Wasn’t sure where to post this because I’m not sure with component is the culprit. Track 6 on the Crosby Stills Nash & Young so far CD, Find the Course of Freedom, the guitar solo always starts in the Left channel. The other day I was listening and the channels were reversed, with the guitar solo starting in the right channel. Thought to myself how could this be. None of the pieces of equipment I have have the ability to swap the channels around. DMP directly into the DSD, then BHK 250. Then I started questioning my memory, thinking maybe the guitar solo always started in the right channel. Well today I played the same track again, and the guitar solo started in the left channel. WTF! Should I call a priest or PS audio tech support?
The Direcstream DAC lets you swap the channels using the “phase” setting - the default setting is “in”.
If that’s the case, then my phase setting isn’t working, as it doesn’t reverse the channels.
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This is for the absolute phase.
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The phase button is mislabeled: it should be polarity. It swaps the polarity of both channels (but not their positions.)
There was an insidious bug in earlier DS OS’s which could swap channels but it was fixed sometime before Huron (I don’t remember exactly when.) Now left and right go in parallel thru the signal processing chain so they can’t get swapped.
With I2S inputs it can happen if the polarity of the L/R signal is inverted, but that’s not an option with the DMP. So I don’t know what would be doing it.
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I’m not sure why I thought that the Phase button reversed the channels but I had to try it just to check and it doesn’t.
So presumably changing the polarity would achieve the same effect as reversing how you connect the terminals on your speakers - e.g. going from red on your amp to black on the speaker and vice versa, rather than connecting like with like as normal.
The weird thing is I’m not really sure I can tell a difference when I change it. There is a little pause but the music still seems the same to me.
I’ve had equipment in the past that would reverse absolute polarity, but I’ve never been able to hear a difference in the sound, including using the phase setting in the DSD.
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I didn’t hear much difference in the phase/polarity change until I got my system to the level it is now. Still, it’s only really evident with some recordings but man on some tracks its clear as day to me which I prefer.
Don’t worry about the in vs. out just go with what you prefer for each album or track