jvlgato
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2008
- Posts
- 285
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- 11
Can we hear absolute phase? If my speakers are in phase with each other, and I flip BOTH speaker leads so they are still in phase with each other, but now phase inverted from the original signal, is it humanly possible to hear that?
My CJ preamp phase inverts and the owners manual says that some people can hear this. They suggested trying to flip the speaker leads to decide which way sounds better. I believe I heard a difference and kept the speaker leads flipped (which put the resulting signal back to correct phase of the original).
I bought a pair of Stax headphones and headphone amp, liked the sound, but wanted the tube sound of my preamp. I figured I should phase invert again, but didn't know how. A fellow head-fier suggested reversing the phase of some interconnects and using those to connect the headphone amp to the preamp. I had technical problems and couldn't get it to make any sounds at all this way, plus heard some noisy switches and pots due to the sensitivity of the Stax, so brought the preamp in to get cleaned and checked out.
I told my audio repair guy the problem with hearing the phase inversion, and he says scientifically impossible, even though some audiophiles say they hear it, don't worry about it. He says you can hear it if one channel is out of phase with the other, but if left is in phase w/ right, it doesn't matter if the sound wave starts with a push or a pull. And with headphones especially, he says no way. He said he's worked in many recording studios, and no one cares about it, and they plug all kinds of stuff with whatever is lying around, and there is no thought given to phase, so the end result is that during recording, phase is all out of whack anyway.
I think I hear a difference in the initial attack of the instruments, and my owners manual suggests some people can hear it. What does the science say?
My CJ preamp phase inverts and the owners manual says that some people can hear this. They suggested trying to flip the speaker leads to decide which way sounds better. I believe I heard a difference and kept the speaker leads flipped (which put the resulting signal back to correct phase of the original).
I bought a pair of Stax headphones and headphone amp, liked the sound, but wanted the tube sound of my preamp. I figured I should phase invert again, but didn't know how. A fellow head-fier suggested reversing the phase of some interconnects and using those to connect the headphone amp to the preamp. I had technical problems and couldn't get it to make any sounds at all this way, plus heard some noisy switches and pots due to the sensitivity of the Stax, so brought the preamp in to get cleaned and checked out.
I told my audio repair guy the problem with hearing the phase inversion, and he says scientifically impossible, even though some audiophiles say they hear it, don't worry about it. He says you can hear it if one channel is out of phase with the other, but if left is in phase w/ right, it doesn't matter if the sound wave starts with a push or a pull. And with headphones especially, he says no way. He said he's worked in many recording studios, and no one cares about it, and they plug all kinds of stuff with whatever is lying around, and there is no thought given to phase, so the end result is that during recording, phase is all out of whack anyway.
I think I hear a difference in the initial attack of the instruments, and my owners manual suggests some people can hear it. What does the science say?
