So even though your mains goes through a cable, an iec socket, inline wires to the transformer, is then magnetically passed to the electrically isolated windings in the other side of the transformer, chopped by a set of diodes and into a bank of caps, and then onwards as DC through multiple regulators and further stages of decoupling and into an amplifying circuit with probably -80db of psrr and you think a 2cm of fuse wires can somehow magically transform what you hear... Righto.
@@olanzipMK2 The Russ Andrews super fuses are £25, and the DCT Russ Andrews fuses are £10 for a pack of 5, i've tried them they all improve sound quality.
I tried synergistic orange with my preamplifier recently and the improvement is very obvious, without any burning-in. That tiny little thing is an enigma.
@Douglas Blake Good point. The sentence should go like this: If your system is good enough, it will make a difference and sound even better. At least, that is my experience.
There's a term called "Illusory truth effect" for where when you are told something does by enough people that it "just has to be true" so your mind will hear what you want to believe. That doesn't however make it so. And in this case, there is nothing fact about it. Fuses are there to prevent power spikes and save your equipment. They are not part of the audio component structure at all.
Hi phill my name is ian casson I’ve been in our love of hi fi and the end result of play back of music to the best we can to enjoy it I remember you when you worked at Brady’s with john or is back there I now have a state of the art set up in a stand alone room I have put a lot into the mains side of it and in a top set up a top fuse makes a big dif to the sound and your review as made me try some I have ordered 2 of the 2.5 internal fuses one for my valve 300 b amp and one for my valve pre amp will give my opinion when they arrive ps they are the top ones 190 each 👌
Here's a 'Belter'; Pin back ONE of the four corners of all curtains in the listening room with a safety pin.. Listen to some music for a short time, then remove the safety pins and see if you can listen to the same music with the same pleasure - without the corner of the curtain pinned back !!
Forget Synergistic, QSA fuses are much better (although a bit more pricey). I've just upgraded the fuses in Shunyata mains cables and the fuses in my amp and streamer with QSA and the fuses make a substantial improvement…… The top end is more open and relaxed - cymbals are more shimmery and with greater decay Stereo separation is improved, width of sound stage is broader and projection is much improved Silences are quieter and an overall reduction in the noise floor Bottom end is deeper and more defined Mid range is clearer and more defined - vibrato and plucking of strings is now clearly focussed, vocals similarly well defined and overall definition is much improved. Online reviews have commented that it’s worth holding off that next significant equipment upgrade until you have put these fuses in place, I can now see why.
I actually bought several SR Red fuses when I upgraded my mains cables as I believed the hype. I can't say it made a night n day difference tbh. I think better choice would have been to buy more LPs.
@@r423sdexWhy would someone have to put everything they own on a blind test? To make you happy? How about I shut you down with 1 simple question. Can you reference a single blind test, done by a reputable source that meets scientific standards, or even close too it, on any piece of high end audio gear ever made? Just 1 test. Give us an example. You either won't respond or you'll say something ridiculous. You will not give a quality answer.
I use Russ Andrews fuses, and can confirm 100% they make a difference. The improvements you hear are less distortion, and more air and detail in the sound, I have used them both on amplifiers and source equipment.
Being that the fuse is there to protect against cable failure (which us audio guys will probably never suffer with)I have gone for the no fuse option and have a dedicated circuit for my hifi and a trip to look after it and it would blow far quicker than most bog standard fuses so thus I have eliminated there down grading of the hifi.
@@andrewlittleboy8532 soldered direct to the pins leaving fuse out of it or you can use a piece of 2.5 solid core stripped to solder across fuse point but that's if you intend switching back.
Well friends it seems hit and miss with alot of folks so what I will say is this that from my own experience. I did notice some considerable difference in sound even when changing from an Bussman 3 amp fuse to an SEM 5 amp fuse on my Denon amp. Both fuses would allow enough power for the amp so there is no issue there. The scenario is this, a recent inlet upgrade on my Denon PMA600 NE integrated amplifier from the fixed power cord to an Schurter two prong inlet allowing the power cord to be removed. The upgrade was successful and so allowed me to explore power cords. After settling on a couple cords from MCRU I noticed a drop of in bass at this point on one power cord. I began to dread the upgrade and wondered if it was a mistake, thinking the soldering might have caused a loss in low end frequency via solder choice or because of the break in power feed via the inlet. There was a lift in audio detail which was immediately noticeable but the bass had lost weight and if anyone knows the PMA600NE then you will know that it's a muscular sound with good weight in the lower frequency. Anyway I began to look for some replacement fuses online for another job nothing to extravagant at this point. I have found even MCRU gold plated Bussmans do give a smoother sound over all and they are not expensive but while shopping I remembered the original plug on the fixed denon power cord which i removed so I unplugged the amp and removed the cheap 3 amp fuse that i put into the £50 MCRU power cord now being used with the upgraded inlet on the pma600ne. I replaced the fuse with the original SEM 5 amp fuse that came with the amp and lo and behold the bass was back! So now the upgraded inlet running the MCRU Power Cord with the original SEM 5amp fuse courtesy of Denon brought back the bass and low end weight that the cheap standard Bussman 3 amp simply just did not deliver regardless of the inlet and cord upgrade and that ladies and gentlemen is no lie. If I did an A/B test between even these two cheap fuses, the cheap 3 amp Bussman and the original SEM 5 amp from Denon, you would tell the difference immediately. To say I am chuft to have my bass back is an understatement and it was simply down to the fuse.
As someone from the Netherlands, I can confirm that there aren't any fuses in the powerplugs, but there are fuses inside devices that contain a built in power supply. Audiophile fuses only do something if you believe in them - just like cable lifters and green marker on CDs, it's all about belief.
@@michaelcollins2473 But the placebo effect is real, and accentuated by confirmation bias when you have dropped silly amounts of money on a fuse that is in the power supply!
@Douglas Blake Yes, I trust my ears. Guys, I don't care if you try audiophile fuses in your system or not. The difference is easily demonstrable. I love the look on people's faces when I show them the difference a cable or fuse can make to the overall sound. As I say, it's easily demonstrable. Takes all of 2 minutes to swap a fuse in and out of a piece of equipment. Try it for yourself. Most of them come with a money back guarantee, so if you aren't satisfied, or it doesn't work for you, get your money back. Simple enough.
@Douglas Blake Do you honestly expect me to believe that I am "kidding myself" over the sound differences I have experienced in my system when changing out a fuse? That's more incredible than actually trying it and changing out the fuse, lol. Get real, dude. Perfectly demonstrable. You don't have to understand it or believe it. You simply have to try it. Either way, I don't really care, but I'm not making it up. And neither is anyone else. But you do you.
Hi Phil if you are or not deliberately being obtuse , as in this time of year . May I say as a retired electrical contractor I know full well the impact other electrical circuits can have on hifi equipment . So for all you enthusiasts out there , number 1 install a dedicated supply from your distribution board for your hifi . And if possible make the cable a steel wired armed type , also label the sockets that are feed from the supply hi fi only . Will this improve your hifi , I would say yes . Fuses may indeed play their part , but unless you approach the the main issue you are negating the advantages that could be obtained . Finally as a interesting point ironically depending upon your location , you may experience supply problems that are out of your control . So good luck with that one . Best wishes and kind regards as always 😀👍👍👍
after i switched on a new lamp in my listening room which spiked the mains blowing the fuses to the speakers in my monoblocks,when i replaced them i did notice a general sound quality upgrade ,the lamp went in the bin...
Sorry Phil, you lost me on this one. This is getting near to magic bean territory . Is there any engineering reason why these are so transformative? I am genuinely interested.
There is no engineering reason that I can think of. When you consider the AC mains is transformed to lower voltage and converted to DC anyway I fail to understand how a fuse, or a mains cable can make any difference whatever. However people are convinced they do.
The video started strong, but indeed didn't end well. I never understood the argument that a track could become unrecognizable - as even going from a cheap MP3 player in the rain to a high end system will not do that for me. I am however interested in this subject. Fuses can act as resistors or perhaps even as filters and affect performance because of that. The resistor part can be tested by simply taking them out of the chain. The filter part can be tested perhaps by placing many in series...
Hi Phil Like you I was very sceptical of fuses and the claimed change they would make but I now have two of the SR Purple. One is in my mains power conditioner and the other is in the pre-amp and yes there is a noticeable difference in the sound. I can’t explain it and have read all the guff out there but for some reason they work.
Have any dismissers here tried one these "superfuses" ?? I'm a sceptic and somewhat cynical but I'd never dismiss any theory until I myself can disprove it. You need a good dealer however, who will let you try it, as I'd never buy any such item, unless there was a money back guarantee. IF such things work as well as suggested, despite the price, when compared to an audiophile component upgrade, they would be a an absolute bargain.
I’ve gone through much of the range, starting at the Black fuse (big difference to bog standard fuses) , then to the Blue (personally I found little difference to the Black) then the Orange…another notable improvement and finally the Purple (‘better’ again) Use in my 2 main distribution blocks and all other major sources . Biggest difference was in the power amps and most marginal improvement in my Benchmark DAC. Also tried changing the input slo blow fuses on the amps…another small but significant improvement. I do tend to feel the biggest ‘hit’ from them when I use them for the first time… not sure if I habituate to the improvement or the degree of improvement drops after a few days. I (or someone else) should buy a couple and try using one and after a month, replace it for the unused one and see if the sound “improves” again or remains equal to the used fuse… ???
Hi Phil, because it's you, if I still lived at home I would definitely try this. But I live in Canada now so I don't know of any equivalent. Except for trying another man's lead, which does tend to work by the way. cheers Phill.
Don't believe any of these sound quality upgrades unless they are they are proven by blind tests by significant numbers of people, which rarely if ever happens. Mind & ear biases towards 'improvements' you can see in front of you, science proves they're insignificant.
Synergistic Research fuses are the real deal. You may not understand it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work. The Orange fuses were an eye-opener. The Purples are even better. Amazing stuff.
No they don't, a fuse is a line interrupt for prevent severe overload protection and they blow. Just like the 150-250-300 AMP fuses i put in my car for my massive amp rack. A fuse is a line load prevention mechanism. It has nothing to do with audio, and if it did they would embed a component of its type on the PCB instead of providing it as an upgrade. That whole concept that someone would release a product and someone elses mega overpriced fuse made it better. Lets be real, it would be a better conversation talking about Jesus Christs return then a fuse providing a realistic difference in audio since the power coming in doesn't have direct control over it. Selling people on a Genie in a lamp would be a better believable sell then an " audio grade fuse".
@@russellparker4568 Here's the logic here, no piece of electronics requires a fuzed circuit, it is there simple provide a fault protection to an overload hoping to prevent the burn out of whatever is being overcharged or if something else shorts internally. The greater logic here is that if I just desolder the fuzed bridge, and cross the pcb contact connections and make it solid, then a fuse wouldn't even have a spot in the system, not to mention if the board was just designed without a fuze because it doesn't need to have it, it's just good design, then there wouldn't even be a need to open the case to use one, because it wouldn't have a spot. See a fuze is a micro filament designed to blow under strict load. You cannot make a microfilament wire just pass electricity better because it exists as "a fuse". My logic here is backed by decades of electronics design and engineering, just as an FYI. I justify paying 4$ for a can of soda, its okay really, you buy your 250$ fuses and believe they actually do something, and I'll keep buying my 4$ canned soda because it actually gets my heart racing when i need it too. Facts are evident, hopes and dreams are not.
@@Ev3rM0r3 everyone with half a brain knows what a fuse is for, i don’t need you to explain it to me, especially when someone else already has. And I’m not saying it’s making electricity pass through better either, you jumped to that conclusion. And like every single person who comments about this not to my surprise you have a long background in EE 😂 obviously. I agree with all your points, don’t worry. My point is it’s changing the sound, not just pass electricity better. I can’t explain why but it does. Unfortunately for you also its goes beyond your knowledge and experience. The only thing i can assume, and this is a wild guess, is that the presence of another metal does something to the electric which has an effect on the sound, yep sounds insane i know.
I’m sure any loose fitting fuse or poorly connected wiring would have some effect on any electronic device. Have to admit in the 80s I would lightly solder my fuses on my high end HiFi. I now just use high quality leads and cables. Another issue are those cubed extension sockets which are usually of low quality and can be quite flimsy. Most high end amps filter out mains interference through their inbuilt power supplies. So quality leads and extended wall sockets work best for me 👍
I run a diy powerblock with unfused IEC outs to front end (the powerblock itself being fused @3A like the components would be) and a separate fused cable to wall for amp. Hence doing away with 1 unnecessary fuse. Allegedly....
for the rest of the world , we do have fuses in the equipment itself no? Some manufactureres ship replacement fuses too.. So shouldn't changing these should be attempted as well? Also should help for UK gear I think, if replacing the plug fuses also helped
It seems nobody wants to really mesure the resistence of the fuse. It is certainly a low value and a normal multimeter is useless in that case (to much error because the measured resistence is similar or lower than the multimeter proof cables in "resistence mode"). But with a Kelvin bridge it is easy to measure resistence values as low as 0.005 ohms. It is a 4 wire measurement and the multimeter is used in mV range. As long as the measured resistence is connected to a constant current source, and the multimeter is used as a millivoltmeter, the resistence of the multimeter proof wires no longer matters. Using ohm's low, and knowing the current in the fuse in the measuring procedure (I) and the voltage across fuse (U), so R=U/I. Off course, in that measurement, the fuse is on the working table, not in the circuit of the amplifier or other apparatus. This way, we can compare the resistence of a normal fuse and an "audiophile boutique fuse". May be this can give very interesting results... and useful conclusions. Are the fuse contacts clean? When removing the old fuse and inserting the new fuse, the friction can have a cleaning action, reducing the contact global resistence of fuse + contacts resistence... This cannot be a 'mistery'...
worth changing the internal fuse as well. a good product that works is conductive polymer, has the same resistance as copper, you put multiple coatings on connectors interconnect speakers main plugs fuses. you can buy it from the chord company you should try that.
I don't get this with fuses. You can run a two Klowatt electric fire of a 13 amp plug. Having said that, I'm willing to accept fuses can make a difference is somebody could tell me how. Seems impossible to me..
Lots of things that makes a difference in hifi don't follow logic and can't really be measured either, but if you're feeling cheap and still want to hear how a fuse can make a difference. Just change the direction of the fuse and listen! There's of course a 50% chance it's already in the right direction (one always sounds better than the other) but you have to try to know.
After connecting my Philips Hue smart lights to my audiophile iso-tek sirius power conditioner and seeing for myself that the lights were now 25% brighter, I'm willing to believe anything! So how do I get to try one mate ?
So if you lived in a country that doesn't have fuses in the plug. Would changing the wall socket and plug for the UK type and fitting the purple fuse sound better than the original plug and socket? If not it would be cheaper for UK people to just change the type of wall socket and plug they use.
It's fascinating we feel qualified to comment on something we've never experienced. It's like the Dalai Lama commenting on the uselessness of sex... most people who've had sex would disagree. This is no different. Most of the comments on "snake oil'' are ones where the people either do not have a revealing system - or perhaps untrained ears, unaccustomed to unamplified acoustic instruments (almost NOTHING people hear in the 21st century is unamplfied, which adds loads of distortions). If one has these both (revealing system, trained ears) , the sound quality improvement - (which, I believe is due to a lower "noise floor" ) - is clearly audible. I doubt people who only listen to processed music - which is nearly all pop/rock/r&b and every other contemporary music form (in addition to it all being digital) - will hear it. I wouldn't expect that they actually WOULD hear it. Their music is also manipulated do death in the studio and bears no resemblance to actual human voices or acoustic instruments (unamplified, which is going to be therefore limited to listening to these tweaks while listening to classical/ jazz music , or perhaps well recorded international music (African drummers, Kodo drums/India's sitar, flute or shehnai), which is really the only way to truthfully discern the truth of the "snake oil" tweaks.
It's equally fascinating that some audiophiles feel qualified to discount over 100 years of electrical engineering knowledge which clearly demonstrates to anyone who understands, these effects are not possible with a line or mains fuse. The only exception is a power amplifier being starved for current. But a DAC? At the same time these folks also discount the 100 years of medical and psychological testing and knowledge that clearly demonstrates the human flaw of expectation bias and placebo effect.
Hello Phil, Thanks for your informative video. I’m writing from the United States, where fuses are normally located inside of the components. Paul, of PS Audio, talks about having a very similar, skeptical then positive, experience with fuses. I think you would enjoy his video, from 4 years ago, on RU-vid. Type in “PS Audio Audiophile Fuses”.
You kind of answered the problem with UK plugs early on. Don’t use them. I and many audiophiles moved over to US plugs and distribution blocks years ago.
Perhaps an idea for some future videos: You might tell you audience something about supertweeters and passive preamplifiers. Both subjects hardly touched upon by audiophile youtubers. Perhaps a few examples of fine devices.
I tip soldered in my generic UK fuses and MK plug terminations to ward off any long term effects from oxidization, tarnishing. Contact resistance should be minimized and will sharpen up the sound in a fundamental way in my experience, and it only requires a bit of soldering, you could do it for less than the price of a fuse.
Many years ago I remember a chap (certain Hi Fi mag) who went around suggesting that we aught to rip pages from a book to make them an odd number in the listening room cos it sounded better even to the point of removing a driver screw/bolt to make it an odd number or even slipping a beer mat under a chair leg to decouple it.....and on it went and people emptied their pockets.....Jeffery has a good point but by far you need to ensure a dedicated supply/spur cable separate from the mains with a sperate earth point now this will transform a quality system....hope this helps..oh and don't do this yourself unless you know what you are doing.
@@carmenandthedevil2804 Thank you for that as the quantity of crap that gets dumped in the mains is alarming all finding its way into your system...I'm also in support of a well OTT power supply for just about everything in my opinion not enough HiFi producers pay enough attention to that...All the very best
Hi Phil, great site. Talking of weird modifications, do you remember the one about treating CDs with Amourall (hope I’ve spelt it correctly), spray? For those not familiar with this product it was an American product for car dashboards. Anyhow, a spray onto the playing side of the CD and a light buff made the CD sound smoother and more analog. I tried it and it definitely worked. However, subsequent concerns over the longer term effect of the spray on the disc made me remove the product.
Please. Do me a favour. Fuses are there for a reason. They make no difference to sound because it’s a literally a physical impossibility on the supply side unless old ones wear. They literally burn out over a long period of time so change old for new every now and then and you just might hear the same difference fitting new standard fuses as putting in your magic new ones. Please don’t use the old hairy chestnut of “ give it a try”. I’ve heard AB demos. The only difference was in the minds of those who fell for the claims. Measurement followed which also proved beyond all reasonable doubt there was no measurable difference either. Fuses are NOT filters so your dirty mains theory is just wrong I’m afraid. The last 1m of cable makes no difference either unless cable is seriously under rated. It’s non logical to anyone who knows anything about electrical transmission. It gets so utterly wearisome being lectured by people without any knowledge in the field as someone who is a professional audio engineer who also happens to own and use a pair of ears and listens to live music as well as plays it. If you wish to believe the snake oil sakesmen and you hear a difference, fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion and all’s cool. You’re a nice guy with a pleasant manner but this wont have done your reputation any favours at all which is quite sad. Perhaps better to put the money otherwise wasted into more LPs or towards a better cartridge instead? Synergistic are talking ball cox to put it crudely. Funny how zero evidence is ever put forward to back up these claims. This sort of misinformation and deliberate false marketing makes my blood boil. It’s dishonest. There, I’ve said it. They even used the “quantum” word to try and impress impressionable people😂😂😂😂
@runawaybride2765 Octave Jubilee pre & Jubilee Ultima monos, ModWright 150 phono stage, Kronos Sparta, Reed 3P, Audio Physic Cardeas. Have a DAC & transport but don't listen to digital that often.
Not sure if this qualifies but i have all my audio/video cables plugged into a Belkin power / surge conditioner which is supposed to "clean " the power before it reaches the component. I think my system does sound better, but it could be the "placebo' effect.
Fuses are fuses - Some are poorly made, most are made correctly with solid electrical connection between the internal wire and the casing. I concur that the case can oxidise, but overall, given the voltages involved, you need your head testing if you dare go down this audiophool route.
@@Kowinaida I once sat through a demo where the salesman 'swapped' a regular fuse with a series of these 'audiophile' fuses. I was young, impressionable and patient. Three fuses later, I was still waiting to hear a difference. The bloke was nodding and grinning, every time he changed one. 'Wow, hear those cymbals shimmer'. 'Oh, another octave of bass', etc. Had I been older (like now), I probably would have giggled and walked out, but as a 21 y/o, I felt I had to stay and ride the demo out. The best part was that the salesman kept arsing about with the volume, which was clearly intended to remove any reference point in the demo (smart, eh). In a past line of work, I did take apart a few 'regular' fuses and found that some of them were badly manufactured. I ended up using a brand from Germany/Holland, I think, that I found in laboratory supplier's catalogue. Not because they they sounded better, but because I felt they were less likely to fail due to poor QC in their manufacture. Horses for courses, as they say. Now where's my green felt tip pen?
@@Kowinaida After my 'experience' with fuses, i was more certain than ever that expectation bias and the placebo effect have a lot explain when it comes to tweaks. They made jack-shit of a difference in the demo so they would make the same difference in my system.
There is a huge amount of snake oil in HiFi and fuses are one example. Cables can make a difference but it is slight and not worth spending hundreds. Just buy Van Damme cables and make your own interconnects and speaker cables. They are good enough for Abbey Road studios so should be good enough for the most demanding HiFi. If your that fussed about fuses, just wire a strand of oxy free around the contacts but ensure you use the same thickness as that in your mains fuse. As for slow blo variety your on your own there but I am pretty sure you won't hear anything different.
They should make a difference, but that doesn't mean you should do it. With these types of products, you never know what's they're going to do until you put it in your system and listen for yourself. And if it does make a difference, you may not like it. Your best option is to call The Cable Company, or someone else that does the same thing. They keep demo units of everything they sell, so call them first and they'll send you a bunch of fuses. You can keep them for 2 weeks and if you don't get the results you are looking for, you're out shipping. If you are not in the US, they recently expanded into other countries. I don't know all the details, so you have to ask them. If for some reason they can't send you demo's, ask for a recommendation. They keep detailed records that go back well over 30 years. They can search their data base and tell you the type of fuses they sent out to customers with your speakers, and what they ended up buying, if anything.
Phil why dont you make your own mains plug without a fuse or holder direct to the live pin and do some A B blind testing ?Please let us Know I'll start selling them
If they introduced these fuses to plugs in europe that does not use fuses the outcome would be the same. They would say the special fused plug sounds better.
I love hifi stuff but sometimes it gets beyond imagination, fuses?. Well I would start with cotton buds to clear wax from your ears, is your head straight & not laying down, your lights might have interface, have you got the right room temperature, OK you can go ahead & put you vinyl on now, wait a minute tho the wife's reading in the corner affecting acoustics, where do we stop, I think when you think more of these things than enjoying that new album. Sorry but things have gone beyond a joke.
I upgraded my Focal solo 6 be(s) with the synergistic orange fuses and its as if I lifted a veil in front of the speakers -just amazing (and they run cooler also). Further I use the contact enhancer (Silclear from MapleShade). Remind her that all fuses are
Ummm, so only UK-style plugs have fuses. This means that anywhere that doesn't use a fuse does not have this twaek option. So either it's correcting a UK-only problem and taking it up to the rest of the world's standard, OR the rest of the world is missing out on a potential improvement? Logically this is hard to swallow.
No doubt someone with the relevant technical knowledge and experience will soon be on here telling you that it's all snake oil and that you're talking rubbish : ) The other thing folks don't get is that cables (as well as fuses) are directional, and the difference is clear - especially on headphones. The sound seems 'unbalanced' like it's slightly fuller on one channel if the fuse or cable is the wrong way round.
A snake oil salesman selling snake oil and saying there’s no such thing lol. I’m gunna run out and buy a 4p fuse for £40 tomorrow hope it makes music recorded in seperate sound booths then mixed and mastered sound LIVE 🤮