Input Polarity

[hlucas]

Hi All,

I am using a DIYish streamer/dac with my SB Crack.

The DAC build instuctions says;

The ProtoDAC output polarity is inverted and thus a Polarity Inversion operation must be performed on the input signal so that correct +/- polarity is output to the loudspeakers.

A friend of mine said Crack looks already inverted and I don't need to configure polarity. Is it correct or does it matter?

Thank you!

 

[Thermioniclife]

No need to worry about it because your brain can not distinguish between compression of the ear drum from the outward excursion of a a speaker driver and the rarefaction or the loss of compression caused by the inward excursion of a speaker driver. The impotent thing to remember is mostly on loudspeaker connections to an amp. For example if one speaker is wired correctly, red to red and black to black, if you wire the other is wired red to black and black to red then you have an out of phase wiring of the 2 speakers causing cancellation of bass, midrange and treble.
Try this experiment on an amp with a balance control. Wire 1 speaker out of phase and the balance set to the center, listen and it will sound lousy, then turn the balance control either to the right or left and the bass will increase. Check it out.

[Karl5150]

Some say there is an audible difference with reverse polarity. Nelson Pass suggests reversing the polarity when using the NuTube preamp. I made a switch that allowed for such when using the NuTube or the Quickie. Personally I could not hear a difference. Rabbit hole on DIY Audio.

"When you invert the phase of the output of the Nutube to get correct phase, then you invert
the phase of the second harmonic as well, and now it becomes negative phase second.
This is often what we want, but not always. Routinely people describe negative phase
second harmonic distortion as having a deeper sound stage and a magnified illusion of
placement of instruments in that depth. Positive phase second harmonic distortion is often
described as more up close, intimate and perhaps more detailed." N.P.

Karl

[hlucas]

Thank you for your responses.

I don't hear any differences as well. I just keep changing it whenever I hear something odd to be sure it is not because of polarity setting

[Karl5150]

BTW I like your DAC 'rack'. Looks like a miniature Mapleshade rack, just machine the bolt ends to points and paint the nuts and bolt heads a brass tone...
 Enjoy!
Karl