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The amazing new Marigo Evolution Signature Mat

I want to share my amazingly positive experience with the new Marigo Evolution Signature CD Mat. I have used Marigo's CD mats over the years from their very first offering, I believe about fifteen or so years ago. The Evolution Signature mat is the fourth iteration of the Marigo mat. Each successive "generation" had wrought positive improvements from my Mark Levinson Reference 31.5 transport. (While the top loading Levinson comes with its own CD clamp, I have ordered parts from Levinson and have made my own CD clamp, substituting their carbon fiber disk for your Marigo mat.) The latest Evolution Signature mat's improvement is so substantial that it is a larger "jump" in performance than from the standard Levinson clamp to the last generation "3D Signature V2" mat!
I hear a startling increase in the focus of imaging placement within the sound stage. The focus of everything in that sound stage is both tighter and possesses a three dimensional body that most digital simply lacks. Tone saturation is richer. The bass not only goes deeper, but is more tuneful as well. The highs are better defined and extended. The mid range is the icing on the cake. Voices are much better defined and clarified, combined with the improvement in density of tone and harmonic texture now sound shockingly real and alive. The sense of space and performance venue is greatly improved as well.

Overall the music has so much more of a relaxed quality to it similar to that of master tape analogue that allows me to simply listen to the music and not work as hard having my brain trying to connect the "digital dots". The increased resolution, focus, dynamics, detail, sense of space, articulation, and what I would call a "continuousness" of saturated tone, all combine to literally transform my digital playback to a level that I have never experienced before! I know that this must seem like hyperbole. The overall improvement is SHOCKING!

In the context of my high end system the $200 that I had paid for Evolution Signature mat that replaced the Reference V2 mat, was the cheapest money that I have ever spent for the most improvement in my system!

If anyone has a Reference V2 mat, they may be loathe to replace it, as it is most excellent. I can tell you from first hand experience, that the new Evolution signature mat is on a whole different and much higher level of sonic improvement.

For anyone has never tried a Marigo CD mat or any mat for that matter, this is the one to have. This is not just a simple "tweak", this is an essential and basically "give away" priced in terms of the substantial sonic upgrade that truly must be experienced to be believed. In the context of my high end audio system, this is making an improvement that I did not think possible and at a price that was ridiculously low. Based on my listening experience, this may be the biggest bargain in audio today!
coopersark
spectron
130 posts
 
Coopersark,

I did differenrt experiment with computer audio. I started to rip CD's with this mat and compare sound from ripped CD with and without this mat. Clearly CD ripped with mat sounded better albeit in somewhat smaller proprtion then using VOSR Transport=>DAC etc.

"Some people claim not to hear difference" - In my experience vast majority of people (audiophiles or not) have pretty well developed hearing - much better then vision for example (For vision we can discriminate about 10-11 bits (at best) of gray scale and for hearing easily 22 bits, may be more).

Still these poeple do not lie when they state that they canot hear the difference between A and B whatever A or B is. From my experience it means that their systems have high enough coloration in which shadow differences between A and B pale. Somebody posted hear that what $100k system you need $200 Mat to ... whatever. Author never tried in real life and/or does not understand that (assuming that $100k were spent on true high resolution hign fidelity system)that in this situation its much easier to hear minuscle changes, not to mention Ron Hedrick mat significant effects

All The Best
Simon
Simon
coopersark OP
16 posts
 
Simon --
I absolutely agree with you. I know that this may sound arrogant, but most guys in our hobby have never heard a truly resolving balanced audio reproduction system. Where are they going to do so? Not at an audio show, as the electric delivery is garbage and show condition room acoustics are terrible at best. Not at a dealer's showroom, ditto for electric and acoustics (unless the room has dedicated and distributed power and nothing else is in the room other than the system itself and a seat with no other electronics or speakers in the room - a combination that I have never experienced at a dealer anywhere). Not at most guy's homes either.

It is unfortunate that most audiophiles do not have a dedicated properly treated listening room with proper electrical distribution. Just the amount of real estate that is necessary to do this and the annual property taxes on that real estate make doing so prohibitive for most, let alone the additional construction cost of designing and building a proper listening room.

It is also unfortunate that most guys are chasing the "preamp of the month" as a salvation to audio nirvana, rather than treating their system (after all the magazines are about selling new product - the audio manufacturers are their major source of revenue through their advertising), its placement, loudspeaker size relative to the room, having the right type of amplifier to drive those loudspeakers with impedance matched components, vibration control (Marigo mat is part of that vibration control) and electric distribution to holistically achieve the desired sonic result. AND... you have to know the sonic result that you desire before you even start to assemble that system! What type of music do you enjoy? What volume levels? As reviewer Jonathan Valin describes...is one a "Fidelity to the master tape" listener, and "Absolute sound" listener, or a "Beauty of sound" listener. I know that I have achieved the "Fidelity to master tape" sound as the goal that I had set for my main system. I simply want to hear what was recorded, how it was recorded, and where it was recorded. I want to hear that recording "warts 'n all".

I only wish that I could have assembled a system like I enjoy for $100K. That doesn't even cover the real estate, design, and construction cost of my listening room. So when a product comes along that is priced no more than a meal with my wife at a fine restaurant, a product that elevates the enjoyment and immersion of my passion, music, to an unheard of level of refinement, I had to share my discovery with others. If they can't hear the difference, or worse, are too skeptical to try it, and judge the result for themselves, that is their loss. It is also a shame. It is unfortunate that there are so many music lovers and audio hobbyists that will never be able to hear what is capable in the art of sound reproduction.
badwisdom
145 posts
 
Spectron,

with all due respect, that is pure and utter bull****.

A ripper, extracting a digital stream from a transport, sees 0 and 1s with error detection algorithms.

You could sit an elephant on your transport and if it could support it there would be NO CHANGE in your rip.

Come on guys, wheres you common sense ?,???
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Didn't the bits is bits theory die a gruesome death about 20 years ago?
budt
157 posts
 
Coopersark
The more you post about this little $1 or $2 rubber disc the more you come across as a shill. I don't know if you are or not but it certainly has crossed my mind a few times.
Also, bragging about the cost of your room/setup comes across as though you are an arrogant a-hole....I'm not saying you are but the thought crossed my mind a few times as I read your last post....
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