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
To chime in with my experience. I just listened to the new mat myself as I'm interested in it for my master jazz CD burning. To start with, I just listened to it as playback and it clearly sounds more musical, more relaxed, than without. Very easy to hear. Not sure why or what the theory is but the sound is clearly better in my opinion. JH
Rob, would placing the mat under other gear make a difference, e.g., pre, TT etc?
This mat is designed to go over the CD when it loads into a player. As I understand it it does two things:

1.) Allows the laser a more accurate read of the pits in the CD.
2.) Reduced vibration at a microscopic level.

This new mat has to be properly oriented relative to the label printing on a CD as it is even dampening out micro vibrations that are caused by the printing on the CD label.
This mat is not thicker than a couple of sheets of paper, is the size and shape of a CD, DVD, or Blue-Ray. It is green on the top side and a flaked gold and green on the bottom side. Look it up on Music Direct's website and you will see a photo of it.

Here is the link:
http://www.musicdirect.com/p-61584-marigo-evolution-signature-cd-tuning-mat.aspx

I have done some burning on my computer using this mat both on original CD that I burned into my computer's music library, as well as using the mat on a recordable CD that was burned from the computer. The overall results are stunning with the copy sounding clearly better than the original, especially with that relaxed ease and sense of spaciousness around the performers. Again, for just $200 bucks this is a no brainer!
Can anyone with an OPPO CD/DVD tell me whether there’s enough clearance in the drawer mechanism and the drawer opening to safely add one of these discs? Thanks