Amen
I remembered when I took SR Orange out and put the stock fuse back in BHK Pre, I was surprised how good it sounded compared to Orange. Now the stock fuse again sounded good compared to Ultimate P. after initial disappointment.
But I have a feeling the M-1 will sound better. Although the incremental improvement will be smaller from the first one to the third, I will find out next week, I guess.
I settled at tuning Ring at 4 inches on Whisper Elite to back shell of male plug it was at 4.3/8 inches before moving the Dragon to 5 inches for two M-1.
Hopefully, I will get the 3rd M-1 sometime next week. Then I can experience new tuning ring positions.
It is interesting that the stock fuse is sounding great after two days. But compared to U.P., it sounds more digital than analog, it is not a warm-sounding fuse, but it has as many details and as musical as any other fuse. My guess is because I have two M-1s plus a Purple in the system already, the stock fuse may give a better balance and a cleaner background sound than U.P. Therefore, these fuses work better together than before. Or I am just totally confused. 
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The third M-1 fuse was installed in the DS last night and it had 8 hours of warm up. I turned on the system this afternoon and the sound is a familiar warm and pleasing one, and the mid/low frequencies have an elevated richness. Of course, none of this was a surprise because that was what I experienced with the first two M-1s.
I expect this sonic signature will remain for one week and gradually reduce within the following week. I will report if I think more M-1s in a system is better way to go after two weeks because that is what it takes to totally break in the King.
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Thanks dchang
Looking forward to read your impressions,
Best wishes
I noticed I lost too much space and separation with my tuning ring setting. I added a power cord support with sorbothane vibration isolator under the whisper elite. I revisited this album last night.
The realism and noise floor. I kept swearing someone was in next room which is my Kitchen, the glasses clanking and footsteps. But the Kitchen light-switch’s infrared sensor confirmed it was recording noise since lights did not turn on. The instruments were so real too.
It might be time to put a fork in the fuse tweaks and call-it done. Definitely best I have heard my system.
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Yeah, I’m sticking at least for the near future to the M-1 in the P15 and Purples elsewhere. Seems a great balance that I have tuned into great sound and. . . well. . . I can sit pretty right now with this amazing listening experience.
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The sorbothane disc supports work great for me too. This is another useful tweak from you!
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I suspect a combination of these two fuses is actually better than using one brand throughout. My third M-1 has only two days of break in, and my early impression seems to confirm that theory.
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I’m using the M1 in my P20 and purples in my BHK pre, DSD Sr, and Auralic Aries G2 thanks to @straightwire for the purples! I’m very pleased with the sound!
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I suspect with power cord tuning rings the Qty three M-1s will work superbly to balance out the sound. My two M-1s and one purple in HDPLEX300 are awaiting your experience. I have an extra Whisper Power cord with tuning ring sitting unused that I would slide to the HDPLEX300 versus a double foil wrapped on the HDPLEX300 that I could try in event I go to a third M-1.
I have been saving that Whisper for an Air Lins trial. The lack of the AL having not having a separate LPS I am a bit skeptical of that the Air Lens will have a power supply that can’t be improved immensely with power cord or fuse tweaking given my experience with other PS audio equipment. You have to bring all sorts of other power tweaks cable ,fuse, and RF and EMI absorber, vibration isolation to release hidden potential of your PSA gear at a logarithmic improvement level. I doubt the Air Lens will differ in that regard.
So far, all PSA gears (or any hi-end gear that I know of) benefit from upgraded cables, vibration control, and RFI blocking tweaks. I do not see how Airlens will be immune from above.
The M-1 sounds different from yesterday already. the booming mid/bass is disappearing sooner. The M-1 fuse sounded “leaner” than Ultimate Premier for sure. Hopefully, I can give an evaluation sooner.
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Just to add credence to your comment about the tuning rings and M1 fuses. I’ve had a sheet of 3M absorber floating around for a while, when I sold my DSD SR. it was superfluous. Today, for a lark I cut two strips and installed them on my BHK Pre and my Bartók. Both of these have the M1 fuses. I’m absolutely amazed at the low level detail and enhanced resolution that I’m hearing. Greatest tweak and combo ever.
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What type of power cable is that an AQ storm or mythical creature?
Thanks for sharing your experience and I am glad it works for so many others here. . It is hard to fathom that a vibration isolation tweak and RF /EMI absorber coupled together with a M-1 fuse can provide so much improvement. I was amazed the results my first attempt at the tweak trying to solve a different problem of tuning ring sliding issues brought a complete unexpected increase in performance improvement. It is like upgrading equipment to something better than you can afford for next to nothing.
To an audiophile it is up there with discovery of penicillin for a Dr. to cure bacterial infections for diseases that make a patient ill. It cures a host of diseases to one’s ears.
That cable is a Shunyata Alpha “E F”. The other is an AQ Hurricane.
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Thanks! Nice to know the tuning rings work on Shunyata cords too. The Hurricane is no surprise given the Dragon synergies.
Hi Vmax,
Two small questions:
- Can you indicate the reference of the sorbothane insulator ?
And have you tried it on modulation cables or speaker cables ?
Furutech sells bosses for these types of cables which are different from mains cables.
The second Elite cable has been ordered, it will be connected to my completely modified Oppo 203 player.
Hi Fred,
I get my sorbothane from Thorlabs since they post frequency by weight specifications. https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=6421 Others use orea isolators from Iso acoustics. Others buy 70 durometer off Amazon. It is key to have the thickness specified to cable weight to damp out the low and mid bass frequencies. Some of Amazon resellers are selling rubber vs real sorbothane isolators do beware. For The whisper Elite I used two pieces of 1/4” sheet stacked to 1/2” since cable force was quite light.
I have not tried on other cable types and only used tuning rings with isolators on AC power cables. Luca did not like his power cable isolators from Furutech. The analog cables most of mine hang in free space. I tend to go slow with the tweak optimization since it takes awhile to optimize position for all music types and quality of recordings since a warmer tuning ring positioning sounds better on lesser quality recordings or HT soundtracks. The upwards force on cable too much pressure can unplug IEC or negate effectiveness of equipment isolators so height is a bit of science.
Congratulations on your second Whisper Elite. Please share impressions on the Cable Sutra thread.