What is the science behind audiophile fuses?

Whatever your brain convinces the ears ! ?

I've experienced listening to a fuse shootout on a guitar amp using a glass fuse , a Littlefuse ( or Bussmann ) , a cryro'd ceramic and a gold plated ceramic .  Yes I heard differences ( small but discernable ) the end result the My brain convinced My ears that  the Littlefuse sounded best , does that make the other fuses inferior ? No I liked the sound of the plain ceramic fuse .

Now  , my amp has 7 fuses 1 main and 6 on the board so I went to our local electronics supply and was able to purchase the 3 different values of  generic ceramic fuses replacing the glass ones .  A few months later no sound out of one channel so lifting the 56 lb. amp on to the bench and testing the fuses I found one of the four 6 am fuses blown . This pissed me off ( my own fault for using generic fuses , so I ordered Bussmann fuses and Wow just changing from the generic fuses made a sonic difference/ improvement .  $2.00 each verse 50 cents , OK so how o\would a HiFi Tuning , a Synergistic Research or some other Audiophile fuse sound ?  I considered the HiFi Tuning because they were the least expensive but   when a Furutech showed up at 1/2 price $35.00 I had to try it on the mains input only .  Does it sound better ?  Well My brain convinced my ears that is does  BUT when doing a back and forth with the Bussmann and the Furtech my wallet said yes the Furutech sounded a little bit better but not nearly enough to even consider replacing the other 6 fuses on the amp .  I have replaced all glass fuses in my system with Bussmann or Littlefuse ceramic ones . But if I win the Lottery then maybe ?

Certain things (at least at this point) cannot be measured in order to provide data that can be interpreted by independent observers demonstrating ironclad proof of an effect or lack thereof.  It doesn't mean there is no effect.  A foolproof test simply does not currently exist.  At this point, I think that is the state of fuses.  Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that different fuses  have a palpable effect on my system.  Starting with Oregonpapa, my journey began.  It is super apparent with the swiss digital fuse box.  There are copper, brass, and gold infused sluggos, each with a distinct sonic footprint.  These are easily exchanged and the difference is very obvious.  

Unless we dissect then do a chemical analysis, we’ll never know the secret sauce to blow correctly AND sound better. I suspect a lot of trial with listening scrutiny before the fuses were brought to market. With SR fuses, and much steeper priced QSA fuses, I considering the Swiss Digital Fuse Box mentioned by a forum member

Certain things (at least at this point) cannot be measured in order to provide data that can be interpreted by independent observers demonstrating ironclad proof of an effect or lack thereof.  It doesn't mean there is no effect.  A foolproof test simply does not currently exist.

@orthomead , is this your learned opinion or are you spit-balling?  I think there are several ways to provide pretty ironclad proof. Not only several ways but they are not even very hard. One does wonder why they are not done.

Just as I wrote earlier, these types of discussions were much less common when audio stores were more prevalent.

When audio stores were prevalent I don't remember anyone even discussing fuses.

Don't be so pedantic.  Nearly every topic on these forums are assaulted by naysayers who refuse to believe any value is gained in higher end hifi let alone the clever and often times inexpensive tweaks and tricks of the trade- based on no experience.

What I am also saying is that people may sometimes be comparing two equivalent products thinking that one should be superior to the other because it cost 10% or 20% more.  For example, they might test drive a Ford and a Chevy and like one over the other.  But no one is going to compare a Ford to a Lamborghini, for example or claim that the Rabbit GTI is a giant killer.  The Rabbit GTI is a great car in its own right but not the same class as a Lambo.

I learned this years ago with phono cartridges.  I wore out a Koetsu Black phono cartridge.  I enjoyed it very much.  I bought a new "giant killer" cartridge for a few hundred dollars.  It sounded good but it was not in the same league at all as the Koetsu.  I quickly moved on to a much better phono cartridge.

Yes, high end hifi gets into the subtleties and nuances of music reproduction.  Most don't hear it and don't care.  Some people look at a painting and are moved in a profound way.  I spent about a minute gazing at the Mona Lisa and moved on.  (Hey, her eyes do follow me.  Cool.)