Hi-Fi Plus UltraFuse™ review
Tuesday, 1st April 2025
Industry stalwart and Hi-Fi+ editor, Alan Sircom, reviews the Russ Andrews UltraFuse™. Spoiler alert: he’s impressed…
"replacing the existing fuse with the Russ Andrews UltraFuse is the best sonic upgrade you can make".
Alan Sircom, Editor, Hi-Fi Plus magazine.
STOP PRESS: to celebrate this great review, we're giving you 25% OFF UltraFuses - but only until 18th April, so best be quick: secure your UltraFuses here
Alan decided to test the fuses in a couple of existing audio-grade mains cables he had to hand. This meant he was able to carry out a quick A/B swap between identical cables, one with and one without the UltraFuse.
In addition, he plugged the cables directly into the wall socket, circumventing any distribution blocks or power conditioners which could affect the results themselves and “cloud the issue”.
The results were both obvious and immediate: “The UltraFused cable made a clear difference”, he writes. “Clear has a double meaning here, covering both ‘an obvious change’ and ‘it increased transparency’”, he continues.
Digging a little deeper into these changes, he points to both an improved “focus and snap to the sound” and “a more direct connection between you and the music”. It’s this latter point which is especially pleasing, given that this is the core aspect we focus on when developing all of our products (the sense of musicality we always refer back to).
Small change: big difference
From Alan’s perspective, the difference this fuse makes is not a small one and is quite obvious to hear. As someone who has reviewed a number of high-end power cables over the years, he is familiar with the improvements these can bring, so it’s a great compliment to the UltraFuse when he states that
"the change is on a par with a jump up in power cord performance, adding weight and body to the sound” !
That’s quite some feat and shows just how significant the fuse can be in releasing the full potential of both the cable and the component it is supplying.
Buy your Russ Andrews UltraFuse™
Feeling the pinch
Many are surprised at this, equating the smallness of a fuse with its perceived lesser significance in the power chain. Its size is kind of the point, though, because all the power feeding your equipment has to go through this thin wire. As Alan points out, this makes the fuse a potential “pinch point for sound quality”. So, the more you ease this bottleneck you can often experience a level of improvement far greater than you may have thought.
I think Alan himself was surprised at the difference, as it spurred him on to make a double-check that, at least some of, the performance wasn’t due to the included DeoxIT® Gold wipes (which we include with the UltraFuse and recommend using to clean all contact points before fitting).
Having treated the plug and standard fuse accordingly, he did notice a slight improvement (as we would expect) but nothing approaching that brought by the addition of the UltraFuse: “the distinction was clear”, he observed, adding that the UltraFuse “consistently sounded more authentic” with the absence of an “electronic ‘haze’” which was present with the standard version.
By now, it should be clear that Alan, the long-standing editor of Hi-Fi+, was pretty enamoured with the UltraFuse. But it’s his final, emphatic statement which really hammers this home:
"replacing the existing fuse with the Russ Andrews UltraFuse is the best sonic upgrade you can make".
Enough said.
Magazine: Hi-Fi +
Issue: April 2025
Verdict: N/A
Buy your Russ Andrews UltraFuse™
Further note: Replacing the fuse in another manufacturer's power cable.
Alan makes the point that, as a UK-focused company, we offer our fuses in a number of ratings, making them usable right across the range of UK cables. “Many audiophile fuses are 13A only”, he points out. That’s fine if you are using a 13A rated cable but, as he notes, many sources have a lower rated ‘captive’ lead. In these cases, as the lead is fixed to the component, the only straightforward upgrade option is the fuse.
That’s why we offer a full range of UK UltraFuses in 13A, 10A, 5A and 3a ratings.
So, whatever rated cable you own, we have the fuse to fit! If you want to replace the fuse in another manufacturer's power cable - either an aftermarket one or perhaps the cable that was supplied with your component - it's important to replace like for like.
If the other cable is rated at 10A, 5A or 3A, it will be fitted with a 10A, 5A or 3A fuse respectively and you should fit a replacement fuse of the same value.
Written By Simon Dalton
RSS Subscribe
Join us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Pinterest
Find us on Google Plus
