QSA : My take on their expensive products

[CKKeung]

Dear Mr. CKKeung, do you have any comment when compare Brown Brimar Graphene Fuse versus QSA fuses?
Currently I'm own a set of Brimar Graphene fuses and it's out perform all the SR fuses line at a different level of sound quality.
Thank you very much.

Hi Huy Hoang,
I myself am using Brimar fuses too.
Here is a photo I took a few years ago.
The SR Orange is outdated but the Brimar fuses stay strong!



I'm using the original version of Brimar fuses. They are black in colour.
Here is a photo taken from Hiendy.com, a HK audiophile forum.


The brown colour Brimar fuses you are using belong to the newer series, launched in 2018.


The black version has been discontinued whereas the newer brown & purple colour versions are still available nowadays.

BTW I like the older black colour version more.
However IMHO Brimar fuses are more suitable for small current audio components instead of power-hungry ones such as poweramps, power-conditioners ...etc.
All versions of Brimar fuses are not cheap, but they are more "affordable" than the top models of QSA.

 

[CKKeung]

I have some of these “Brimar” fuses which I purchased online. Very good quality for the price. They are Asian made and supposedly treated (by Telos) with the same process as the more expensive Telos fuses.

The current Brimar is a HK brand.
They are not made by Telos in Taiwan.
However I know that all of them will be treated by a cable cooker before delivering to retailers.
Is that a Telos cable cooker? I'm not sure.

 

[CKKeung]

BTW cable cookers are not snake-oil, they work!

And believe it or not, diff cable cookers (Telos, Nordost, Audiodharma, Blue Horizon ...etc) produce diff sound characters.


Here is the newest model from Telos of Taiwan : Telos QBT V5.1 Cable Cooker.
It's not cheap. In HK the net price is >usd10 !

 

[Willgolf]

I am glad this thread has awoken again. How does the Brimar brown compare to SR Purple or QSA Violet or Red? It would be really helpful if there was a link to these boutique fuses. I assume you can use them in the USA. How much are they?

 

[CKKeung]

I am glad this thread has awoken again. How does the Brimar brown compare to SR Purple or QSA Violet or Red? It would be really helpful if there was a link to these boutique fuses. I assume you can use them in the USA. How much are they?

The Brimar fuses new versions are available here (prices are in HK$) :

?? FUSE

?? FUSE

www.hiendymall.com

Pls contact the webmaster of Hiendy Mall to check the stock and shipping charges :

????

 

[Willgolf]

Thank you CK. They are very reasonable compared to QSA, Violet or Red but I wonder how they compare in SQ? Second question, are they directional? And if yes, do they have an arrow pointing in the right direction?

 

[Huy Hoang]

I am glad this thread has awoken again. How does the Brimar brown compare to SR Purple or QSA Violet or Red? It would be really helpful if there was a link to these boutique fuses. I assume you can use them in the USA. How much are they?

Hi Willgolf,
For the short comparison between SR Purple vs Brimar Brown (1 aba test apply for my Taiko Extreme with full loom of Odin2/Gold cables) here are some points from my experience
- Much better resolution like you move from 480p to HD movies (this will give better performance in all sonic aspects)
- Beter dynamic and tonal constrast like HDR pictures
- You get fuller sound, richness of harmonic, more density, more solid sound image
- More live energy and musicality

Hi CKKeung, what kind of QSA model that your Brimar Black Fuse will be euqivalant in your opinion?
I'm still searching for better option with resonable investment for sound quality
From HK audiophile forum, they also mention about the Zero2 fuse in competition with Brimar and QSA

 

[highstream]

Any sense what the real construction difference is between power and source? Seen that with power cords but never a fuse.

 

[cmarin]

Hi Willgolf,
For the short comparison between SR Purple vs Brimar Brown (1 aba test apply for my Taiko Extreme with full loom of Odin2/Gold cables) here are some points from my experience
- Much better resolution like you move from 480p to HD movies (this will give better performance in all sonic aspects)
- Beter dynamic and tonal constrast like HDR pictures
- You get fuller sound, richness of harmonic, more density, more solid sound image
- More live energy and musicality

Hi CKKeung, what kind of QSA model that your Brimar Black Fuse will be euqivalant in your opinion?
I'm still searching for better option with resonable investment for sound quality
From HK audiophile forum, they also mention about the Zero2 fuse in competition with Brimar and QSA

Hi Hoy Huang,

Thank you for sharing your experience comparing the SR and Brown Brimar Graphene fuse performances for the Taiko Extreme. Very interesting results.

I also happen to own the Taiko Extreme and was wondering if at the time you conducted your tests whether your Taiko had the new usb driver/usb card installed and was using the new XDMS alpha software?

Thank you

 

[highstream]

I’m still trying to understand a few things:

- What is the difference between the source and power fuses? With power cords, I tend to ignore that distinction and go with the larger cable, the power one.

- CKKeung, what is it about the previous black fuse you prefer over the current models?

- Hu Hoang: is the power fuse brown? hard to tell from the site if it's brown or red

- tonally, are Brimar fuses a bit on the warm side or “neutral?”

 

[Huy Hoang]

Hi Hoy Huang,

Thank you for sharing your experience comparing the SR and Brown Brimar Graphene fuse performances for the Taiko Extreme. Very interesting results.

I also happen to own the Taiko Extreme and was wondering if at the time you conducted your tests whether your Taiko had the new usb driver/usb card installed and was using the new XDMS alpha software?

Thank you

Hi cmarin,
I'm not using the XDMS software yet because it's only alpha version and limited to some users, I almost use TAS for music playback in my system.
My Extreme has Taiko USB Audio Card and it's driver had been updated by Mr. Emile from Feb 2022.
My DAC is MSB Select 2 with dual monobase and Usbpro
Regards.

 

[Huy Hoang]

I’m still trying to understand a few things:

- What is the difference between the source and power fuses? With power cords, I tend to ignore that distinction and go with the larger cable, the power one.

- CKKeung, what is it about the previous black fuse you prefer over the current models?

- Hu Hoang: is the power fuse brown? hard to tell from the site if it's brown or red

Hi Highstream,
My Brimar fuse is Brown version which is much more expensive than Red version.
I don't have a chance to compare Brown (Power) vs Purple (Source) version yet. But from some information I got, the power is for high current demand which used for amplifiers and power supplies and the source is used for digital components.
Try it with Preamp will make a biggest impact on sound improvement. In my test I choose Taiko Extreme because of my CH L10 preamp will need at least 40 45 mins warm up to get it's best sounding, so it's not suitable for the ABA swiching test.

 

[Kingrex]

I would take Deoxit G series pure solution and use it on the ends of any fuse. I think you will be shocked what it does. It may close the gap between some of these fuses. I almost wonder if any of these makers have already use some sort of enhancement such as Deoxit already. Some people favor other similar products. Use a Q tip to apply a thin coat around the whole fuse end and also in the fuse block contact clamp if it is accessible. It won't arch over, but try and be careful to not make a sloppy mess.

I heard it with the glass fuse in my Dartzeel. I bought some audiophile fuses for the Dartzeel but the holder is so compact, the fuse being maybe a 128th longer in length than my glass fuse would not fit in the block. Kind of a bummer.

Do not use silver paste. That will arch and possibly damage your equipment.

 

[highstream]

@Huy Hoang I’m aware of what power vs. digital (source) means,, but I’m looking for the differences in construction between the two, i.e., what makes one for digital and the other for power. With power cords, the digital version is smaller gauge, for example 14 gauge vs. 8 or 10 gauge for amplifiers and power conditioners. My experience is always go for the bigger gauge. With the fuses, are they using less of something for the digital version?

@Kingrex Better than De-Toxit is High Fidelity’s Contact Enhancer, NPS-1260 or the upgraded NPS-45T. It’s the real deal. Spatial characteristics very noticeably enhanced immediately, tho Rick Schultz said three days. About the differences being narrowed with de-toxit, I would think that to the degree it helps, it helps all fuses.

 

[cmarin]

Hi cmarin,
I'm not using the XDMS software yet because it's only alpha version and limited to some users, I almost use TAS for music playback in my system.
My Extreme has Taiko USB Audio Card and it's driver had been updated by Mr. Emile from Feb 2022.
My DAC is MSB Select 2 with dual monobase and Usbpro
Regards.

Hi

Thank you for your reply.

I’ve been down the fuse replacement route in the past, but have stopped testing and settled primarily with SR orange fuses.

I posed my question to you about your Extreme server configuration in order to possibly get an idea about the relative improvement I could expect by using your preferred fuse on the Taiko Extreme.

Like you, I’ve had the Taiko usb card and driver installed, but also had the fortune of having the XDMS alpha server software installed a few days ago.

The XDMS produced a significant and dramatic order of magnitude positive impact to the sound quality of the Extreme.

Trying to judge the effect of the fuses in our systems from the experience of others is difficult at best for a number of reasons. But I was hoping that you could provide a relative measure of the fuse’s effect by comparing it to the change created by installing the XDMS software.

Perhaps we can revisit the topic after you get a chance to install the XDMS software. Judging from my experience and that of the others who have already done so, you will be very pleased with the sound after XDMS.

Even then, there is still an open question on the benefits of replacement fuses which was posed to me by an experienced manufacturer:

1. How much of the effect of a new fuse is due to the new fuse having less corrosion/contamination of the contacts by virtue of it being newer than the old fuse it is replacing?

2. Whether the effect of the new fuse will be reduced over time as corrosion/contamination affects the fuse over time? Or

3. Whether the differences between the old and new fuse will be reduced by cleaning the old fuse?

I’d be very interested in learning if anyone has addressed those questions on this or any other forum.

Thanks.

 

[Huy Hoang]

Hi cmarin, I get your ideas.
I read some possitive feedbacks about XDMS in Extreme's topic and already contacted with Mr. Edward but still need to wait more as you know nowadays there are lot of Extreme owners.
To evaluate the sonic improvement I can share with you some reference points:
+ Both SR Purple and Brimar Brown is new one, the SR Purple had more than continous 3~4 days burn-in time before the test
+ Two of my friends also perform a comparison between Brimar with SR Orange in their system and get the same "out perform"
+ In my system, the improvement effect is similar to add a set of 4 CS2M 1.5 footers for my Extreme but with the bonus of more density, fuller & richness characteristic
+ As you also own Odin2 cable, I can decribe that the effect is like you upgrade your powercord from Nordost Odin1 to Odin2
So from my sincerity, please give it a try if avaiable.
Regards.

 

[highstream]

@Huy Hoang wrote:”…the SR Purple had more than continous 3~4 days burn-in time before the test”

3-4 days burn in is not nearly enough. 10-15 days, at least 250 hours, is needed for a proper comparison. Speaking from the experience of having burned in about 20-25 aftermarket fuses over the past several years, including many SR Black, Blue, Orange and Purple fuses, I’ve found that just like other gear, fuses require extended burn in. During that time, the sound goes through many nonlinear changes, for better and worse sounding, before settling into its basic long term sound. This is also true for previously burned in fuses that haven’t been used for awhile, although the re-burnin period is shorter, typically about 100-150 hours in my experience.

I’ve never heard a Brimar fuse and would love to. However, for my money, at $500 each, it’s going to take a lot more serious testing than 3-4 days before I’d take a chance. It’ll also take an answer about Brimar’s tone, its voicing. Like other gear, fuses are voiced by their developers on the warm-neutral-cool continuum, as well as for other characteristics (staging, etc). For example, SR Blue fuses were decidedly neutral, while their Black, Orange and Purple versions were given some warmth. But during burn in, it may take long hours before the lasting tone and tonal balance appears, or at least becomes stable.

 

[cmarin]

Hi cmarin, I get your ideas.
I read some possitive feedbacks about XDMS in Extreme's topic and already contacted with Mr. Edward but still need to wait more as you know nowadays there are lot of Extreme owners.
To evaluate the sonic improvement I can shared with your some reference points:
+ Both SR Purple and Brimar Brown is new one, the SR Purple had more than continous 3~4 days burn-in time before the test
+ Two of my friends also perform a comparison between Brimar with SR Orange in their system and get the same "out perform"
+ In my system, the improvement effect is similar to add a set of 4 CS2M 1.5 footers for my Extreme but with the bonus of more density, fuller & richness characteristic
+ As you also own Odin2 cable, I can decribe that the effect is like you upgrade your powercord from Nordost Odin1 to Odin2
So from my sincerity, please give it a try if avaiable.
Regards.

Thank you Huay for your detailed and informative answer.

I will take your advice and order a few of the Brown Graphene fuses and will report back.

Hope you get the XDMS installed in your Extreme soon. It’s always a pleasure to deal with Edward/Taiko.

Look forward to your comments after you get the XDMS installed.

Best regards,

 

[Huy Hoang]

Dear highstream,
As I mentioned, my friends use full Orange fuses in their system for years and they got the same conclusion.
Before I tried Brimar, I also think it's quite expensive for a fuse like you. My friends also didn't belive too much about what it can change the system before I gave mine for their demo.
And please notice that the effect doesn't like an adjustment on the warm-neutral-cool side, the effect is releated with how the sound quality be improved. (for ex a key point here is Brimar bring a huge improvement in the resolution)
And it's the reason why I'm here to find out how far the topline QSA fuses can improve. (still waiting the information from Mr CKKeung )
But anyway it's up to you, this is just a share from my real experience.
Regards.

 

[Willgolf]

Dear highstream,
As I mentioned, my friends use full Orange fuses in their system for years and they got the same conclusion.
Before I tried Brimar, I also think it's quite expensive for a fuse like you. My friends also didn't belive too much about what it can change the system before I gave mine for their demo.
And please notice that the effect doesn't like an adjustment on the warm-neutral-cool side, the effect is releated with how the sound quality be improved. (for ex a key point here is Brimar bring a huge improvement in the resolution)
And it's the reason why I'm here to find out how far the topline QSA fuses can improve. (still waiting the information from Mr CKKeung )
But anyway it's up to you, this is just a share from my real experience.
Regards.

Can you confirm whether the Brimar fuses are directional and if so, are the fuses marked accordingly?