Oranges imho work best in the mains wall fuse, conditioners, re gennys and isolation tx's, large power amps as well (if the have the resolution capability) Class A's can give very interesting results.

I only use two Orange fuses in my own system, they over egg the pudding with two many, I end up with it sounding like a naim system, to much bleeding edge ad not enough depth imho However in a system with lesser resolution you may well notice a more positive outcome.

However different systems, different results, best overall balance is red, with either Blue or Orange in the big feeds and PSU's.

Interestingly I tried another Orange in the Rb GPS master clock feed, humm didn't like that, yet the Mutec feed loves it.

All grist for mill

It's been a long time that this thread has lain dormant. So what have I learned in the meantime? Simply put, that as my system has become very much more transparent, resolving and insightful since 2019, good fuses make more of a difference than they did back then.

What's more, I have learned a great deal about making a digital streaming system make great sounding music. The theme of recent times has morphed from cables and power supplies (which are now stable) to grounding boxes and back to fuses. It's a case of what's left that can make a difference that isn't going to break the bank. Grounding boxes have certainly achieved that, and with one more to arrive, they too will be complete. What about fuses? I thought I was done with them too, but maybe not just yet.

To recap: my system essentially uses SR Orange in the two regenerator feeds, SR Blue to the DAC and SR Reds pretty much everywhere else. The exceptions are the DC fuses in the two Coherent QP-1 power supplies, which use HiFi Tuning fuses. Today I tried one SR Purple (the new flagship) in place of an SR Red to the DAC. It surprised me with the amount and type of difference it made.

There seems to be a convergence in the positive qualities brought about by both grounding boxes and fuses. Both have enlarged and deepened the soundstage, improved small details, extended note decay and improved palpability and vividness. In other words, made the music sound more real without affecting anything like frequency response or tonal neutrality.

Has anyone else experimented with fuses lately?

That's an easy one, then, Mike, in terms of the potential improvement.

Further extrapolating my thought processes on how these SR fuses work. There is clearly more going on here than a piece of wire with low impedance and a linear temperature characteristic until close to the blow current (which in itself is a pretty clever trick to achieve).  The SR website offers bluster but no insight into what is going on, most likely to protect their IP.

Since I've made the mental link between grounding boxes and SR fuses, enabling a very similar group of improvement characteristics, I am wondering whether the SR fuses in some way filter out very/ultra high frequency (VHF/UHF) noise from the mains feed?  If they do, then it could explain why the benefits of grounding boxes and SR fuses are so similar.  It also explains why SR fuses sound better than a solid wire link replacing the fuse (yes, I have tried it but please don't for your own safety).

One further point: in the same way as grounding boxes working extremely well in a digital replay system, where power/signal noise is the enemy of the DAC, they are much less effective in an analogue system.  I also perceive this to be true for SR fuses.

All just thought experiments but I enjoy trying to think through why these system tweaks work so well in a digital system.  Comments welcome!

While I stated that the SR website offers only bluster rather than explanation, they do say this...


...with which I agree. The clue 'lowering of the noise floor' leads me to believe it's a filtering of high frequency noise.

I don't remember reading a truly credible and objective explanation behind what 'audiophile' fuses are actually doing beyond circuit protection and until such time as there is one I think they are a product that you just have to judge subjectively with your ears.

So Orange is so yesterday…. What a bummer. Must immediately upgrade to purple at £199 a pop. Can’t wait for the flecked yellow at £250. I have 2 oranges but confess I’ve had better upgrades by re-siting my mains block onto a lightweight rigid platform.

This is an interesting internal view of the Gustard Nano Alloy fuse, since most vendors keep their design of audiophile fuses obfuscated with woffle.

It is hard for me to get my head around what these fuses do. First of all I have played with audio fuses I have a 13 amp SR red in mains cable to the mains block. I also have a silver fuse in my DAC. Both make a difference but not to the point of writing a review about them.
My silver plated fuse was a step up from from the stock internal fuse. On the SR website they say these fuses can take up to 200 hours to fully burn in. In my case I had the fuse im and feel like it has settled in.
Subjective changes to the sound include greater micro detail bringing new details in sound I had no idea was on the recording. This comes out on electronic keyboards and vocals buried in the mix. Also a sense of space, instrumental timbre is more real (something my system already did well).https://www.consciousbreathing.com/learn-more/breathing-test2/
I expected it to be better than the fuse I had in but I was not expecting so much micro detail.
So I should get a SR purple mains fuse Friday and might even add 2 to my superchargers next year to the Temple monos.