New SR Master fuse review vs AM M1 and Purple to follow

Email from Russ Andrew’s:

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I just did a shootout on four fuses with the MK2 DAC. The four fuses are the SR Master, the SR Purple, the AM M1, and the stock fuse. The music I use are “Bob Lark Trio at Pro Musica”, “The Art Of Hifi Vol. 1:Bass”, and “Nina Simone Little Girl Blue”.

First with the Master, my system never sounded better. The soundstage, air, separation, and detail you have to hear to believe!

I took out the Master and put in the stock fuse and boy, I can hear it in a blind test anytime, the sound collasped! The richness of the piano dried up, the air and separation are diminished and flattened out. The feeling of livness is not nearly as impressive as with the Master. And not only is the other frequencies are drier and dirtier, the bass does not have as much punch, volume, and extension. Significant difference!

Next the SR Purple. The detail, soundstage, and air came back, but not to the same degree as with the Master. The Horn was a bit too agressive and lean in my system, and the power in the bass was also back, but lack the difinition of the Master fuse. The presence and livness is much better than the stock fuse, but the Master is much more live and you are there experience! The Purple is still a little dry and chalkey compared with the Master, but much better than the stock fuse, no doubt.

Next the AM M1. Wow, pretty big difference compared to the other three previous fuses. The horns and piano sounds richer, better textured, much fuller and real than the Purple. Still not to the same degeee of resolution and liveness of the Master. The bass is powerful and thicker than the Purple, but the Master is more resoving and tighter with incredible extension. Voices are warmer and sweeter than Purple, but lack the thereness and air of the Master. Overall the Master is the most impressive of the four and really brings my system to countless “Wow” moments. Yes, in my system, the differences are quite obvious.

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Sounds like the M-1 can still hold its own for the price (all assuming it’s the right fit for a system, of course).

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Thanks for the detailed (as usual) fuse review. Is the fuse line up in your photo also the direction you prefered?

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With the SR fuses, the R towards the cap witch I measured with electrical tester is the direction of current flow. I tried reversed, but sound lost a little detail. With AM, the top of M pointed away from cap is the direction I preferred.

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Thank you Clifton for posting your comparisons…

I recently swapped the Purple in for for the AM M1 in my JC5 amp and
concur with your findings…

The SR Master in a class of it’s own…

For those that have not read from the top of this post …go ahead read from
the beginning. These post contain my story and waymanchen’s and others on how the
SR Master fuse sq started from initial use to the past the 200 hour mark…

The SR Master excellent from the get go …getting even better over time…
no burn in frustrations of the Purple fuse…

Best wishes

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How difficult it is to maintain self control reading posts like these, guys! I would like to run and take out the SR Master from the drawer, immediately!
And the MK II firmware update is out today, too.

While I’m still managing the set up of the room and the (second) burning in process of the DAC… ok patience is a virtue but you are dangerously tempting me!

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Breathe…one, two, three, breathe…

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The careful and detailed comparison is very helpful – thank you!

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Happy anniversary Vince!! This forum is just not the same without you. :grinning: :+1:

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Thanks!

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I didn’t see a cake mark from Taiwan, happy cake day!

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I am looking forward to hearing the Sluggo.
I mean, what fuse could sound better than a fuse sized chunk of metal?

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Happy cake day Vince!

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Happy Cake Day Vince!

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So let me understand this.

You plug in the mains cable and the power goes through a live cable that is connected with a slip-on connector, that then goes to a protective fuse (2A?) that contains a wire that is 20mm long (lead/antimony alloy, I assume), then through a few more wires and into a power transformer that contains perhaps 100m of wire that produces DC power by induction, so the AC wire is not actually physically connected to the power that comes out. None of this is on the signal path, the outbound DC is used to power the signal-generating electronics.

So I’m being led to believe that the little fuse on the other side of the transformer whose role is simply overcurrent protection, is not on the signal path an not directly connected to the signal path power, affects the sound - even by just turning it around?

Heaven’s above.

Beautifully phrased! But yes. Personal experience tells many of us that fuses matter and at least some of us have picked the changes in the blind tests some are fond of. With so many people hearing a difference, surely it’s worth wondering with an open mind whether or not our current understanding is enough?

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Old Sluggo n’ Nancy eh?

Sluggo is not a graphene endowed creation…

Not likely to have the sonic refinements as the SR Master… :grin:

Even your bunny wabbits will know!

Best wishes

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Doubt and you will do without…

Go ahead and do without…we know you are a dissenter…
Before dissenting any further…try one…Maybe the old SR Blue fuse
not very expensive…

Consider a base stock internal combustion engine…replace the stock
upper and lower air intakes and exhaust system with high flow…that stock
engine will be a happier revving engine…

So similarily the stock meltwire in the fuse restricts current flow…upgrade
the meltwire and fuse components elements…and yes the current flow is
is far freer to flow with the dynamics of music…rather simple …

But perhaps over in the UK you are not much into this sort of thing…the souping
of car engines and the like…as we are here in the US…

So until you give an SR graphene fuse a go (doubt you will though) you really
have nothing to say…except dissent to the point of sounding like a troll…

This thread was created for the purpose of comparing several fuses…
and the furtherance of enjoying this hobby not for trolling…

Best wishes

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Happy cake day Vince… :birthday: :cupcake: :shaved_ice: :ice_cream: :musical_score: :musical_keyboard: :notes: :musical_note: :saxophone: :accordion: :trumpet: :violin: :banjo:

Best wishes

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