[mosshorn]

Here's an interesting question for SS: Could an out of phase pair of CIEMs cause discomfort or even pain?
 
 
Backstory: I received my UERMs in a couple weeks ago. Being my first pair of customs, I only knew what to expect from reading others' opinions. Plugged in my cable and went ahead. Over the past 2 weeks, they started to become uncomfortable or fatiguing after even an hour or two. I just assumed it was my ears and have been dealing with it. 
 
An hour ago, I unplugged my cable to wipe down the shells, and noticed I had the cables plugged in incorrectly. Upon fixing them, they don't seem to be nearly as confusing and even the physical comfort seems to have improved. Am I just experiencing placebo, or could there be something behind this?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Yes, it does. Do you know anyone into car audio? Borrow a test CD that they use in sound quality competitions. There are many imaging tracks there that will help you figure out if your gear or your music lacks soundstage and imaging capabilities. One of the tests is an in-phase and out of phase recording. It will explain that the in-phase should be dead-center on the dashboard, while the out-of-phase will be "vague, diffused, and difficult to locate, blah blah blah." If you don't hear each as such (even with just the in-phase being slightly off to the left or right), you get point deductions. If the in-phase is all over the place and the out of phase is dead center, you're eliminated immediately because that means you suck at wiring considering you're joining a competition (that's basically like loading diesel into a gasoline car, or vice versa, as far as audio is concerned).

I think the most common would be the Focal Test Disc No.2, and then if you're in N.America then you have to borrow an IASCA CD, and in Europe and some parts of Asia, it will be an EMMA CD.