Audiophile fuses split the modern audio world. Those who have heard the difference these fuses make understand their impact on sound quality, and those who have not – or have not – heard them will likely dismiss such things. I just moved from the latter to the former, thanks to Synergistic Research’s Purple UEF!
Regarding Alternating Current, the UK (and a few Commonwealth countries that followed the UK’s lead) is odd. Unlike other countries that went with a radial system, the UK widely adopted a ‘ring main’ for house wiring (hence the use of the term ‘the mains’ to denote AC power in UK homes). In post-war Britain, the standard became a three-pin, 13A plug and socket system, with most wall sockets having an on-off switch and every plug included a fuse (in addition to the ‘case fuse’ inside the device itself). The logic is that if something catastrophic happens to your 240V AC power, fused plugs blow before either the power cable melts, something catches fire, or someone gets electrocuted. While it’s an effective way of keeping British people out of harm’s way, from an audio perspective, it’s a bit of a nightmare that products like the Synergistic Research Purple UEF aim to address!
Mexican Wave
Of course, the term ‘Current’ leads to the wrong way to think about how electrons behave under an electrical charge; it makes us think of electricity as the currents in a river. Electron propagation is more like a Mexican Wave in an arena; the action of the person sitting next to you standing up and waving causes you to stand up and wave, rather than a set of waving arms being passed from person to person. To extract the maximum from this analogy, a fuse acts like a group of people who take a long time to stand up, wave, and sit down, disrupting that otherwise smooth wave around the stadium.
Synergistic Research’s Unified Energy Field concepts were developed to produce a smoother electron propagation in conductors, with a claim to developing what it calls ‘Inductive Quantum Coupling’; on a quantum-mechanical level, multiple quantum systems will act in immediate unison (continuing down that Mexican Wave analogy-hole, it would be like every person in the stadium waving at precisely the exact moment). The Purple UEF fuses take this to levels beyond those of the previous Orange top-performer thanks to a combination of graphene in the UEF technology and a new high-voltage conditioning process, both of which were developed for the company’s SRX cables.
Installation of 13A fuses for UK plugs is simple, especially with plugs with a removable fuse insert. Unfortunately, audiophile-grade plugs generally prefer more solidly screwed-in-place plugs, so swapping out fuses takes a few minutes. Still, fortunately, I have enough Nordost Blue Heaven power cords to hand to make a couple of ‘with’ and ‘without’ power cords so swapping cables over was relatively quick. Case fuses can be quick-changed if they sit in a little plastic rectangle next to the IEC socket. Still, many are internally mounted, which requires opening the product’s chassis, finding the internal fuse (hint: it’s always near the IEC power socket) and replacing and re-screwing the product’s case together again. Remember, of course, to unplug the product as you are dealing with lethal voltages.
After the flurry
The sonic changes to Synergistic Research Purple UEF fuses were immediately noticeable in several ways, with other benefits revealed after the initial flurry of changes. The first change is an increase in smoothness and refinement in the midrange, especially in the high frequencies. The higher frequencies are less congested and restricted too, which makes the top treble appear to have a greater extension. All of which is heard most readily with solo female voice or piano, but unless your record collection is made up of white noise, catfights and people running their fingernails down chalkboards, you’ll hear it regardless.
After that initial impressive change comes the other benefits in short order. Perhaps predictably (at least for those who’ve heard fuse-free Schuko plugs in their system), there’s a distinct sense of music rising out of stillness and calm; the absence of a subtle background hash that too often gives the music an electronic sheen. However, you also notice that the imaging has improved mainly in terms of image stability, soundstage size, and precision. Dynamic range is also improved, perhaps a part of that removal of background hash. In systems already dynamically powerful sounding, the worry could be that it would send the sound over the top and into exuberance; in fact, the sound just seems to expand a little, a little like you just got access to a better master of the music.
The overall effect can be summed up in one word; ‘naturalness’. The sound seems a little less ‘electronicky’ and more ‘natural’ and ‘effortless’. The more Purple UEF fuses you add to the system, the more it tends toward this effortlessly natural sound. Rhythmic elements in the sound just ‘pop’ into place a bit more with each fuse in the chain, and swapping them back for anything else is a step in the wrong direction. There’s no going back.
I can’t see someone not liking the improvements brought about by Synergistic Research Purple UEF fuses, especially as the effect is cumulative. OK, audio’s a broad church and some prefer something more earthy sounding, but what you are doing is adding distortion instead of removing it.
Clear and Present Hinting
The best description of how Purple UEF fuses change the system came from my wife, just before Christmas 2021; “it’s not like an expensive new scarf, but more like tying that expensive new scarf perfectly”… and any relation to a subtle hint for Christmas presents is strictly coincidental. Pricey neckwear notwithstanding, the Synergistic Research Purple UEF fuses make your system sound better by tying the sound together. Not all of us are ‘born to the purple’, but these fuses can bring out the royalty in your system.
Price and contact details
Synergistic Research Purple UEF fuses: £190
Manufacturer: Synergistic Research
UK Distributor: Electromod
URL: electromod.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1494 956558
By Alan Sircom
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