help with absolute phase

am0779@aol.com: you can buy the stereophile test discs online at: http://www.stereophile.com/
goto: "recordings."

the ortofon (i misspelled it in my earlier post) test lp is long out of print but can be found, if you're in luck, at places where used lp's are available. good hunting. -kelly

Onhwy61's post was excellent. My recommendation that you make the change was no more than regurgitating audiophile best practices. But truth to tell, I don't hear a meaningful difference myself. I have known some who are highly sensitive to it, however.

There might be a whole other problem that goes along with preamps that invert phase: Does it mean that your cable to the amp is sending the negative signal through the positive conductor and visa-versa?!! Think about it... most cables are designed to handle both these polarities in very different ways and if the preamp inverts them, you have just tossed out all the cable's design .I have only seen one cable that is offered specially configured for inverted phase signals, and that was the Mapleshade.

Harv: I use the Mapleshade digital cable, however it is the standard (whatever that is) phase version. I wonder if we are all talking about the same thing as when I invert the phase on the Bel Canto it makes a very noticeable difference in the sound. With most material, inverting the phase narrows the sound stage and make the instruments more immediate and up front sounding with less air/reverb quality and very little overhang on the bass. Some of our classical CD's though sound very distant, in normal phase, almost as if I am listening from the adjacent room. Inverting the phase makes them sound much better. The term that Bel Canto uses in the manual is "absolute phase" as I recall, though the manual is buried in a closet right now. Is there something wrong with my system for the phase change to be so apparent? I have been through two different amps and sets of speakers with this DAC with the same results.

Dekay, there is nothing wrong with your system. Quite the contrary; it no doubt has the kind of resolving ability that makes it painfully obvious when you've got the phase wrong. When the bass and "stage" are dramatically reduced, and the recording sounds "boxed in," I know I've got the absolute polarity reversed. It does seem to be a bit harder to tell on some recordings than others, though.