Hi-Fi Fuses - SNAKE OIL? - or something in it?

"but how can you make a decision without listening first? That's the problem! "

Reminds me of a certain LEgend.

No snake oil in that one! :^)

The story of the Pied Piper,who is the High End esoteric charlatans of today I presume?

Here's how I could spin that tale.

You take someone who has demonstrated that they have a sound scientific background and lead all the gullible audio children down the garden path marching to his tune and not their own.
Follow me,trust me, I know all the answers.

Esoteric fuses, power cords,if they all measure the same they should all sound the same.
Don't be afool follow me.

But if it's all about measurements then everything that passes a square wave should sound the same, and so there is no reason for buying an esoteric anything?
Is that not reverse snake oil descrimination?

Are Dueland caps worth their price if they pass a square wave the same as an offshore cheapie?
Surely they must be the kings of snake oil.

Perhaps it's the LEgend of Pandora's box that we should refer to.

You know, you start with an Esoteric fuse and then before you know it you're hooked on Duelands with gold and silver internal wiring.

I wonder a lot.
Like why do some folks in this hobby even bother to listen to their systems if they can't trust their ears?
Do they take out a cd,then check the spec sheets,and knowing that everything is as it should be, put the cd back in it's case and call it a nite?

Can they actually bypass their ears altogether like the chap who can read the record grooves and tell you what the music is?

THis is audio is it not?
So ,how can you make a decision without listening first?

How can a square wave do anything more than show you that the item is functioning correctly?

All functioning fuses would pass a square wave.

All functiong capas would pass a square wave,the Dueland included.
Would you be able to see any difference between a Dueland and a cheap Nichicon?

Again, forgive me if my ignorance is showing,I am a subjectivist,and empiricist.

I have to base my conclusions on what I can hear using my ears and by comparing one against the other in purely subjective terms.

If my ears are fooling me, then I can accept that,because I am fooling myself everytime I sit down to listen to reproduced music.
I know it's not perfect,I've heard real,this is not it.
Yet the measurements are very likely perfect.

The Pied Pipers who would lead you to believe that perfect measurements are all that matters, like perfect sound forever, are fooling themselves that what they have is perfection because it measures so.

No need to listen first, the decision has already been made.

Everything is an individual choice. One should attempt to be as educated as possible, but make their own decisions.

Some sources are more reputable than others. I'll leave it at that.

I think it is pretty logical that since no one can listen to everything, one has to make some choices to decide what to listen to or not. Even which fancy fuse one might try.

Of course one has to decide on whatever choices one makes.
You decide whether anything is worth trying,and hopefully you try before you buy.

But if you've already made up your mind and refuse to try something just because you know there can be no difference,that doesn't prove anything to you or anyonelse if there is a difference or not.

It's just an opinion based on the opinions of others with the same mindset as yours.

So who is following the Pied Piper?

We are all followers,if indeed we are in this hobby for anything more than to kick back and enjoy the tunes.

Which I feel is the more recent take on this hobby.

It wasn't this way when I started out, and old habits are hard to change.
Those habits ,like critically evaluating one component to the next(without measurements or DBLT)were all I had back then as now.

I am quite certain that a chunk of wire compared to a stock fuse will pass a square wave,as will an esoteric fuse.
But can those measurements show the differences between each?

If the square wave for the solid chunk of wire is better than for the others, and I find that it also sounds better, then my ears must be good measuring devices.
If there is no measurable differences between any of them, and I hear differences,am I better than the machine?

There's so much more to this than just assembling a system according to how well they spec out.

Simple things like a fuse,do have an effect,I've heard it, and way before there were esoteric fuses, I bypassed the stock ones, not because they measured better,but just because it sounded better.

Had I not done so,I would have never guessed that it would.
If I had a measuring device and it measured the same as the fuse then I would have stayed with the fuse and the protection it provided.

One doesn't have to listen to everything,most of the time substitutes to the esoteric stuff are right at your fingertips.

You don't have to spend a penny.

You have a choice to just listen to the tunes as they are and not try anything to improve the sound.

Or you can try and improve that sound.
You have the choice.

But the more times you decide to try something,and it works, the more you are prone to try other things.
If you are not prone to experimenting with the simple things, and instead feel that it makes more sense to buy something new than improve what you have, then you will always follow that path.

I wonder about the negative comments some have made when a tweak doesn't meet their expectataions.
Were those expectations too high in the first place?
Were they expecting to transform a sows ear into a silk purse?
Was there something in their system that wasn't functioning properly that was obscurring any differences,a blockage of somesort? A lack of attention to some small trivial detail,something that shouldn't make a difference?
It's all about the details and small stuff, because when you add them all up,they do make a difference to the end sound.

One thing that is indisputable is that in my experience, everytime I improved my sound, my enjoyment of the music was increased.

And as far as I know,there isn't a device that can measure how much more I am enjoying it.