My wife helped me with the usual initial fuse “which direction?” choice on the M-2. She (nor I) could really say that in our system one direction was more obviously better than the other. Not counting the lesser fuses I’ve played with, of the M-1, Pink, and this M-2, the M-2 seems to us to be the least direction dependent. We thought the “M” in the cap (although she had no clue of this) might be better*, so that’s how we left it for first listening - although I may flip it after 24 hours just to be certain.
Keep in mind the SR Pink has been running 24/7 in my P20 for just about two weeks. Having said that, the most obvious difference to us was the even cold the M-2 has an easier “reverberant flow” to the higher harmonics. Cymbal shimmer, for example, just seemed slightly “less constricted” - more open - with the AM. But… right now the M-2 exhibits a bit more sibilance on closely mic’d vocals. The SR is “cleaner”, a word I’d used in my earlier description of the Pink. However, even the Pink got smoother with some hours put on it, so I hesitate to say the sibilance I’m hearing on a brand new M-2 is a real “characteristic”. My initial feeling is there’s no winner here. They’re both very impressive compared to the fuses of even a generation ago, and at these relatively low prices it becomes may be a matter of trying them both to see which one is a better fit in a given system. I’m keeping in the M-2 to give it a couple of weeks, then I guess I’ll pop the Pink back in for another assessment.
Oh, one interesting thing. The M-2 is just the tiniest bit longer than the SR Pink. Both fit with no issue in the P20 fuse holder, but while with the Pink the holder requires virtually no effort to secure, with the M-2 the cap requires a real “push and turn” to get everything snapped together. Just thought to add this.
*See importatnt update to this a couple of posts down!
I couldn’t wait. With my wife out gardening I just spent a bit more time listening to one tune critically, now having a better idea of what I needed to key in on for the M-2 flip differences. Strike what I said above. The M-2 actually sounds better - high frequencies a tad more open, lows a tad more solid - with the “feet” of the “M” stuck into the fuse holder cap of the P20. I’m glad I did this now as I didn’t want the M-2 to get hours on it in the ‘wrong’ direction. Wouldn’t make for a fair comparison to the Pink. This is my final call on the M-2 direction in my P20.
I’m going to use the transitive property of arithmetic on this, Ron (does anyone past our generation even know what that is?). Initial testing showed the SR Pink was at least enough as good as, if not a bit better than, my M-1 to decide I wanted to leave it in and give it more time (rather than pull it immediately and drop it on to audiomart). Similarly, I find the initial reaction to the M-2 to be at least as good as, and in some ways even suggesting it may be a bit better than, the Pink… which tells me I want to give it a chance to settle in. So by the transitive property (at least in this initial stage) -
M2 > Pink > M1… therefore M-2 > M-1
Having said all this, I will repeat based on my own experience in my own system - these are NOT show stopper degrees of change or improvement. Small potatoes in the grand scheme of audio improvement chasing. I’d say if you have a few hundred extra clams lying around and nothing else to do with your time, give it a try.
I switched Master with Purple again. So M is in Lumin U2 and Purple is in BHK pre. We just started packing so I was not doing any critical listening at all.
I was told both are happier now. Master is hard to please, and it likes streamer better for sure.
Soon will leave home for a long flight, but I still manage to sell my last Purple fuse in BHK this morning. It’s good thing I will shut down the system soon. Last business of the day is, of course, order 2nd M-2 fuse for the replacement.
As planned, I installed Synergistic Pink Fuses in the AGD Gran Vivaces yesterday. An audio buddy was present when I did this and, cold out of the boxes, we were shaking our heads at the dramatic improvement in bass dynamics, definition and drive along with an equally dramatic improvement in soundstage depth and width, aspects of sound that we already felt were strong points of these amps. I personally felt that there was just a slight bit of reticence in bass dynamics with these amps as equipped with the stock nothing-special glass fuses as compared to my other amplifiers–all equipped with Purple Fuses.
The degree of improvement that $500 worth of fuses brought to a $19K pair of amps was simply shocking. It will be interesting to see how they settle-in over the next week or so. Note that I always up-rate new designer fuses by one size–so, in this case, instead of 10A fast, I did 12.5A fast. I can’t say that that is a recommendation for others, it’s just what I do in my system, and I haven’t burned the house down yet…
I’m in the same boat … I have just decided to park on the Purples - I have rotated thru the Master it ended up going back was just a random experience - I got a pink for the Auralic G.2 - after burning in the tops where great but the lower end just dropped off - overall the purple in this streamer just sounds better. The Pink ended up in my old Mrk1 DAC for my studio - sound good in the second system.
As I am running Syn Cables I get more benefits and variations thru running the bullets that the fuses . So will probably go down the Mater Bullets on a couple of my Syn Cables to have a play
That being said the Syn Black box best value for $ upgrade in my room - I never thought I had a problem until I dropped one of these into the room …
With my wife out gardening I just spent a bit more time listening to one tune critically, now having a better idea of what I needed to key in on for the M-2 flip differences. Strike what I said above. The M-2 actually sounds better - high frequencies a tad more open, lows a tad more solid - with the “feet” of the “M” stuck into the fuse holder cap of the P20. I’m glad I did this now as I didn’t want the M-2 to get hours on it in the ‘wrong’ direction. Wouldn’t make for a fair comparison to the Pink. This is my final call on the M-2 direction in my P20.
(does anyone past our generation even know what that is?). Initial testing showed the SR Pink was at least enough as good as, if not a bit better than, my M-1 to decide I wanted to leave it in and give it more time (rather than pull it immediately and drop it on to audiomart). Similarly, I find the initial reaction to the M-2 to be at least as good as, and in some ways even suggesting it may be a bit better than, the Pink… which tells me I want to give it a chance to settle in. So by the transitive property (at least in this initial stage) -
