Blind testing the Absolute Polarity of a Recording

Purpose

Does absolute phase matter? (not to be confused with wiring speakers out of phase with each other - see our Stereo Polarity Check).

Absolute phase means the preservation of signal phase all the way from microphone to loudspeaker, so that an instrument that sends a wave of positive pressure towards the audience/microphone is reproduced as a similar "push" from the loudspeaker (and the singer taking a deep breath, by the loudspeaker sucking in! ;-)

The audibility of preserving the absolute phase is a controversy that has rumbled on since the 1970s (an example here). You are the judge with this blind test!

Files under test

A monoral acoustic guitar, with its orginal and inverted polarity.

Original	Inverted

The Test

For each column, tick the appropriate radio button. When the 10 files have been all labeled, click the "Submit" button to get your score. Reload the page as often as you want to perform new tests.

Original
Inverted

If you didn't pass this test with a score higher or equal to 9, you possibly can't detect absolute polarity issues.

External Links

• Yet another lengthy discussion...