As a follow up to the prior post above regarding the U18 upgrade, I've pulled the plug on the idea due to shipping costs. Per the UPS international shipping site, the cheapest UPS can ship from MA in the US to England in the smallest box I'd be comfortable shipping it in is a whopping $280. So with the addition of return shipping costs and any import fees that puts the upgrade over $800 USD or more depending on the return shipping cost.
Oh well had to do it after reading all the fuse recommendations and the fact that it would be way to long to wait for the upgrade Gustard fuse. So saw VH audio is selling SR orange for 30% off with free shipping at that price point. So there is my first upgrade. I will wait for the next evolution of SR fuses to upgrade. Will skip purple at this point. Just a bit to rich for my wallet. Spending this much for a fuse even at a discount seems mildly nuts. But I have spent crazy on other things, so what the hell!
I have a couple of 300 dollar older Zenwave Audio Power Cords. I will throw the better of the two on the u18 and run my computer off the lesser one and go back to regular power cord on the charging switching supply of my Cuinas SuperCap ISO supply which runs my JCAT USB XE and my SSD's.
This thing beat my Uptone LPS 1.2 and puts out over 4Amps of current. John Kinney is out of business unfortunately, but will sell me another when I grab my JCAT Network XE around tax time.
I may have to play with how the U18 sounds with a Wywire Platinum Cord plugged in. Just waiting for a repair to my Wywires Platinum Headphone cable from Alex. So running thing into my Swan 5" powered 2 ways right nowl. I have Platinum Power Cords for the DAC and my OTL amp. Very happy with Wywires.
Will back off my Isolation and just seperate the X26 pro and the U18 with Cones or Isolation pads. Will play with the tunning. I Have Mapleshade pads, (Glorified 3M air conditioner pads). Pierre at Mapleshade is a theif on those. You can buy them from air conditioner supplier of Amazon for any where from 1/4 to 1/10th of the price. He is charging 36 bucks a set for the cork rubber ones. Ironically 3M makes a version with a blue foam core that works a bit better....LOL. I told Pierre about that and he was in shock. Hahaha.
I also have some golden sound pads and I tend to use a mix of their cones with various brass ones also have some Delrin cones a guy machined for me. So I will play around. Discarding the extended upper shelf idea with bamboo cutting boards and ceramic bearings. I think I will get more out of changing the fuse.
The tweaking never ends. Limited only by the dollars and to a lesser degree the ear and imagination.
Oh yeah btw: DHL international express notified me my U18 and After Dark I2S Giseman cable will be hear Thursday!
Better upper register with some air but now also a little recessed bass. The width and depth, separation is still very good for being these first days. The sound is clear and easy to the ears and shows (flashes) its capabilities now and then. I look very much forward to when the U18 have stabilized and hopefully come to "a blossom" where it can involve me more to the music in a more emotional aspect. It is doing much better than I could expect or hope for, this early in the burn in cycle. A set back-period shouldn't be too surprising. I am playing all kinds of quality music recordings in different formats on this box and it is already very enjoyable and is already also showing high end qualities. This piece of gear show already it has a very high performance standard both on internal and on external XO's.
This may very well be a best buy and a bestseller in its price range. I can absolutely recommend it. If it will reach the highest levels.... -I don't know. Anyway it's a bargain, If You have the need for a quality-DDC and have the budget, go for it.
/Jan
Try downloading The Tara Labs Cascade Burn in track. It's free on their site. Read their explanation of why it works better. Best burn in track I have found.
Oh well had to do it after reading all the fuse recommendations and the fact that it would be way to long to wait for the upgrade Gustard fuse. So saw VH audio is selling SR orange for 30% off with free shipping at that price point. So there is my first upgrade. I will wait for the next evolution of SR fuses to upgrade. Will skip purple at this point. Just a bit to rich for my wallet. Spending this much for a fuse even at a discount seems mildly nuts. But I have spent crazy on other things, so what the hell!
I would recommend purple because I know what it brings, but I assume you will be satisfied with SR Orange as well.
Fuses are the stars of upgrades, they contribute the most for the invested money.
It will be a lucky investment for you whichever one you decide on
I would recommend purple because I know what it brings, but I assume you will be satisfied with SR Orange as well.
Fuses are the stars of upgrades, they contribute the most for the invested money.
It will be a lucky investment for you whichever one you decide on
When I researched fuses, people on forums that had Orange fuses overwhelmingly liked the Purple more after getting them. Also SR mentioned it took quite a while to improve upon the Orange (or Blue whatever was their best before the Purple) and they weren't even sure they could improve it. So I wouldn't expect them to come out with anything improved over the Purple anytime soon if at all.
I took the plunge and ordered three SR Purples from VH Audio for my C18/U18/A22 stack. $399.90 shipped. Even though it's a great deal compared to paying full price, I need to keep this a secret from family and friends so they don't have me committed to an institution. Might try to sell me magic beans or a hen that lays golden eggs if they knew, or tell me how they got a whole box of fuses for $6 at AutoZone. With that said, would you guys throw in all three fuses at once or do it one at a time to take note of how much improvement each device realized? And just a reminder, how many hours do they take to hit full stride? I'm guessing that's hours with music flowing through them, not just plugged in? Thanks in advance as always
When I researched fuses, people on forums that had Orange fuses overwhelmingly liked the Purple more after getting them. Also SR mentioned it took quite a while to improve upon the Orange (or Blue whatever was their best before the Purple) and they weren't even sure they could improve it. So I wouldn't expect them to come out with anything improved over the Purple anytime soon if at all.
And now that I'm not young anymore, I like to fantasize, I imagine how headphones and speakers will sound in 100 years, and it's an exciting adventure that includes the kind of music that will be created.
The desire for advancement will always be in the nature of engineers and consumers.
Some other wire will appear, in a different environment, and until then I am very satisfied with the current one.
I took the plunge and ordered three SR Purples from VH Audio for my C18/U18/A22 stack. $399.90 shipped. Even though it's a great deal compared to paying full price, I need to keep this a secret from family and friends so they don't have me committed to an institution. Might try to sell me magic beans or a hen that lays golden eggs if they knew, or tell me how they got a whole box of fuses for $6 at AutoZone. With that said, would you guys throw in all three fuses at once or do it one at a time to take note of how much improvement each device realized? And just a reminder, how many hours do they take to hit full stride? I'm guessing that's hours with music flowing through them, not just plugged in? Thanks in advance as always
Both strategies (put fuses in all at once or one at a time) make sense in different ways. When I see 300 hours break in time I wouldn't want to do that three separate times. So I thought of a third option. Put all three in and get all the break-in hours over with. Then pull them all out and listen with the original fuses for a few hours. Then put the broken-in fuses back in one of the time and take note of the improvements. Am I overthinking this like usual? Also this got me thinking maybe the power amplifier in my stereo room could benefit from an upgrade fuse. So I went to YouTube to watch some videos on that subject and I saw a British fellow who coated both the fuses and the sockets with Deoxit Gold brush on liquid before installing them. If it's certain to not damage anything it could also go on interconnects and speaker cable connections. Opinions?
I occasionally use Deoxit Gold in a spray, and I always hear a change, especially in the highs.
I am waiting for Furutech Liquid Nano to be delivered to me
Wish I had the money right now to do the purple fuse offer. Could throw a couple of SR purples in my OTL and do the freebie in my U18. But that would require almost 4 times what I spent for the orange. So I will enjoy the orange at least until taxtime and then we shall see. Hopefully VH audio will have some perk, but I doubt it.
Both strategies (put fuses in all at once or one at a time) make sense in different ways. When I see 300 hours break in time I wouldn't want to do that three separate times. So I thought of a third option. Put all three in and get all the break-in hours over with. Then pull them all out and listen with the original fuses for a few hours. Then put the broken-in fuses back in one of the time and take note of the improvements. Am I overthinking this like usual? Also this got me thinking maybe the power amplifier in my stereo room could benefit from an upgrade fuse. So I went to YouTube to watch some videos on that subject and I saw a British fellow who coated both the fuses and the sockets with Deoxit Gold brush on liquid before installing them. If it's certain to not damage anything it could also go on interconnects and speaker cable connections. Opinions?
I took the plunge and ordered three SR Purples from VH Audio for my C18/U18/A22 stack. $399.90 shipped. Even though it's a great deal compared to paying full price, I need to keep this a secret from family and friends so they don't have me committed to an institution. Might try to sell me magic beans or a hen that lays golden eggs if they knew, or tell me how they got a whole box of fuses for $6 at AutoZone. With that said, would you guys throw in all three fuses at once or do it one at a time to take note of how much improvement each device realized? And just a reminder, how many hours do they take to hit full stride? I'm guessing that's hours with music flowing through them, not just plugged in? Thanks in advance as always
I occasionally use Deoxit Gold in a spray, and I always hear a change, especially in the highs.
I am waiting for Furutech Liquid Nano to be delivered to me
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