[Doug2507]

I tried purple in Envy including (UK) mains cable, fed from a puritan, could not detect a difference, or in server or DAC which both use internal breakers. Still optimistic though and will probably try a Master in the 156 wall plug.

 

[IanB52]

Yes, I did. Sorry for not replying earlier - been running the MasterFuse in. I'm not the best at describing the differences in sound quality but I would say that the soundstage sounds more open and there is even more resolution of fine detail. It is even easier to follow the individual musical lines if you are inclined to, while the music seems to flow that bit better. Is it a subtle or a big upgrade? For me it's somewhere in between though now I have those changes I'd rather keep them. I was able to get a 10% discount on it and sold my SR Purple on eBay so it cost me about £400 overall. Yes, that's a lot of money but I'm not sure I could get those improvements any cheaper by changing my components. (Though see below!) So to answer my own question I would say it is a worthwhile upgrade.
However, now for a gripe about SR. As soon as I had bought the SR MasterFuse SR announced the introduction of a new 'Pink' fuse. If you read the description it sounds as if this is SR's new top performing fuse and yet it sells for less than half the price of the MasterFuse! (Pink £250 Master £595 UK prices) If that's the case where does that leave the MasterFuse? Will SR quietly withdraw it as their stocks run down? Also makes me wonder if I could have achieved the same results as using the Master for less than half the price. I'll be very interested to read any forthcoming comparisons between the performance of the two fuses.
I'll mention something which happened when I was checking which of my SR Purples looked the best (don't know if anyone else has had the printed part on the central bit of the fuse come loose? Doesn't affect the sound but it doesn't look good.) for sale on eBay I inadvertently put one back in the opposite direction to the others. When I came back to listen I found the sound was not quite right it sounded too rich, a bit slow and congested. Point being I was quite surprised that such a small mistake could have such a big (negative) impact on the SQ.

Yeah, you definitely don't want more than one Master Fuse in your system, maybe two if it super dark or muddy. Pink replaces Purple, and the Master complements both.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Anyone interested in a purple fuse?
I might sell the ones I no longer need which would be slow Blow 2A 250V and 2.5A 250V

 

[rsbrsvp]

I have a power supply that takes a 1A slow blow fuse. When replacing it with a SR Master fuse, should I use a higher value or same 1A slow blow?

 

[1laraz]

I have a power supply that takes a 1A slow blow fuse. When replacing it with a SR Master fuse, should I use a higher value or same 1A slow blow?

Usually +30% is recommended for audiophile fuses, so 1.3A in your case

 

[rsbrsvp]

Well- The amp takes 800ma to 1a for standard. If I use a 1a- do I have a big chance of it blowing?

 

[Wes S]

I have a power supply that takes a 1A slow blow fuse. When replacing it with a SR Master fuse, should I use a higher value or same 1A slow blow?

Go up one.

 

[Wes S]

Well- The amp takes 800ma to 1a for standard. If I use a 1a- do I have a big chance of it blowing?

Yes. I speak from experience, and yes I blew a Master. The Master is so damn good though, that I got a replacement. I went up 1 size and have been rocking and rolling ever since.

 

[rsbrsvp]

thanks..

 

[alvin sawdust]

Finally ordered a SDFB with piggy tail and copper sluggo with gold immersion to go on my Ultrasonic Telemachus amp. Mark has been very responsive to my emails

 

[TheAttorney]

"The best fuse is no-fuse!"
This is often confidently stated as fact. But is it necessarily so?
Why would anyone spend $5k on a QSA Silver fuse… if the only thing it achieved was to be invisible?
Can an audiophile fuse sound better than a direct connection? If yes, then the fuse must be achieving some form of noise filtering or power conditioning, whose benefits outweigh its greater resistance compared to a direct connection. I've finally got round to do some simple comparisons to find out. The results were more complicated than I had expected, so context is important, so I'll break this up into 3 rounds. But first, two important caveats:

Caveat 1: IMO, a fuse bypass is safe in a UK wall mains plug AS LONG AS there remains a correctly rated fuse in the attached component. I don't advocate ever bypassing the component's fuse. Some extremists do this, but it's not safe and not for me (the Swiss Digital Fuse Box (SDFB) attempts to get around this, but maybe more of that later).

Caveat 2: All comparisons were over several weeks, by just enjoying listening to music and mentally noting any difference that struck me. These were sighted, subjective comparisons. This informal style works best for me, but proves absolutely nothing by any objective standards. What the results do achieve, though, is to provide some thoughts for further investigation.

My two systems under test, with emphasis on any mains tweaks slowly built up over years:

Hi-end hifi rig: Stock mains ring -> QSA Red wall socket-> Audience TSSOX passive conditioner (with a Nordost QV2 and a Furutech Clearline plugged into its spare sockets) -> modestly-priced ClearerAudio mains cable (pimped up with Furutech NCF Rhodium wall plug and Oyaide armoured IEC plug) -> Grimm MU1 (high-end server/streamer with internal SR Orange fuse) -> DAVE DAC -> Meze Elite headphones (with AA pads). All the above mains tweaks improved SQ to varying incremental levels.

Mid-level A/V rig: In another room, on the same mains ring -> standard wall socket -> Puritan Classic+SE power cord -> Puritan 106D conditioner. This powers various components, including: Panasonic OLED TV, large Samsung soundbar and small sub-woofer. The Puritan improved the TV's PQ more obviously than the soundbar's SQ.

So finally we come to Round 1 comparison test in the next post.

 

[TheAttorney]

Round 1. SR Purple fuse vs solid copper rod (aka slug):

Swapped between SR Purple fuse and copper slug - in the wall plug of the MU1 mains cable, and in the wall plug of the Puritan Classic+ cable.

The end result was the same: SR Purple beat the copper slug, being incrementally better across the board, i.e. greater clarity presented in a more natural way, with no obvious brightness or other downsides. The effect was immediately obvious in my hifi system. The SQ improvement was fairly marginal in the A/V system (music improved incrementally, but dialogue clarity hardly at all). But the OLED picture quality improved more obviously, with literally blacker blacks and better contrast and detail.

So, to me this shows that, although conductivity may be important, it is not the only consideration - because the skinny SR Purple fuse wire is almost certainly less conductive than the thick copper slug, yet performed better. I don't know the purity of this freebie copper slug, or how it compares to SDFB's "high purity" copper "sluggo", but I did first carefully de-oxidise it until it shined like gold.

But Round 2 is more interesting. Over at Audiogon and PSAudio forums, there has been talk about different metal slugs, some in conjunction with the various SDFB sluggo options available. I was particularly taken by comments that silver or titanium slugs sounded better than copper. Obtaining appropriately sized silver slugs was not easy, but titanium ones were possible from the likes of eBay, so roll on Round 2…

 

[TheAttorney]

Round 2: SR Purple fuse vs solid titanium slug.

I wasn't sure what to expect. Titanium is way down the conductivity table compared to copper, and worse than "low grade" metals like tin or nickel. So what could it possibly bring to the table? But it's still a conductor, and absolute resistance is still quite low with a large diameter solid slug (e.g. zero ohms registered on my multi-meter, which has a resolution of 0.1 ohms).

So, what about SQ? Well, I was somewhat taken aback that I could immediately tell that the titanium slug sounded better than the Purple fuse! In particular, having greater clarity, focus and dynamics. Swapping back to the Purple fuse after a few weeks showed up the Purple to be very slightly muffled and coloured, characteristics that were not at all apparent when the Purple was beating the copper slug (or stock fuse). In my balanced hifi system (with the relatively forgiving Meze Elite headphones), this extra clarity was very welcome, but it's possible this could become too much in a brighter system, so YMMV as always.

In the A/V system, SQ improvements with the titanium slug were again rather marginal, but the OLED picture quality took another incremental step forward.

My conclusion at end of Round 2 was that the titanium slug sounded better than SR Purple fuse, which sounded better than copper slug, which sounded better than stock fuse. Which shows that the situation is more nuanced than the often black-and-white stances taken by some commentators. It also shows that, whilst conductivity may be important, it is not the only consideration for best SQ. Whilst I'd class the differences as incremental, they nevertheless affected my musical enjoyment sufficiently for me to become dissatisfied with the lesser components that I had previously been happy with.

The most satisfying part of this result for me is the cost of the titanium slug. I got 3 of them cut to exact fuse size for a total of £6. I re-purposed my now-spare SR Purple to my OLED TV, and my third titanium slug to my soundbar in my A/V system. Both PQ and SQ took a further incremental step forward, with finally a gain in dialogue clarity from the soundbar, so nothing was wasted. Roll on to final Round 3.

 

[TheAttorney]

Round 3 - Practicalities and final comments

Titanium is a very tough, non-corrosive metal, whose characteristics vary with the amount of other metals/materials alloyed with it. The Audiogon and PSAudio posts weren't very specific about the different grades, but I will be. Several grades are available, but the two most commonly available in fuse-sized diameter rods are international Grades 2 and 5. Grade 2 is purer, softer and more conductive. Grade 5 is tougher, which is great for industrial applications, but even more difficult to machine for hifi purposes. I chose Grade 2.

On UK eBay, there are plenty of rods available in 5mm and 6mm diameter for internal fuses. But only one supplier, Red Rose Engineering, had the UK-fuse diameter of 6.35mm (1/4 inch). The stated size was actually 6.4mm, but this was the same in practice. The shortest length listed was 100mm (cost about £10). Because of titanium's toughness, I was unsure if I would be able to cut it to UK fuse length of 25mm (1inch) using standard saws from my DIY toolbox. So I messaged the company if they could cut 25mm lengths for me - and they did, at no extra charge (3x25mm slugs for £6, including postage). You can get this sort of amazing value when you move away from the high-end audio arena.

The cut edges had some slight burring, But this was easily smoothed down with a standard metal file from my DIY toolbox.

Other notes:
Is the titanium slug directional? To simplify life, I really wished that it wasn't, but yes it was. After a few weeks, I swapped its direction and immediately noticed a darker, fuller presentation. Which was quite pleasant initially, but after a while, I missed the original clarity, focus and dynamics. Swapping back confirmed that the original direction was best for me. I don't know if this directionality was caused by the initial burn-in, or if it was inherent in the way the rod was formed - this would require considerable extra testing that I'm not prepared to do.

Does the titanium slug require burn-in? Inconclusive. In all swaps, after cleaning, I applied a very thin layer of Furutech Nano contact enhancer, which I had previously determined could help slightly. But in this set of comparisons I could not reliably conclude if there was burn-in, or what effect the nano fluid had?

How does the Grade 2 titanium compare to other grades, or to the various SDFB sluggo variants, including their pricey rhodium plated sluggo? (Note: Sluggos are not available in UK fuse size). How does it compare to platinum, or palladium, or other exotic metals? How does it compare to SR Master fuse, or the QSA fuses? Dunno to all these questions. I feel I've done my bit on this topic - I'm off to enjoy my music collection

 

[Jake2]

Round 3 - Practicalities and final comments

Titanium is a very tough, non-corrosive metal, whose characteristics vary with the amount of other metals/materials alloyed with it. The Audiogon and PSAudio posts weren't very specific about the different grades, but I will be. Several grades are available, but the two most commonly available in fuse-sized diameter rods are international Grades 2 and 5. Grade 2 is purer, softer and more conductive. Grade 5 is tougher, which is great for industrial applications, but even more difficult to machine for hifi purposes. I chose Grade 2.

On UK eBay, there are plenty of rods available in 5mm and 6mm diameter for internal fuses. But only one supplier, Red Rose Engineering, had the UK-fuse diameter of 6.35mm (1/4 inch). The stated size was actually 6.4mm, but this was the same in practice. The shortest length listed was 100mm (cost about £10). Because of titanium's toughness, I was unsure if I would be able to cut it to UK fuse length of 25mm (1inch) using standard saws from my DIY toolbox. So I messaged the company if they could cut 25mm lengths for me - and they did, at no extra charge (3x25mm slugs for £6, including postage). You can get this sort of amazing value when you move away from the high-end audio arena.

The cut edges had some slight burring, But this was easily smoothed down with a standard metal file from my DIY toolbox.

Other notes:
Is the titanium slug directional? To simplify life, I really wished that it wasn't, but yes it was. After a few weeks, I swapped its direction and immediately noticed a darker, fuller presentation. Which was quite pleasant initially, but after a while, I missed the original clarity, focus and dynamics. Swapping back confirmed that the original direction was best for me. I don't know if this directionality was caused by the initial burn-in, or if it was inherent in the way the rod was formed - this would require considerable extra testing that I'm not prepared to do.

Does the titanium slug require burn-in? Inconclusive. In all swaps, after cleaning, I applied a very thin layer of Furutech Nano contact enhancer, which I had previously determined could help slightly. But in this set of comparisons I could not reliably conclude if there was burn-in, or what effect the nano fluid had?

How does the Grade 2 titanium compare to other grades, or to the various SDFB sluggo variants, including their pricey rhodium plated sluggo? (Note: Sluggos are not available in UK fuse size). How does it compare to platinum, or palladium, or other exotic metals? How does it compare to SR Master fuse, or the QSA fuses? Dunno to all these questions. I feel I've done my bit on this topic - I'm off to enjoy my music collection

Excellent work an interesting comparison and takeaways. Thanks very much for taking the trouble to do this and share your findings.

I have a Xangsane solid pure silver ‘fuse’ (a solid sluggo) I bought to do the same test against my Masterpiece M1 fuse in my DAC. But only as a time limited test / proof of concept as here in NZ (like much of the world) we don’t have fuses in power cables, just in components. Must get around to doing this and report back.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006452074254.html