[sajunky]

but how likely is it that a transformer might burn because of my Synergistic Research Purple fuse? How high is the risk factor?

This is correct what they say. In a case there is internal failure, fuse protects from burning more components. Incorrect fuse rating can cause more damages, making repair more expensive or even trigger a fire in your house.

 

[sahmen]

@sahmen

i enjoyed the SR orange fuses previously, and more recently the purples. however, I have had 3x purple fuses blow in my VM-1a and 1x blow in my Primaluna preamp. they were all the correct rating for the components. I've since been using Hifi Tuning Supreme3 fuses with no issues yet. I won't be getting anymore SR fuses in the future.

Just an FYI.

Thanks for the heads up. It is too bad, but I feel myself beginning to chicken out of replacing the fuse in the Pasithea, but that is also because I have never really tried a replacement fuse in a DAC before in order to find out what difference it might make. Besides, the Pasithea is already very enjoyable to my ears, "as is" with the stock fuses.

 

[George Hincapie]

About audiophile fuses: Synergistic Research Purple fuse for Sonnet Pasithea.

I have been using Synergistic Research Fuses in my Metrum Ambre for almost 5 years now without any issues, and without even thinking twice about it, and yes, they do make a noticeable difference in sound quality to my ears. Now I have to send my Pasithea back to Sonnet Audio. in order for them to fix a technical issue, so I am proposing that they replace the stock fuse with a Synergistic Research Purple fuse, which I am including in the shipment, and this is the response I am getting from the Gentleman I am communicating with:

"630mA is the correct value fuse. Installing an audiophile fuse is possible, but is not covered by warranty. Please be aware that some audiophile fuses have a higher amp rating than what is stated on the fuse body and, in a fault situation, can cause the transformer to burn. If you desire so I can place the fuse for you after the repair procedure is finished. This means that before I close the lid I put in your fuse and screw on the lid, I don't test it, Pasithea goes in the box. If you agree, I will place your fuse."

I do not know why I am feeling rattled all of a sudden by his caveats, even though I am aware that this is something he has to say in order to avoid liability (and cover the company's azz should something happen because of the fuse, but how likely is it that a transformer might burn because of my Synergistic Research Purple fuse? How high is the risk factor? As I said before, I have been using SR fuses for almost 5 years now without experiencing any related disasters, and without thinking twice about it. Is there any reason why I should start feeling anxious now about a possible Purple fuse in my Pasithea?

What he is saying is that audiophile fuses are a stupid idea and he doesn't trust them to work properly. I really don't understand what's difficult about that. Why not send it back to him stock, then replace the fuse yourself when it comes back?

 

[kumar402]

About audiophile fuses: Synergistic Research Purple fuse for Sonnet Pasithea.

I have been using Synergistic Research Fuses in my Metrum Ambre for almost 5 years now without any issues, and without even thinking twice about it, and yes, they do make a noticeable difference in sound quality to my ears. Now I have to send my Pasithea back to Sonnet Audio. in order for them to fix a technical issue, so I am proposing that they replace the stock fuse with a Synergistic Research Purple fuse, which I am including in the shipment, and this is the response I am getting from the Gentleman I am communicating with:

"630mA is the correct value fuse. Installing an audiophile fuse is possible, but is not covered by warranty. Please be aware that some audiophile fuses have a higher amp rating than what is stated on the fuse body and, in a fault situation, can cause the transformer to burn. If you desire so I can place the fuse for you after the repair procedure is finished. This means that before I close the lid I put in your fuse and screw on the lid, I don't test it, Pasithea goes in the box. If you agree, I will place your fuse."

I do not know why I am feeling rattled all of a sudden by his caveats, even though I am aware that this is something he has to say in order to avoid liability (and cover the company's azz should something happen because of the fuse, but how likely is it that a transformer might burn because of my Synergistic Research Purple fuse? How high is the risk factor? As I said before, I have been using SR fuses for almost 5 years now without experiencing any related disasters, and without thinking twice about it. Is there any reason why I should start feeling anxious now about a possible Purple fuse in my Pasithea?

we dont know how compliant SR fuses are. It may be that at your location, the power is clean and good and hence those fuses are not really called upon for any safety and hence it is working fine but it might fail as and when the actual need of fuse arises and Sonnet just doesnt want to take responsibility for fixing the component damaged due to third party fuses.
I would avoid using it if it voids the warranty. The gain in SQ from a fuse is not worth it over a warranty of an expensive DAC.

 

[sahmen]

Okay, I shipped the Pasithea back to Sonnet without the SR Purple fuse, so the whole idea of experimenting with the fuse is scrapped for now. I shall continue experimenting with these fuses elsewhere, however, in situations where the risks are not this great, because experimenting with them is fun. I like to play with tubes as well on occasion for the same "fun" reasons, although solid state suits me fine under most conditions

 

[kumar402]

Okay, I shipped the Pasithea back to Sonnet without the SR Purple fuse, so the whole idea of experimenting with the fuse is scrapped for now. I shall continue experimenting with these fuses elsewhere, however, in situations where the risks are not this great, because experimenting with them is fun. I like to play with tubes as well on occasion for the same "fun" reasons, although solid state suits me fine under most conditions

what problem your Pasithea had, if you dont mind sharing

 

[sahmen]

Sure : Around the 8th straight day of smooth burn-in, following its arrival, the lights in the Pasithea started "bliinking" noisily, with the machine itself sputtering and stuttering loudly until I shut it down. When I tried to power it back up, it went through the same routine. As heartbreaking as it was to have that happen to a brand new DAC, it was the first time I was experiencing a problem like that from any Metrum/Sonnet Audio DAC from Cees, and prior to the Pasithea, I'd owned a Metrum Hex, and Onyx, as well as a Sonnet Morpheus, and they had all been rock solid throughout their tenure with me so I tried not to jump to any conclusions about the Pasithea's inherent qualities. and took it as an "unexpected crap happens" type of incident. The Dealer from whom i got it speculated that sometimes the shipping phase might subject a particular unit to too much turbulence and cause internal disturbances, which might in turn lead to early failures like this. There was no way to confirm all of that, but it seemed to me that my own unit did come with a certain internal flaw that the "stress" of the non-stop 8-day burn-in process has compelled to show its face, and that was a good thing, in spite of the disappointment os seeing a brand new product fail

On another, deeper, emotional level, the experience has been quite hard to take, harder than I would normally expect, but it is only now that i am becoming aware of exactly how hard that has been. I was in touch with Sonnet Audio back in February 2023 when this incident happened and they asked me to return it immediately for warranty repair services. Although I agreed, it is just yesterday that I mustered enough will power to place the Pasithea finally in the mail and ship it out. Since February, I have been in some kind of strange emotional hiatus, largely ignoring the hobby altogether, immersing myself deeply into my work, and drastically cutting down on any visits I was previously making to this site, I did not plan or premeditate any of it. I just found myself following this new program of silent avoidance. I have also found myself mostly ignoring all my headphones, as well as my two other in-house headphone rigs, a Yggy A2/Pathos Inpol ear rig, and a schiiit Bifrost 2/64/Singxer, which are pretty decent rigs, even if they do not match the performance level of the Pasithea/Niimbus rig, which I prefer to see as my real "big deal" rig. Hopefully the Pasithea would help to cheer me up when it returns and is working correctly again as it should.

 

[kumar402]

Sure : Around the 8th straight day of smooth burn-in, following its arrival, the lights in the Pasithea started "bliinking" noisily, with the machine itself sputtering and stuttering loudly until I shut it down. When I tried to power it back up, it went through the same routine. As heartbreaking as it was to have that happen to a brand new DAC, it was the first time I was experiencing a problem like that from any Metrum/Sonnet Audio DAC from Cees, and prior to the Pasithea, I'd owned a Metrum Hex, and Onyx, as well as a Sonnet Morpheus, and they had all been rock solid throughout their tenure with me so I tried not to jump to any conclusions about the Pasithea's inherent qualities. and took it as an "unexpected crap happens" type of incident. The Dealer from whom i got it speculated that sometimes the shipping phase might subject a particular unit to too much turbulence and cause internal disturbances, which might in turn lead to early failures like this. There was no way to confirm all of that, but it seemed to me that my own unit did come with a certain internal flaw that the "stress" of the non-stop 8-day burn-in process has compelled to show its face, and that was a good thing, in spite of the disappointment os seeing a brand new product fail

On another, deeper, emotional level, the experience has been quite hard to take, harder than I would normally expect, but it is only now that i am becoming aware of exactly how hard that has been. I was in touch with Sonnet Audio back in February 2023 when this incident happened and they asked me to return it immediately for warranty repair services. Although I agreed, it is just yesterday that I mustered enough will power to place the Pasithea finally in the mail and ship it out. Since February, I have been in some kind of strange emotional hiatus, largely ignoring the hobby altogether, immersing myself deeply into my work, and drastically cutting down on any visits I was previously making to this site, I did not plan or premeditate any of it. I just found myself following this new program of silent avoidance. I have also found myself mostly ignoring all my headphones, as well as my two other in-house headphone rigs, a Yggy A2/Pathos Inpol ear rig, and a schiiit Bifrost 2/64/Singxer, which are pretty decent rigs, even if they do not match the performance level of the Pasithea/Niimbus rig, which I prefer to see as my real "big deal" rig. Hopefully the Pasithea would help to cheer me up when it returns and is working correctly again as it should.

Ya these things happen and is not common as mine is running 24X7 for past one year now. Good thing they took care of your unit.
Also short break is always good from hobby.

 

[Newsee]

Sure : Around the 8th straight day of smooth burn-in, following its arrival, the lights in the Pasithea started "bliinking" noisily, with the machine itself sputtering and stuttering loudly until I shut it down. When I tried to power it back up, it went through the same routine. As heartbreaking as it was to have that happen to a brand new DAC, it was the first time I was experiencing a problem like that from any Metrum/Sonnet Audio DAC from Cees, and prior to the Pasithea, I'd owned a Metrum Hex, and Onyx, as well as a Sonnet Morpheus, and they had all been rock solid throughout their tenure with me so I tried not to jump to any conclusions about the Pasithea's inherent qualities. and took it as an "unexpected crap happens" type of incident. The Dealer from whom i got it speculated that sometimes the shipping phase might subject a particular unit to too much turbulence and cause internal disturbances, which might in turn lead to early failures like this. There was no way to confirm all of that, but it seemed to me that my own unit did come with a certain internal flaw that the "stress" of the non-stop 8-day burn-in process has compelled to show its face, and that was a good thing, in spite of the disappointment os seeing a brand new product fail

On another, deeper, emotional level, the experience has been quite hard to take, harder than I would normally expect, but it is only now that i am becoming aware of exactly how hard that has been. I was in touch with Sonnet Audio back in February 2023 when this incident happened and they asked me to return it immediately for warranty repair services. Although I agreed, it is just yesterday that I mustered enough will power to place the Pasithea finally in the mail and ship it out. Since February, I have been in some kind of strange emotional hiatus, largely ignoring the hobby altogether, immersing myself deeply into my work, and drastically cutting down on any visits I was previously making to this site, I did not plan or premeditate any of it. I just found myself following this new program of silent avoidance. I have also found myself mostly ignoring all my headphones, as well as my two other in-house headphone rigs, a Yggy A2/Pathos Inpol ear rig, and a schiiit Bifrost 2/64/Singxer, which are pretty decent rigs, even if they do not match the performance level of the Pasithea/Niimbus rig, which I prefer to see as my real "big deal" rig. Hopefully the Pasithea would help to cheer me up when it returns and is working correctly again as it should.

I fully understand you. I think my brain played similar games and went through such ignorant phase after a failure of a precious gear.
(Un)fortunately it did not last that long.

 

[sahmen]

Postal Delivery Practices in the Netherlands:

Heeeelp!!! I am having a very weird problem getting my Pasithea shipment delivered to Sonnet Audio, because of some confusion on my part and on the part of Sonnet Audio regarding the exact post office facility in which it is being held, although I addressed the package directly to the address which my contact at Sonnet Audio supplied to me: namely,
Attn: "My contact's name"
Sonnet Digital Audio BV
Daviottenweg 9-11
5222BH 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

Now here is the shipment's most recent tracking report issued since yesterday:

The unit has completed the tedious custom clearance process, and its status is "Collect for pickup", but because "the Netherlands" (as opposed to the specific but unnamed local post office or customs office) is the indicated pick-up location on this tracking report, neither my contact at Sonnet nor myself can tell where exactly it is located and where to go for the "pick-up." I shipped the unit via International Priority Express, and so the tracking is making a big deal about requiring a signature for delivery, which is fine. What is not fine is that they still have not sent any official notification to Sonnet Audio as the official addressee and designated recipient of the package inviting them to pick the unit up at any specific named location. Does anyone know where things go from here, following the customary practices of the post office in the Netherlands. i note that I have followed the entire progress of this shipment via regular USPS tracking, which is all my contact at Sonnet Audio has also done. Now since my contact at Sonnet Audio is the addressee named on the package, I am still assuming that the post office will make an attempt to deliver the package in exchange for the signature, or at least send Sonnet Audio a formal notification of the package's availability for pick up identifying the location where the pick-up is meant to take place. This what the post office would normally do here in the US. Am I right in assuming that the local post office in Netherlands currently holding the package would do the same?

 

[EagleWings]

Have you tried tracking the package on Netherland’s postal website?

 

[sahmen]

I haven't

Have you tried tracking the package on Netherland’s postal website?

I haven't but I honestly wouldn't know how to navigate my way to the appropriate tracking site. Do you have a link to the site? I found this site but it asks for "barcodes" as opposed to tracking numbers and does not seem to recognize the US Tracking number assigned to my shipment ;

https://postnl.post/tracktrace

 

[EagleWings]

I haven't

I haven't but I honestly wouldn't know how to navigate my way to the appropriate tracking site. Do you have a link to the site? I found this site but it asks for "barcodes" as opposed to tracking numbers and does not seem to recognize the US Tracking number assigned to my shipment ;

https://postnl.post/tracktrace

Weird, that it is not recognizing the tracking number. I have only used the site to track packages shipped from NL and not to NL. Since you shipped via Priority Express, it would go as an EMS. So can you try tracking here:

https://www.ems.post/en/global-network/tracking

 

[sahmen]

Weird, that it is not recognizing the tracking number. I have only used the site to track packages shipped from NL and not to NL. Since you shipped via Priority Express, it would go as an EMS. So can you try tracking here:

https://www.ems.post/en/global-network/tracking

Thanks. Unfortunately, the EMS tracking history ends on June 6th, when the Package is held by customs and does not go beyond that :

Date and time	Status of Item	Location
Jun 1, 2023 2:41 PM	Posted	01002
Jun 2, 2023 4:02 PM	Arrived at export office	John F. Kennedy Apt/New York
Jun 2, 2023 4:03 PM	Departed from export office	John F. Kennedy Apt/New York
Jun 6, 2023 9:10 AM	Arrived at destination import office	The Hague
Jun 6, 2023 9:11 AM	Presented to import customs
Jun 6, 2023 9:23 AM	Held for customs inspection

 

[sahmen]

Weird, that it is not recognizing the tracking number. I have only used the site to track packages shipped from NL and not to NL. Since you shipped via Priority Express, it would go as an EMS. So can you try tracking here:

https://www.ems.post/en/global-network/tracking

After re-reading this post,I went back to the Track & Trace site and did the same search on the "Receiving" page (i.e. to NL) as opposed to the default "Sending" page (from NL) and Voila! The system pulled up the exact location and pick-up point for my parcel:

I have e-mailed the information to Sonnet Audio, but I need to follow it up with a phone call in order to make sure they pick up the shipment today, as the package might be returned by June 21st if it is not picked up by then. Does anyone know Sonnet Audio's telephone number? Is it the 8-digit number that appears at the bottom of this page?

***PS : Regarding the telephone number, I have found and called this one several times, but no-one seems to be picking up so far:

+31(0)36-7856259