Synergistic Red Fuse ...

I received my Black fuses today  and will place them later this afternoon. I'll be  patient  and let the burn-in  progress as recommended  by David and Frank  (Oregonpapa). If they're  only a modest  improvement of the Red fuses I'll be very pleased given the excellence of the Red's in my system. 
Charles, 

Today I added a Synergistic Research Black fuse to the dedicated headphone system's amp. The SACD player's main fuse already has a Black fuse installed. I double checked the sound of the original Red fuse (switching directions to make sure the sound was optimised).

I then put in the Black fuse (already broken in with a 100 hrs of use). Again I listened with the fuse in both directions and one direction was better to me.

I then compared the direction optimised RED to the Black.

The Black did a lot of thing better but...

I then realized there was a degree of dryness to the sound. Especially critical to get this right when listening to headphones. I moved my front footer (Synergistic Research MIG's)  that is under the SACD player towards the front of the player 1/4 inch!  I did not adjust the back two footers. BAM ! The sound now had the emotion, flow, and detail that I so much value. So in my opinion the Black fuse is a more developed fuse than the Red, and the Red fuse makes an ordinary fuse sound terrible.

The change in sound is of a magnitude that one may need to readjust component footers, or change a system's sub woofer settings.

I found today's time and effort was rewarded in a jump in my system's ability to generate musical bliss.

David Pritchard

Its alchemy I tells ya ... downright alchemy! Where's the Wizard?

The  most amazing thing. Who would have ever imagined that stock fuses were degrading the sound to such a degree?  The only drawback I can see at this point is the long break-in period and having to listen to ordinary HiFi until the fuses break in. 

I was just on the phone with a good friend and fellow audiophile who lives out of state trying to describe what these little buggers do. I just wish he were here to hear is for himself. Hope he jumps on the SR black fuse bandwagon. 

Of course everything can be improved.  Cryogenically treated fuses are a step in the right direction as is the use of a contact enhancer on the end caps, e.g., Quicksilver Gold, which unfortunately is out of production.  Exposure of the fuse to magnetic fields can be limited by the prudent use of mu metal around Mr. Fuse. Not to mention replacing the fuse holder with something along the lines of Acme's Silver Plated Fuse Holder.