Polarity Questions..

I had the same experiences that Gs5556 had. When actively A/B'g the difference is hard to discern. However, just listening and relaxing something not quite right. I used to own a 390S as well and sometimes after a power glitch, it would power up with the polarity inverted. I would notice it as something "not quite right".

Yes, correct polarity matters, but I don't obsess over it. I also have the 390s and some music is better inverted, some is better normal.

Is it label-dependent? Here is a list which I obtained through a previous post.

Normal or "0" polarity: A&M, Acoustic Disc, Atlantic, AudioQuest, Blue Note, Caprice, Chandos, Chesky, Chess, Columbia, Concord, DMP, Elektra, Geffen, GRP, Harmonia Mundi, Hungaraton, Hyperian, JVCXCRD, Klavier, Liberty, Manhattan, MusicMasters, Nonesuch, Novus, Opus 3, Orfeo, Philips, Polydor, Pope Music, Reference, Reprise, Sheffield, Supraphon, Verve, Wilson. ECM also belongs in this list, IMO.

Inverted or "180" polarity: Analogue Productions, ASV, BIS, Capitol, Cypress, Delos, Deutsche Gramophone, Discovery, EMI, Epic, Impulse, L'Oiseau-Lyre, London, MCA, Mercury, Motown, Nimbus, Pangaea, Polar, Private Music, Riverside, Ryko, Shanachie, Sony, Telarc, Teldec, Vanguard, Virgin, Vox, Warner Brothers, WEA. I would presume that English Decca/Argo belong in this list.

From my limited sampling, this is around 80% correct.

The key is to listen relaxed. Enjoy what you think is more natural!

That is a fabulous feature. It shows those guys really do listen to music. Those track to track changes used to annoy me listening to jazz records before I had a phase reverse switch. Interestingly some of the highest rated producers, engineers, etc had albums with varying phase in some tracks. Of course then you got those cuts where phase was different between instruments! I'm going to suggest it to Spectrals Keith Johnson. Maybe it can be an upgrade to there 4000 machine, which I think I'd 'like' to own oneday.