CD mats group test

precisely aligned, as long as the

mat side faces down it’s ready to

go. The Marigo discs are precision

engineered, to the point where

they are self aligning, and as long

as you have them the right way up

then they work fine. So for

handling the Marigo and S.I.D. are

clear winners, followed by both

Ringmats picking up the rear.

S.I.D. Sound Improvement Disc

The vocals are

noticeably improved,

with far greater

depth and solidity,

the sound is far more

analogue and liquid,

likewise the soundstaging is

improved laterally, where there is a

slight improvement, but most

predominantly in depth. The stage

seems to go much further back,

driving instruments consistently

through the back wall.

Improvements can also be found in

solidity and space between the

musicians, not only making

individual images more palpable,

but giving more believable space

between the instruments. All of this

really enhances the feeling of a

three dimensional presentation.

Note extension and decay on

Prices quoted are correct at the time of print but are subject to change without prior notification. Manufacturers continually improve specification and design.

You spin me right round. . .David Allcock gets himself in a spin over the best ‘mat’ on the market !

Use & HandlingCD Mats are unusual in that you

handle them everytime you use

your CD player, so their handling

and usage are critical factors. The

Statmat II and Ringmat CDi Blue

need aligning in a specific manner

and their wafer thin polythene

construction makes them difficult

to manage on occasion. The S.I.D.

disc is easy to use, though a little

care is needed to ensure it is

Following the launch of two new mats from Marigo last issue

we thought it would be fun to do our first CD mat group test.

We’ve done this in the past with isolation cones and platforms

but never CD mats. Over to you David.

In the case of each supplier,

each manufacturer believes a

different problem needs

rectifying.

Ringmat

Developments

feel that static

build up caused

by the disc flying

around at several

hundred RPM is a cause of sonic

problems for CD’s, so their disc

uses a polypropylene film with

an electrically conductive ink

applied in a specific pattern and

to precise specifications to

disperse these static

charges. In the case of

the CDi Blue, there are

two discs used

sandwiched together at

a 90 degree angle. In

the case of the S.I.D. discs, these

both concentrate on damping

the disc and ensuring constant

reflectivity. CD’s and any 5” disc

for that matter, are not always

pressed perfectly concentric or

perfectly flat. Whilst these

variations are miniscule, once

the disc is spinning at high

speed this can cause the disc to

wobble and flap vertically, this is

enough to make the laser focusing

system work harder and increase

the error rate off

the disc. The S.I.D.

disc is

manufactured from

a damping material

designed to prevent

these vibrations

occurring in the disc, reducing the

workload on the laser focus

assembly and the usage of the

error correction system. The S.I.D.

disc is also maunfacured in green

material, this helps reduce laser

scatter and

absorbs red

light,

effectively

stopping

stray laser

light flying around the disc drawer

causing further errors. The Marigo

discs deal with all of the above,

using a more advanced damping

material as the main disc substrate

to damp the disc, whilst a special

coating on the mat absorbs stray

laser light in the drawer and an

embedded wire matrix disperses

static build up.

Technical – The Science Of Tweaking

“So for handling the Marigo and S.I.D. areclear winners, followed by both Ringmatspicking up the rear.”

acoustic instruments such as guitar

and piano are greatly improved,

this gives the impression that

the noise floor has

been lowered

further. In the

high

frequencies

there is a

removal of the slight edge which is

pervasive on many CD recordings.

The X-Ray V3 was a little less

responsive, especially in the area of

decay, though this was reversed

when the Tri Vista 21 DAC was

connected, suggesting that the

electronics after the transport in

the standard player are just not

letting the extra information

through. This is an effect which was

consistently noted whilst testing

the other CD mats here.

S.I.D. 14 or 15D-KEY-SIDSTD (14) £17.95

D-KEY-SIDTH (15) £17.95

Ringmat Statmat /CDiD-RIN-CDI £19.95

D-RIN-CDBL (CDi Blue) £39.95

Marigo Labs 3D matsD-MAR-3DST (Stealth) £59.95

D-MAR-SIG (Signature) £124.95

Test Equipment UsedFor CD Mat Review

To try and get the most relevant

results, I tried the CD mats on

a variety of CD players, acting

both as stand alone CD players

and transports to outboard

DAC’s. I used the Musical Fidelity

X-Ray V3, Inca Design Katana SE

and a Shanling SCD-T200

SACD/CD. All of the

aforementioned

players were used

as transports

to both a

Musical

Fidelity

TriVista 21

DAC and Perpetual

Technologies P-1A/P-3A

Signature upsampler/DAC

The discs under test come from Marigo Labs, Ringmat Developments

and S.I.D. (Sound Improvement Disc). S.I.D. supplied their model 14 and 15

discs, both selling for £17.95, but with subtle differences to the diameter of

the centre hole to suit different transports, one with a 14mm hole, the

other a 15mm hole. Ringmat Developments were represented by their

Statmat MKII (£19.95) and Ringmat CDi Blue (£39.95). The CDi Blue uses

two Statmat’s bonded together at 90 degrees to make a more rigid, better

performing disc. Marigo Labs represent two high end solutions, their £59.95

Stealth 3D CD Mat and £124.95 Signature version, rather misleading

titles as both these discs are designed to work on all 5” discs.

combination. The rest of the

system comprised a Krell KRC-3 pre

amp with Bryston 3B-SST power

amp and Martin Logan SL-3

speakers using Townshend Isolda

cabling throughout.

All mains power

was provided

by three

IsoTek Orions

with IsoTek Elite

mains cables.

depth were very subtle at best. This

resulted in a more elliptical

presentation instead of a

rectangular shape I’m accustomed

to. There was also slight

improvements in bass definition

and texture, with the start and stop

of percussion a little easier to

distinguish. The overall effect of

timing was better too. There seems

to be a very slight emphasis of

higher frequencies with this mat,

which is not necessarily a problem

with this player or system, but a

player with an inclination towards

slight brightness would do well to

avoid this mat.

Ringmat Developments

Ringmat CDi Blue

Like it’s smaller sibling, the CDi Blue

only brings about a small

improvement in the

vocals, but with

this mat there is

more

consistency than

with the Statmat.

The largest area of

change is in sound staging,

where the stage is now noticeably

wider with a far more extended

depth, the overall proportions are

also far more natural. The slight

emphasis of the high frequencies

noted with the Statmat are abated

with this disc, if anything now the

high frequencies sound smoother,

yet still detailed and resolving.

Marigo Stealth 3D

Despite its higher price the Marigo

seems to have moved playback up

to another level. Not only are

vocals brought forward into the

room, but they are far more

natural and liquid, the

presentation sounds far more

defined, heightening the

believability of the image. The bass

seems subtly more extended. The

tempo seems exactly the same, yet

there is more time between notes,

allowing far more information

about the instrument and the

technique of the musician to be

appreciated by the listener. In the

high frequencies there is very little

change, with the biggest

improvement being the reduction

of hardness and edginess to the

notes, much like what was achieved

with the S.I.D., without diminishing

the resolving capability of the

player.

Marigo Signature

The Signature mat improved upon

the Stealth in every way. Vocals

positively flowed into the room

from the speakers, even on the MF

X-Ray V3, which seemed less

sensitive to mat effects than the

Katana or the CDT-200, the vocals

were far more solidly rendered on

the soundstage than any of the

other mats. Even the Stealth 3D,

with a real palpability and body to

the vocal performance was

bettered. The bass opened up

significantly more than with any

other product here, allowing me to

hear right into the mix, now it is

easy to discriminate between the

sonic contributors of the overall

You spin me right round. . .David Allcock gets himself in a spin over the best ‘mat’ on the market !

analogue like, exhibiting

greater fluidity. The

soundstage walked

straight through my side

walls, with instruments

accurately focused beyond

the outer edges of the room,

populated with solid,

believable images whilst the back

of the stage extended beyond the

back wall. The spaces between the

instruments were far more clearly

“Despite its higher price the Marigo seems tohave moved playback up to another level.”

mix, and like the other mats here,

the noise floor was lowered, but in

this case significantly lowered,

allowing subtle decay details

otherwise buried in the noise floor

to be easily heard. The soundstage

was slightly larger, but it was in the

silence between the musicians that the

greatest change could be heard, giving

a sense of being able to walk amongst

the musicians. This mat really is quite

astonishing in every way.

and in some cases the mat has

improved the sound in a similar order

of magnitude as I would expect from

changing the disc transport. The

Signature took everything the Stealth

had done and elevated it to even

greater heights. When I first saw the

price of the Signature, especially after

hearing the Stealth 3D, I really

wondered whether Marigo could justify

the price jump with a commensurate

increase in sonic performance. I should

have known better, not only did the

improvement fully justify the price

increase, but it made drove home just

how compromised the transport

mechanisms are in all but the very best

players and transports. Whilst at the

lower end of the market, you could say

that the £129 of the Signature could

buy a better CD player, I’d suggest that

buying this mat would be a better

expenditure, as not only will this

purchase continue to deliver

improvements on any CD player you

upgrade to, but its improvements in

colour saturation and sonics when

used in a DVD player must not be

overlooked. This mats relevance to

even high end players was a surprise,

as you would expect more expensive

players to have a more heavily damped

transport, negating the effectiveness

of the mats, yet in my experience,

these players used the same or similar

transports to cheaper models, with

more expensive electronics being used

to improve transparency and

performance. I would unhesitatingly

recommend both the Marigo mats to

anyone interested in extracting the

very best from their digital sources,

they offer tremendous value. If the

editors think they’re getting the

Signature mat back, they’re wrong, this

one’s a keeper!

Conclusion

Ringmat Developments

Statmat MK II

The Statmat gave a very

slight improvement in vocal

presence, although,

supprisingly, I found

this inconsistent

between different

recordings. The largest

difference was soundstage, which

had more width, however

improvements in sound stage

Music Used In The Review

For the review David chose the following albums.

Dido: No Angel [Arista 74321-80268-2]*

Kraftwerk: Tour De France Soundtracks [EMI 591 708 2]*

Diana Krall: Girl in the Other Room [Verve SACD]*

Brenda Russell: Paris Rain [Hidden Beach Recordings EK 62138]

* Tracks marked by an asterix are available from Vivante. For more

information call Sean or Tim at Vivante on 01293 822 186.

There were a few results I was

not expecting here. The Ringmat

products, whilst having an

unparalleled reputation in

analogue, just didn’t seem to

offer the improvements

commensurate with their price.

The basic Statmat MK II fell short

of the performance of the

similarly priced S.I.D. disc, whilst

the more expensive Ringmat CDi

Blue, at twice the price of the

S.I.D., only just bettered the

cheaper mat. The S.I.D. disc

offers astonishing value, and I

would recommend this to

anyone with a CD, DVD or SACD

player, at its price it is an

audiophile bargain. I would go as

far as stating that anyone who

uses digital discs, either for video

or audio, needs one of these

mats near their player, that’s

how valuable I believe the S.I.D.

to be.

Finally to the high end Marigo

twins, the Stealth 3D and

Signature. The Stealth 3D is £20

more than any other product

here, yet I would suggest this

offers the best value of any disc

present, pushing my digital

replay standard to a far higher

standard than I’ve had in my

room so far, when used with the

TriVista 21 DAC, with either the

Katana or X-Ray V3 as the

transport. I was fully expecting

even the very best mat to be in

the order of a subtle change, like

changing between good quality

mains cables of a similar price,

but what I heard was a

difference much more in

keeping with changing the DAC,