Is phase control switch a deal breaker for you?

I have it on my Wyred 4 Sound Dac2 and Integrated amp. I can almost always hear a difference on my recordings and have a preference one way or the other for a given recording. I switch from the listening seat via the remote so I don't need to get up and down and the reversal is instant. Since the reversal is done in the digital domain, I don't think it affects the sound quality at all.

I have another "more pure" system without polarity reversal and I really miss having polarity reversal in that system.

My Dacmagic has a polarity switch...don't use it much but I can tell the difference when I switch it. It's polarizing.

In all of my years in the audio hobby I have only had
a phase switch once. It is on my recently acquired Octave
jubilee preamp. I have experimented several times
and have concluded it makes a difference on certain
material. For example, I was playing an LP
that I thought sounded kind of thin and closed in
Now for most of my lp's, they do not exhibit this
anomaly. This one LP did and I reversed the phase
on the preamp and what a difference. Generally speaking
most music can be played back without thinking about
phase settings. Every once in a while you come
across a situation where you wish you had or
just carry on. The fact that I did not use a phase
switch before does not mean that I do not
want it when I need it. It is like having a spice
or something of that nature. You probably could live
without but if you had, use it. So, a phase switch
is not a deal breaker for me, but, since I have
found usefulness in having one, I may be more
Inclined to seek out that option in any future
upgrades, which at this point I do not see happening
to soon.

Viridian, I can't speak for all preamps but on our preamps the phase switch is very simple, as our preamps are internally balanced. So to do the phase reversal requires no circuitry other than the switch itself.

I have found that the switch does not have much use unless you are listening to a fairly pure recording- one that is done with a minimum of microphones (hopefully only 2 and if there is a third it is the center channel). Then the difference can be quite noticeable. I've not found the speakers to play a huge role in this.

Ralph, you need to immediately send me one so that I can verify your outlandish claims; please contact me off board for my shipping address.

Seriously Ralph you always educate me, and I would have no reason to think that it is not exactly as you say it is. In fact, it's funny that you join in, I was just looking at a picture of you in Positive Feedback Vol 7, No. 4, page 37 from Spring of '98, when you were young and still.....handsome in a bolo tie wearing sort of way.