Synergistic Research Purple UEF Duplex - receptacle


I just saw Synergistic Research (SR) released a Purple UEF Duplex receptacle. I was wondering if anyone has been able to test one, and if so,  does it have the same sonic impact as the SR Purple fuses. Personally, I use Quantum Science Audio (QSA) fuses and have been very pleased with all the different levels I’ve bought and tested. I bought two Purple fuses and returned them because I thought the QSA Yellow sounded better in my system. I liked the SR Purple a lot but they did not have the detail the QSA fuse brought to my system. Since then, I’ve upgraded to QSA Violet fuse in my Atoll IN300 and it is less bright, way more detailed with improved soundstage and separation over. 
 

I was thinking about buying the QSA Red receptacle but after seeing the new SR Purple receptacle (which is about $500 cheaper) I became intrigued. So my question is, has anyone tested the SR Purple receptacle, and if so, how do you like it? 
 

thanks for your time and consideration. 

128x128stevebohnii

Short answer: Buy an Oyaide R1 because purple fuse tech is based on graphene. Where do they put graphene in a receptacle?

Long answer: I have eight Purple fuses and have found them to be excellent and great value compared to QSA. Ted Denney even gives a generous discount occasionally with a no questions asked return policy. The only gripes people have had is that they are sensitive, so it's advisable to go up one rating. Additionally they are directional but not marked as such so it sometimes takes a few days to figure out which way to install.

HIFI Tuning fuses are also excellent value and not just for the budget conscience, they are great performers.

QSA on the other hand have, to my knowledge have not been very well received, and most people say that the Purple fuse is better than the QSA yellow.

SR will most likely bring out a new fuse in a year or two so I'll be glad I didn't spend a couple of grand on a fuse ; (


lordmelton - 

Thanks for responding to my post and offering a recommendation. I’ve never heard of Oyaide R1, but will look into them before purchasing a hifi receptacle. Regarding the new SR Purple receptacle, SR states the technology behind the receptacle is based on the following “The Purple Duplex has an entirely new mechanical and material formulation selected during Double-Blind Testing, where Synergistic Research compared different duplex designs, choosing the one that sounded best. SR then added brand new UEF Tech, first developed for the new SRX cable loom, and Purple fuses for a lower noise floor with enhanced soundstage scale and realism. SR then applied the Purple Fuse’s Long Duration, High Voltage Conditioning Process. Hence, the new Purple Duplex shares the same house sound of high resolution with rich musicality as the Purple Fuses. Lastly, SR went with a floating ground design so that noise from your wall junction box is isolated from your system: the net result is the highest resolution and most musical duplex in Synergistic Research history.”

The question whether to use SR or QSA fuses, I believe, should be based on individual preference and which brand fits their system the best. My system is natural and neutral, leaning to the warm side, so the QSA fuses are a great match for my system. The fuses add more detail to my system. I have to say, the Yellow was a little brighter than I prefer but the Violet kept detail and removed the harshness. Also, I demo’d the SR Purple fuses and liked them but they were a little too warm for my system and I lost a lot of detail. I think the Purple is a great fuse but just didn’t match my system as well as the QSA fuse. What concerns me about the Purple, is how sensitive they are and SR recommends going up one rating above manufacturers’ recommendation. I have read many QSA forums and posts and none of them have stated QSA fuse are sensitive or have blown (not saying none of them have not blown). 

I do agree, $1,000s on a fuse is a little silly, but I am a believer that audiophile fuses make a huge difference in sound quality. I’m also interested in your statement regarding the possibility of SR creating a new fuse later this year. I also think the competition between SR and QSA is working in the audiophile’s advantage. 

I own a couple of the QSA red fuses and they do indeed create more detail and depth in the components that I am using them with. On my tube amps I am using the SR purple. Seems to be the best of both worlds.

I'm still using the Furutech NCF outlets, and it will take a free trial to get me to try the SR purple.

ozzy

@stevebobnii ---when you think about it spending $1k for a fuse is not silly if you get good results. How much do you pay for PC’s? Interconnects? Speaker Cables? Just because it is a tiny component does not mean it can not impact your sound to a large degree.

I have an SR Orange duplex outlet. Does it do anything? Out of all my components / tweaks, I find that to be the hardest to determine the benefit. I thought about going to the QSA Duplexes but would rather buy a QSA red instead. I have all QSA yellow in my components now. I had SR orange. In my system. QSA yellow was better than Orange. I have not tried SR purple. I may put a Red in my Lampizator DAC and Lucas Audio Music server. I may add the SR purple to my mono amps, but I wonder, should you stick with all the same brand? Or, is it ok to mix and match fuses? How will you know which fuses are really making the impact on your system then?

In summary, IMO, I would rather invest in the fuse rather than the duplex box.

@stevebohnii Hi, interested to read you’d replaced the fuse in your Atoll IN300; I’m currently settling in a new IN200 Signature, and was wondering, with a view to replacing the IEC inlet fuse, what the rating of the stock fuse was? If that’s the fuse you replaced.

I’ve not read/seen any reviews re: the IN300 so not sure of its general sonic character, but the 200 has a touch of lift in the Mids, which is fine for me, but I don’t want to exaggerate this any further. I currently use QSA Light Blue fuses in all of my mains plugs (I’m in the UK 😏) but I’ve read the QSA Yellow is a little bright, which I want to avoid. The QSA Violet is more than I want to spend, so I’m toying with the idea of SR Orange or Purple. I’d be grateful for your thoughts on this idea in relation to the Atoll

EDIT: I had emailed Atoll in France to enquire about the IEC inlet fuse, not really expecting a reply, but I've just received a response: the IN200 fuse is an 8amp 5x20mm slow blow. 

 

Thanks very much

Kindest Regards

The Oyaide R1 and Furutech NCF series are reference receptacles. I suggested the Oyaide because that's what I use and have been very happy with them. It's also about half price of the Furutech once you include all the fittings.

I sincerely doubt that the Purple receptacle is better than these two but maybe it is, I'm not pulling my rack apart to find out.

If you want maximum detail in a fuse this is a detail monster. I have one in my power supply. Power House Zero 2 Extreme. They may be an offshoot of QSA, about $600 - my limit for fuses.

 

Painter24 - 

I hope you are well. I love my Atoll IN300 and think Atoll is an amazing hifi manufacturer currently flying under the radar. The IN300 is a very warm sounding solid state integrated amplifier. The sonic character is tube-like but with greater detail. It does an amazing job pushing high demanding speakers. I have a pair of ADS L1590II that have been completely refurbished by Richard So. They sound amazing. 

I thought the QSA Yellow sounded a little bright and am glad I moved up to the Violet. I think you will be very impressed with the SR Purple for the Atoll IN200 IEC. I like the Purple but I read SR recommends going up one rating above the manufacturer’s stock fuse. Also, Tweek Geek (where I buy my QSA fuses) allows you to receive full price on your current QSA fuse if you upgrade within six months. I agree with Willgolf and believe fuses can have the same sonic improvement as cables or any other tweak. I truly believe these fuses have taken my setup to the next level and I’m now getting the most out of my system. 

The Atoll IN300 takes a 10am/5x20/slow blow. 

Keep searching for the sound. 

Lordmelton -

Thanks for the suggestions. Have you tried any of the QSA fuses to compare to the Power House Zero 2 Extreme fuses. I’m very interest to know which QSA fuse (color) I can compare it to. Thanks again for your suggestions. 

Hi Steve, No I haven't compared the Power House to QSA fuses as I said they are incredibly detailed, much more than SR Purple.

I think having more than one in a system would be too much.

I've been waiting for this Purple duplex to be available for sale for months and now I have one.  First impressions are certainly positive. I went directly from a cheap generic receptacle, probably less than $1, to this product. My system's music reproduction is significantly more satisfying now. The change was immediate. Dynamics improved appreciably and there's more sense of realness and presence to the sound. I think there was also a volume increase, but I can't really A/B to verify my sense of that.

I have zero affiliation with SR, Ted, or any financial interest in making these comments. I'm just a dude on the internet that wanted to share my impressions from the first day of listening. Seems like a very worthwhile $300 tweak.

@gladmo

Thanks so much for your review of the Purple duplex. Can I ask if you are using a power conditioner, and if so, what kind? Also, do you think there is is break in period? I bet there is and if you would be so kind to let us know if the sound improves over the next few days. I’m guessing it will really sound great after 100 hours

 

Thanks again and keep posting. 

@stevebohnii No problem, I use a Furman IT-REFERENCE 15i 15-amp power conditioner. I’m sure there’s a break in period during which it will improve, just like nearly everything else in our systems. The increase in resolution and "rich musicality" you mentioned that were part of the marketing material were already present immediately, though.

One thing I really liked was that it fixed an issue I had. I applied the High Fidelity Cables NPS-Q45t contact enhancer to literally every contact in my system a couple months ago, and it gave me significantly greater top end resolution and extension, really showing what my tweeters can do, but it also added enough energy in that freq range that it skewed the overall tonality of the sounds towards a bright and leaner sound. It was much worse when I first applied and after 48 hours, it seemed to suddenly improve and return a certain degree of my rich and full sound, but the issue never resolved completely.

I just kept being patient with it, as I was enjoying the feeling that my tweeters were more active, like they were finally fully engaged and revealing all that they are capable of. As soon as I installed the SR Purple Duplex, it was like a sudden ingress of energy back into the mid-range and low end, without sacrificing any of the newly acquired information coming through the top end!

I have really no idea how this crap works, but the combination of these two tweaks, at a cost of about $650, is very with the money. My system is presenting music and resolving details on a higher level now

 

P.S. I’m only responding because I actively checked to see if anyone responded here. When you @ someone, if the text doesn’t turn blue, it won’t work to notify them. You have to type the @ symbol, then select the username from the drop-down list, and then it will fill in the name with blue text, which is a hyperlink to their account profile.

 

@gladmo 
Thanks for the FYI regarding how to notify a person if I reply to their post. Your Furman is a very nice conditioner. I’m using a Audioquest Niagara 1200 which is not too bad but I’d like to step up. It’s awesome that the duplex corrected your loss of midrange after you applied High Fidelity Cables NPS-Q45t to all of your contacts. I would have been a little worried but I’m probably not as patient as you are (my wife reminds of that all the time…lol. 

I’m also wondering if the duplex sounds any different today than it did when you wrote your last post. 

@stevebohnii I'd share, if I could.  However, I recently did some work getting all of my cables elevated and mechanical vibration dampened and that made a significant difference in sound quality, particularly in the low and mid bass and in noise level.  So discrimination between the two tweaks is hindered by conflation.

I ordered a SR purple outlet yesterday. It will be delivered by mid week. I have their purple fuses through out my gear. I'm using the Cardas outlet now. I'll post back with my review finds on the purple outlet. 

The SR purple outlet came in faster than I thought. I got it installed and at 1st hit it was similar to the well burned in Cardas outlet I've been using. As the next 12 hours came it has gotten much nicer. Best way to describe it is like their purple fuse. Add a 5 fold and you get the effect of the purple outlet. The build of the outlet is a heavy duty/hospital grade type. I'm not sure what they do to the outlet but it does work. I'm not sure how long it will take to fully burn in. I have had many audiophile outlets. The Furutech gtx rhodium, Audioquest Edison and the Cardas outlet. The Cardas is a great combination of the Furutech and Audioquest outlet. It has the best of those two outlets. But the champion of the bunch is the SR purple outlet. It doesn't have any plating on its contact points. The inside of it is a orange/copper color. I haven't seen a outlet with this color. It must come from its intense high voltage treatment. 

I have had the purple outlet for 18 hrs running, which replaced a Black outlet.

 

Was impressed by the nice copper coloured contacts, quite certain it is and had very high expectations.

 

So far i can say it is nice, more naturalnsoynding. It is definately more mellow than the black outlet, less analytical and more toned down highs, copper contacts attributed to this effect.

 

I will let it burn for another few days, but undecided, i miss the more apperent details and clarity of the Black outlet and leaning to swap back the black.

 

My gut feel, is that ibprefer the Black oitlet as i have fined tuned the sound over these few years.

 

It seems the new offerings from SRbare more a lateral change.

 

I use All SR outlets from the original teslaplex, red, black, blue ,orange and now purple.

There is nonfurther noticeable upticks, just different presentations with new colours.

 

 

It's garbage like this that drives me nuts. People need to spend their money on better equipment not silly audiophile jewelry. 

Anybody who thinks that any audiophile receptacle sounds better than a plain old Lutron needs to have a serious discussion with their psychologist. 

I have had a conversation with one. And they said this is normal behavior for a true audiophile. So there us a perfectly clear answer. Purple power is here to stay for me. 

@mijostyn it drives you nuts, but you still felt compelled to click on the clearly marked thread. Now there's a psychological conundrum 👍

@painter24 , you bet. I feel I might save some souls. What would be my other motive? I don't sell anything. Some people think I'm just another a-s h-le so, it certainly does not do my reputation any favor. It is a lot of fun sending some people over the edge.