant change to sound, so I am very curious. tia

 

[Al M.]

I don't use them.

Why not, Tang?

 

[Barry2013]

I'll share my experience with QSA fuses. I've played around with fuses over the years, enough to know they can make a difference. I've tried a variety of inexpensive fuses from the likes of Bussman and Schurter. Yeah, they get the job done but that's about it. I've tried fuses from HiFi Tuning, Audio Magic (including the Beeswax SHD), and the full range of the SR fuses including their new Purple fuse. It was with SR's Orange fuse that I felt the fuse became a necessity. Before that, it was more I could take it or leave it. But even with the SR Orange, the improvement wasn't huge. It was a tweak level improvement that was worth its asking price of $150. If there is a downside to SR fuses, they are prone to blowing and I've blown 6-7 of these fuses over the years.

I decided to try a QSA fuse after reading about how their $28 entry level fuse was performing about as well as the SR Orange fuse. Yes, I saw QSA was also selling a Silver fuse for $5000 USD (the $10,000 Gold fuse is not yet available) and I said to myself there was no way I'd ever buy a Silver fuse but I took the chance on a Red fuse for my preamp (which has a soft start) and this fuse retails for $1422. These fuses can be purchased here in the U.S. through tweekgeek.com and Mike Garner, the owner, is excellent to deal with but the Red fuses are special order and so I went straight to QSA in Hong Kong and they had the fuse in stock. I wired them the necessary funds and I received the fuse here in California after about 5 days. The Red fuse came with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Their warranty also indicates they will replace a blown fuse up to 3 times within the first 2 years after purchase.

View attachment 84648

To cut to the chase, this Red fuse is amazing. It isn't just a little better than the SR Orange, it is a Grand Canyon chasm like difference. Yes, the ground floor drops but the presentation is livelier and more dynamic. Bass is more plentiful, cleaner, tighter, and better defined. Vocals have more presence. Treble is more refined. But ultimately, what was so good is how natural everything sounds. You can play louder without strain or fatigue and you can listen at whisper volumes because there's so much more presence. After a week, I had enough. I went back to QSA and asked to send back this fuse in exchange for a Silver fuse and so I did what I said I would never do. I also ordered a Red fuse specifically for my SGM Extreme. QSA makes fuses expressly for digital gear that is designed to address HF noise better and so obviously, these fuses are intentionally filtering. I already knew this because I have bypassed fuses before and I know what that sounds like. The improvement in SQ from a Red fuse was far greater than what I have heard by bypassing a fuse.

The Silver analog fuse (for my preamp) and the Red digital fuse (for my SGM Extreme) arrived 3 days ago:

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Yeah, I'm a crazy lunatic for spending this much money on fuses but I'm a happy crazy lunatic. As good as the Red fuse is, the Silver fuse is just better and not by a small margin. It does all the things a Red fuse does but takes it up several notches. The clarity over the Red fuse is just unbelievable. More space, images have greater density (but not at the expense of speed or agility), and unreal transient response. The presentation sounds more relaxed but the Silver fuse is capable of explosiveness that the Red fuse can't match. Supposedly, the Red fuse takes 2 days to burn in while the Silver fuse takes 7-10 days but at day 3, the combo of Red in the Extreme and Silver in my preamp is really as good as I could hope for. There's no way these fuses will be returned.

I have tried the Silver in both a Vinnie Rossi L2 preamp with Takatsuki 300B tubes and a D'Agostino Momentum HD and with either preamp, the jump in SQ is beyond what I'm getting from anything else I've tried with either of these preamps. To go from the stock Electro Harmonix 300Bs to the Takatsukis is a nice jump in SQ but not as big as the improvement gained from an SR Orange to the QSA Silver fuse. The improvement gained from the stock footers on the Extreme to a quad of CS2 1.5 footers is a nice gain but is not as big as what I'm hearing from just the Red fuse. Not really even close. I'm evaluating a $9k Shunyata Omega QR power cord for the preamp and the gain over an inexpensive $200 TG SLVR power cord is nowhere near as substantial as what I'm hearing from the Silver fuse. I'm currently evaluating the new Synergistic Research SX Ground block with a full loom of SX ground cables:

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The impact of completely grounding my entire system with this >$10k ground block + cables is substantial but the impact of a single QSA fuse is still greater.

If you're the kind of audiophile who is open to spending $10-20K for a power cord, then something like a Silver fuse could make sense, otherwise, QSA makes fuses that start at $28 but having evaluated various power cords over the years including the High Fidelity Cables Pro Series, Nordost Odin 2, and others, I have yet to hear a PC that makes the same difference as this QSA Silver fuse.

I have no affiliation with QSA. They are based in Hong Kong and I am based in the U.S. I have my guesses but I really have no idea what they have done to these fuses. I have no measurements I can offer and I suspect they don't either. Even if they did, I don't think measurements would convey just how large the gap in SQ I'm hearing with these fuses. Yes, these are sacrificial items and eventually, they could blow although they are willing to replace or repair their fuses during the warranty period. You could always choose to uprate the fuse but then you would have to accept the risks that go along with that and so consequently buying a fuse this expensive is not something I can condone but in my case, I already know I will be exchanging this Red fuse I bought for the SGM Extreme and will upgrade it to a Silver.

My own experience with four violet and three yellows mirrors your findings and in particular the improved character of the sound. In combination with an Entreq Atlantis Infinity pc to the power block the improvement in the sound quality has been astonishing.Power cables really benefit from the QSA fuses.
The red will have to wait a little while but probably in the new year.
I will look forward to reading more from you.

 

[Tango]

Why not, Tang?

1) My system has "enough" of everything that makes sound believable.
2) They are very expensive.

 

[bonzo75]

1) My system has "enough" of everything that makes sound believable.
2) They are very expensive.

This is usually said before every upgrade.

 

[justubes]

Hi Tang,

They are unquestionable good fuse, but agree thay also can be very different "like changing a phono or pre".

When I find my balance in the system, these differences are just different direction to the presentation, also with. Yes more clarity etc.

I would spend that money on the fuse or cable, whichever, but on what suits my preference and if the balance is there, the fuses wow factor become a moot point on what they do to the sound.

This was my impression limited the yellow range thereabouts, cannot comment on the higher range and very expensive.

Possibly no chance to test those.

FWIW, I do notice a tad of the rhodium plating sonics as I had years ago about 30 furutech fuses in the whole system and very familiar with that characteristic, the ends of the fuse do look as if there is a rhodium or some othe plating.