Invert Polarity in Digital Domain

The SRA list derives from the same source as mine. I just left off the labels I'd never heard of :-)

I was afraid George would find this thread.

This is an area of real complexity, and unless you're really obsessive (like me, on occasion), I wouldn't recommend going there. It can drive you nuts. First of all you need really polarity-coherent speakers to hear consistent effects. My Gallo Reference 3s, unfortunately, fit that bill. Before I got them, I listened to the switched-polarity tracks on test CDs and couldn't hear a bit of difference. Now I can. Swell.

Roughly half the records and CDs out there were recorded in "normal" polarity and the other half in "inverted" polarity. Some labels are consistent -- DG, Mercury Living Presence, Riverside, and RCA tend to be inverted, while Philips, Columbia, Atlantic, and ECM tend to be normal. These are just examples.

Some discs have individual tracks in different polarity. One Richard Thompson LP has him "normal" and the back-up instruments "inverted," so I can pop him out or recede him into the mix depending on how I have things switched. I switch at the speaker inputs, using banana plugs, and yes it's a cumbersome pain in the butt.

Unlike you, I hear differences in the analog domain just as clearly as in the digital.

It was also in Ultimate Audio (article by Lars Fredell). I'll try to find it and post the specifics.

Here are most of the ones posted in Ultimate Audio (Summer 2000 issue):

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.

There are obviously many omissions. My experience generally agrees with these listings, at least in cases where I've tested and compared. IME, the most dramatic examples are on the DG (Deutsche Gramophone) label and particularly -- for no discernible reason -- with reel-to-reel tapes. Some of these are virtully unlistenable to me played with "0" polarity, yet quite decent in "180" polarity. YMMV, to put it mildly.

You should be getting a true polarity inversion through your VTL (despite the semantic polarity/phase confusion). What are your speakers? I recently heard Magnepan 3.6 and 20.1 speakers in a store demo where BOTH the (Levinson) CD player and preamp enabled polarity (phase) switching via their remotes, and couldn't hear a bit of difference switching either unit. The speakers must be really polarity-coherent to enable you to hear these effects consistently. Good luck, Dave

Sorry, can't help (don't know the speakers). My understanding is that the simpler the crossover, the better. And the drivers in the speakers must all be connected + to + (many aren't, intentionally). Dave