I was interested in this thread, especially after the other thread about preamp myths. I wasn't downstairs at the system where I could give things a really good listen until now.
So, listening on my JBL308s, I really couldn't hear a difference between the two. When I put on headphones, I could just hear the difference, but to be totally honest, it was more of a collapse of the soundstage, and a flattening, especially of the vocal. My preference would be the disabled version, it sounded more open and natural to me, but by the very slightest margin. That was flipping between the two takes.
Had I played them both but separateing the playback by , say 3 seconds, I doubt that I could reliably pick one over the other.
So, I thought, maybe if I put them on the big IMF monitors, I might hear a difference. On those speakers, if I listened REALLY closely, and flipped between channels I thought I might hear the very faintest of difference. Not having someone here who can flip between playbacks, I can't do a blind test.
Interesting, but I don't think I'll be pursuing that road any time soon.