I’m glad you got your balance together finally, but I know you, the tweaking never stops. The Beeswax Ultimate SHD is good, but doesn’t have the transparency of the M1. I had the Ultimate Premier in my DS MK1 before and the M1 just open up the sound so much better, you just hear more music. I have the M1 in both my P20 and MK2 which is the only two components I have that uses fuses, and boy, did it settle in. My system has never reach this level of musicality before, simply astounding! Both fuses are balance a little on the warm side, but the M1 just portrays more information. Actually that M1 was taken from my old DS MK1 and it sounded best there too.
You probably don’t need it, but In case you get the urge to try another M1, I get my M1 from the Cable Company, frequent flyer discount, no sales tax, and free shipping.
Yes I have three. I will do a temporary M-1. Swap into MKII. The ultimate premier I have had in P20 The Purple was better and the M-1 best. You haven’t led me a stray in tweak land.
I got the free return deal on DS fo rMK2 for Beta. The return shipping savings is worth part of another M-1. The ultimate SHD can always find a Air Lens home, right?
The MK2 is a good place to put one of your best fuse. It makes more difference there than the MK1. In the MK1, I really didn’t hear that much difference between the fuses, but in the MK2 it can really make or break a system, it’s really noticeable. It is really great that PS Audio listens and takes care of their customers. No other company I know gives free returns for trade in’s.
Now you have to break in the fuse again and see if the sound change to the way you like it. When I flip the Purple before, it also had duller highs and wasn’t as clear sounding.
It was really high sounding first three songs. Even worse than previous direction. It seemed to seltle very fast. After Air lens gets in my system I will try the M-1. I am really liking opened up spacing. I am guessing i slid it in wrong direction.
AM Ultimate Primer fuse listed in The Cable Company does say SHD in the product description and it is a new verson. So, there is an updated verson apparently. M-1 is still their top dog, but I am not sure if there was a reversion for that.
Shorting the digital inputs on the DS, DS Jr. and DS Mk II is safe. (For that matter shorting the analog outputs is safe, but you’ll probably hear too big of a difference.)
Right, I like SR using colors for names better. Also, I have no idea the Ultimate P. Fuse I got last year was “new” or old version. M-1 only came out last year. So, was there a new version already? Don’t know from their site.
I had both the Ultimate i the DS and Ultimate Premiere in P20. I liked Purple better than Ultimate Premier and M-1 best for P-20 since the Ultimate Premiere and Purple both seemed to add annoying distortion to certain frequencies. The Mid Bass for Ultimate Premier and saxophone reed flubbing with the purple.
The Ultimate SHD has three color layers of powder. It seems to soften the Altero mkII firmware sharpness and add space if the darkest layer of pwder in the fuse is pointing inward. Perhaps M-1 would be best for me in the MKII? I will listen a few more days where it is now.
I am now getting the more pleasant aspects and relaxed atmosphere snd space the modded DS provided but the crazy details the MkII offers without the before perception of brightness and more piled up on top of each other instruments and vocals when fuse Ultimate SHD direction was reversed. Either fuse direction of Ultimate SHD was better than MKII’s stock fuse for detail retrieval. The emotional impact and wanting to listen deeply enthralled is best where I have fuse now. I am exploring the music construction and soundstage more. I had lost that previous sense with MKII addition up until now. Not everything was better, there were huge gains and some losses up until now.
I like upgrades one you can feel everything gained without noticing losses anywhere else in the soundscape. I finally achieved that with MKII with last adjustment.
The MK2 supposedly supports up to 10 FW, and you can select the one you like better in your system. But I’m not sure how that’s works since the 179 replaced 173/178 instead of keeping them. Maybe future FW can be added instead of replacing.
The all need to be in same root directory on USB to select them. I’d rather adjust system to accommodate new firmware if new firmware fixes bug or adds new features. Definitely keeps one busy try to figure out how to optimize things. 179 sent me on a journey versus 173.
Maybe I may introduce a second (after the Lundahl trafo) suggestion for a mod in the MKII: placing a couple of X2 safety caps (with 0.01uF and 0.1uF) right after the IEC connector.
I know that down the power tree of the MKII there are voltage regulators (which filter HF noise) but I have learned that “the sooner you clean-up noise the better”.
Do you have any hypotheses other than EM radiation from the current flowing through them which could explain how different fuses might result in different analog signal outputs?
If EM radiation is known or expected to be a significant contributor to those differences, might shielding around the fuse holder and perhaps the internal wall-voltage AC wiring bring a net benefit?
Fuses have to be non-linear devices, low current, low resistance. A little more current, gobs of resistance.
Non-linear devices amplify the modulation of, say current or voltage. This can lead to distortions based on the loudness of the music. This is bad both for the obvious THD issues, but also, since there’s a delay in the response through the power supply the differences are more obvious. Note that they aren’t necessarily always bad sounding, they could add some richness to the sound.
Another idea: since anecdotally some fuses are directional they must have another non-linearity, which may be more plausible.
These non-linearities may only manifest at higher frequencies that aren’t a part of the behavior that’s specified or controlled for most fuses. I’m sure that lower frequencies are all fuse makers care about.
