Swiss Digital Fuse Box, the fuse reinvented

The SDFB does absolutely nothing. I just like spending money on bits and bobs and brainwashing myself into believing they make a difference.

:wink:

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It could be worse. You could be spending it at the horse track or casino. Then all you have to show for your cash is betting slips and stories.

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…and probably a drinking problem.

:wink:

My latest boondoggle involves the inserting of a MSB Isolation Base in the system to provide a separate ground path and power source to my DS Sr. DAC.

That requires the addition of another power cable (between the Isolation Base and the main supply).

So far, “it seems nice”. It’s very heavy, and I am getting a lot of pounds for my dollars:

Ooh; and it has a fuse. I can buy another power cable and a SDFB and spend some more money.

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Pretty cool stuff.
I am going to look at grounding everything together one of these days. I dont really have any issues that I know of but it’s one of those things that curiosity is driving.

That and the Muon Pro system. Again no issues that I can tell but that stinkin’ curiosity (and a high credit limit) are driving the bus.

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Here is a link to the P10 manual:

Maybe it will provide some of the insights you are looking for.

Cheers.

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Sorry if already posted elsewhere, what’s your opinion about the MSB black box?

Still working through my list of familiar “demo” tracks, but so far I think I perceive the proverbial blacker background and corresponding bit more resolution of low level detail.

I am also tempted to claim that my best recordings are sounding more natural.

For example, one of my favorite tracks for “listening to the equipment”, if you will, is a cover of Grandma’s Hands by Livingston Taylor. There are a couple sections in the song with finger snapping. Just this afternoon I got to thinking the finger snapping was not only recognizable as finger snapping but had a crisp realistic “snap” and reverberation that made the sound seem more live/natural and less “recorded”.

I need to get some more critical listing done and spend some time just enjoying the music. But I have already decided the box will probably stay.

And I have not bothered to run the ground lead to one of my mono amps yet, which is supposed to be even more beneficial in some systems. My amps don’t have grounding posts so I am going to have to figure out which screw on the back panel to loosen to give the ground wire configuration a try.

Thanks for asking.

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Scott, would you kindly put a copy of the SDFB documentation on here (or PM it to me) - I suspect they say things like if it sets the place on fire it’s not their liability? Thanks, Dan.

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Scott, earlier today I saw a video which must have been by the guy that invented it and the first thing he said was that once you open the package you’ve accepted the terms and conditions. I presume these were in a seperate piece of paper - I’d like to know what the Ts&Cs are. My guess is that they absolve themselves of any liability,

No T’s and C’s other than what you mentioned.

Follow the directions and use at your own risk.

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Seeing as none of this stereo gear is really necessary for survival I would say that if you aren’t comfortable with the thought behind the technology then just let it go on by.

The Swiss Box is simply a circuit breaker that is installed ahead of the piece of gear that was protected by a fuse. That gives you the opportunity to short circuit the fuse for possible SQ improvement and still have protection. Pretty simple really.

I personally dont think the fuses protect much (although I think they are mandatory in certain applications or geographical areas) but that’s another discussion entirely.

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The interesting thing about the pigtail cord is both ends of plugs say Furutech on them. I paid over $700 for the i50 NCF plugs themselves from Furutech before. So, obviously these are from China, not from Japan. The cord is a one-foot Core Power Technologies, and I have no previous experience with their products. If the plugs are similar to the real Furutech then they need 500 hours of break in! That’s why I will let the cord to break in for a week with my wine cellar before I put it back.

The PSA cord used as a pigtail is an excellent sounding one. I bought two around 20 years ago from PSA, and this one sounded much better than the other one for some reason. After 6 hours since I rearranged the whole system, the sound is incredible better than yesterday. But like I said, I rearranged a bunch of things so I could not say how much improvement was from SDFB setup alone. However, I tend to think the dynamic and broader soundstage would have to be from the FB. In any case, I don’t need to put a $5k cord in lieu of the stock pigtail to say it is better than M2 or Master fuses for this particular application (conditioner and generator).

Once the pigtail has a week of break-in, I’ll know how much a difference is there for the cords in front of FB.

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Hello Donald, it seems that they are Chinese plugs. There should be good and bad versions of it. The FI 50 doesn’t have NCF in this version anyway. The one with a black carbon housing is the version without NCF. It would depend more on which conductor material was used. Although I’m not sure when people say this which plugs they have compared them with.According to some, the China Furutech should still sound better than the usual cheap plugs.
Because a rear cover probably also influences the sound of the plug. Whether plastic, carbon, aluminum or stainless steel.
You can only see if the structure of the plugs is internally similar to that of the Furutech plug with elevator terminals if you look inside. I compared the originals Furutech FI 50 vs FI 50 NCF. With the FI 50 NCF (silver carbon like the ones on your PSR 11 cables) it’s a little quieter and it’s easier to notice fine details in the music. The stage image is nearly the same.

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These Chinese plugs are well built. They probably sound very good to be selected for building a US power cord. I don’t know if they can complete with the real thing, but when I replaced a Viborg connector with IF50 NCF plug the cord gave a quieter and clearer sound. I used to own a Cullen Crossover2 cord and it was using the same plugs. For the price it sounded nice too.

I have no plan to replace the plugs of pigtail to compare because I’m looking for an alternative better than a $600 fuse, and I found it. The power cord after FB did make quite a bit difference. So using a quality cord from FB to P15 is far more important, I believe.

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For what it’s worth, the purveyor of the SDFB also recommended putting the best PC you can spare between the SDFB and the kit it serves.

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Well, you’ll still need a cable. Or it sounds good after the wine cellar. There are some good reviews online about Underwood cables. Underwood also has other interesting articles. I find the DEEP=CORE 1800 interesting

What backup value does your SDFB have? And how many watts of power does your PS 15 display when you listen to music?

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Hello Paul, my question has nothing to do with this thread. General to P10, P15, P20. Because some people use the Swiss Digital fuse box instead of the microfuse. You should know the circuitry of the regenerators best. I am of the opinion that a fuse in the supply line is not working properly. The fine fuse in my P10 /230V is 3.15A and there is also a fuse in the P10 of 10 A, probably for the sockets. If the small fine fuse is replaced by a solid metal rod and an electronic fuse is ground into the supply line. In order to protect the P10 and have the same switching threshold as the 3.15A fine fuse, this electronic fuse would have to be set to this value. This would limit the maximum output power of the P10 at the outputs to this lower current value. P=U×I . I like the idea of ​​electronic backup from a sound perspective. There is Efuse in Germany. There is also an electronic fuse/solution that can be integrated into the device instead of a fine fuse. That would be my choice. The fuse holder is bypassed and the bluebox from efuse is inserted for it. Now I could think about it, the warranty has expired, no problem. Germany has regulations for everything. What exactly would be with the model designation, etc. Risk like tuning my car that has not been approved by the TÜV. Maybe you can help us clarify this in the Swiss Digital fuse box thread. Thanks and Greetings Andrew

Remember, the 3.15A fuse is a Slow Blow not a Fast Blow.