SACD... can you hear the difference?

Hello again - the XLO test & burn in CD has a couple of tracks for testing "phase-correctness". They have multiple versions of the same excerpt of "Stormy Weather" that are done mono, stereo out of phase, stereo out of absolute phase and the full song correct absolute phase.

To my ear, differences between the out of absolute phase and correct phase recordings are difficult to detect...I THINK the out of absolute phase sounds a little less focused but am not sure I could pick it out with my eyes closed. Just to be clear - no such difficulty detecting the out of phase recording...it's diffuse and uncentered.

Regarding absolute phase/polarity, for further discussion see this current thread. I would emphasize two things:

1)When the setting of the phase switch on a preamp is changed, not only is the polarity of the recording being inverted, but the preamp's circuit configuration is being changed. Which in turn may affect the preamp's sonics to some degree, depending on the specific design. In some cases, involving components having unbalanced internal signal paths, an active stage might even be inserted or removed from the signal path when the setting of that switch is changed.

I suspect that point is not applicable to most or all DACs that provide a phase switch, however, such as the Berkeley which was mentioned above. In those cases the inversion may be performed in the digital domain, without any circuit changes that are in the signal path.

2)Polarity differences are most likely to be perceivable on recordings that have been recorded with a minimal number of microphones (e.g., two or three), and that have been subjected to minimal electronic processing during mastering. Most recordings in most genres do not meet those criteria.

Regards,
-- Al

I agree Ghost that it can be hard to detect absolute phase. One big reason is the digital mastering/remastering process. Apparently most digital reissues would sound better if they were never remastered digitally.

Yes, on a universal player, but in double DSD once taken to the raid, it is outstanding.

Under perfect circumstances, SACD provides an incremental improvement over CD. But the dramatic difference occurs in vinyl. Check the numbers; audiophiles have voted decisively with their wallets for vinyl.

Examples:

AcousticSounds offers 1,614 titles on SACD and 28,670 on vinyl. MusicDirect offers 140 titles on SACD and another 20 or so on DVD-A. They offer easily over 1300 audiophile reissues of LPs. Over the last 7-8 years enthusiasts have voted decisively with their wallets for LP as the high-res medium of choice.