Visit to Mike Lavigne's house

I visited Mike Lavigne's house on Feb 17, 2024.

The main purpose is to compare the sound through top digital and vinyl sound.

Mike has Esoteric T1 turntable which sounds very nice with magnetic gravitaion and option of external clock to control servo motor.

I had listened to Goebel Marquis speaker driven by Esoteric Amps and T1 turntabl during Seoul Audio Show 2023 which was very musical.

On the other hand, Goebel Divin speaker driven by Ch Dac and amps sounded rather cold and dry.

I quit vinyl on 1988.

But during three audio shows that I attended recently ( Pacific Audiofest 2022, 2023, Seoul Audio show 2023), I found rooms playsing vinyl tend to give more natural and musical sounds.

Mike also has Wadax Dac and servers whose retail price is more than 300k$.

I had listened to Wadax Dac and server twice before.

First encounter was at dealer's show room (Ed Devitto).

After doing home audition of Ideon Absolute Dac, we did side by side comparison of Ideon and Wadax over there using Magico M2 speaker drivn by Constellation amps.

I got very favorable opinion on Ideon Absolute Dac after home auditon for one week, but Wadax is clearly in another league with natural but somewhat mystical tonality.

I had another chance to listen to Wadax during Pacific Audiofest 2022.

Goebel Divin speaker driven by Wadax Dac and CH amps sounded very musical and dynamic.

About five years ago, I had done comparison between MSB Select II and Kronus turntable at dealer's showroom.

YG Sonja speaker was driven by Viola amps.

The results showed that MSB Select II could match the musicality of vinyl playback.

As good as MSB Select II is, I got the impression that Wadax is another league above MSB Select II .

MIke also upgraded from MSB Select II to Wadax around 2 years ago.

We played vinyl Beethoven Symphony No 9 directed by Solti through Esoteric T1 first.

It sounds very musical and dynamic through his Evolution MM 7 speakers driven by Dartzell pre and main amps.

No limitation of dynamics and bass with pure tonality.

As well known among audiophile community around Seattle, Mike's system is top notch.

Then we searched same recording through Roon and played through Wadax.

Wadax could match vinyl in every respect. without suface noise.


We also played Misty sung by Ella Fitzerald thorugh vinyl and Wadex.

The result is more or less same.

It seems that vinyl gave slightly more depth but the difference is rather minor.


We also played Chopin piano concerto played by Marth Argerich thorugh vinyl and Wadex..

This time suface noise bothered me slighty but not enough to enjoy music.

We also played Liberty by Anette Askvik thorugh vinyl and Wadex.

To conclude, Wadax match themusicality of th vinyls played throudh Esoteric T1 without surface noise.

Liberty Wadax

youtu.be

On the other hand, it did not overwhelm the sound of vinyl.

Vinyl played throudh Esoteric T1 sounds almost equal to Wadax and sometimes with little bit more of soundstage depth.

Overall I enloyed 2 hours at Mike's dedicated listening room.

His system gave unlimited and natural bass and dynamics with pure tonality.

The only nitpick is that the soundstage depth coud be more if speaker could breath in larger space.

I had got similar impression when I auditioned Magico M9 at Seoul Korea last November.

The dealer's showroom happened to be almost same size as Mikes( 20ft w 29ft d 11ft h)

But I would not down size speakers if I were Mike.

He will miss unlimited bass and dynamics.

The bass was very clean with no overhang.

Thanks Mike for his hospitality as friendly guest.

 

Many thanks for the wonderful report. May I ask which cart was on the T1 and also which phonostage was being used? Many thanks

 

Many thanks for the wonderful report. May I ask which cart was on the T1 and also which phonostage was being used? Many thanks

Mike shall give answer to your questions.

 

The only nice thing is I could enjoy misic with my humble system despite having gone through his phenomenal system

 

The only nice thing is I could enjoy misic with my humble system despite having gone through his phenomenal system

I like your system. It's much neater than my system.

 

I like your system. It's much neater than my system.

Wow!

My system is a mess thus I need to tidy up.

But it still sounds decent.

 

thank you Thomas, for taking the time to post about your visit. I enjoyed our session and appreciate your very serious approach to our hobby.

it's great especially to meet local audiophiles.

I will point out about the Wadax, that recently I acquired a Wadax Reference Server power supply which made a huge 'like vinyl' uptick by many degrees to my digital. I'll not comment any further but wanted to point that out as a part of the Wadax performance.

Many thanks for the wonderful report. May I ask which cart was on the T1 and also which phonostage was being used? Many thanks

we switched back and forth from the Durand Tosca arm/DaVa Ref cart and the Primary Control FCL/Etsuro Gold cart both into EMIA Silver SUT's and the EMIA Phono Corrector.

 

Wow!

My system is a mess thus I need to tidy up.

But it still sounds decent.

Well, mine is a mad scientist's audio lair. I think that's an excuse, or just maybe just mad. Once the music starts, all systems are gray in the dark? It pretty much disappears.

 

"I visited Mike Lavigne's house on Feb 17, 2024.

The bass was very clean with no overhang.

Sounds like it on the video(s). The lower registers are THE hardest thing to get right IMO/IME.....and then to get them to blend to the rest of the system seamlessly.

Well done, Mike....well done.

Tom

 

Nice system. I really enjoyed the musical selections. Thanks for sharing.

 

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I visited Mike Lavigne's house on Feb 17, 2024.

The main purpose is to compare the sound through top digital and vinyl sound.

Mike has Esoteric T1 turntable which sounds very nice with magnetic gravitaion and option of external clock to control servo motor.

I had listened to Goebel Marquis speaker driven by Esoteric Amps and T1 turntabl during Seoul Audio Show 2023 which was very musical.

On the other hand, Goebel Divin speaker driven by Ch Dac and amps sounded rather cold and dry.

I quit vinyl on 1988.

But during three audio shows that I attended recently ( Pacific Audiofest 2022, 2023, Seoul Audio show 2023), I found rooms playsing vinyl tend to give more natural and musical sounds.

Mike also has Wadax Dac and servers whose retail price is more than 300k$.

I had listened to Wadax Dac and server twice before.

First encounter is at dealer's show room (Ed Vitto).

After doing home audition of Ideon Absolute Dac, we did side by side comparison of Ideon and Wadax over there using Magico M2 speaker drivn by Constellation amps.

I got very favorable opinion on Ideon Absolute Dac after home auditon for one week, but Wadax is clearly in another league with natural but somewhat mystical tonality.

I had another chance to listen to Wadax during Pacific Audiofest 2022.

Goebel Divin speaker driven by Wadax Dac and CH amps sounded very musical and dynamic.

About five years ago, I had done comparison between MSB Select II and Kronus turntable at dealer's showroom.

YG Sonja speaker was driven by Viola amps.

The results showed that MSB Select II could match the musicality of vinyl playback.

As good as MSB Select II is, I got the impression that Wadax is another league above MSB Select II .

MIke also upgraded from MSB Select II to Wadax around 2 years ago.

We played vinyl Beethoven Symphony No 9 directed by Solti through Esoteric T1 first.

It sounds very musical and dynamic through his Evolution MM 7 speakers driven by Dartzell pre and main amps.

No limitation of dynamics and bass with pure tonality.

As well known among audiophile community around Seattle, Mike's system is top notch.

Then we searched same recording through Roon and played through Wadax.

Wadax could match vinyl in every respect. without suface noise.


We also played Misty sung by Ella Fitzerald thorugh vinyl and Wadex.

The result is more or less same.

It seems that vinyl gave slightly more depth but the difference is rather minor.


We also played Chopin piano concerto played by Marth Argerich thorugh vinyl and Wadex..

This time suface noise bothered me slighty but not enough to enjoy music.

We also played Liberty by Anette Askvik thorugh vinyl and Wadex.

To conclude, Wadax match themusicality of th vinyls played throudh Esoteric T1 without surface noise.

Liberty Wadax

youtu.be

On the other hand, it did not overwhelm the sound of vinyl.

Vinyl played throudh Esoteric T1 sounds almost equal to Wadax and sometimes with little bit more of soundstage depth.

Overall I enloyed 2 hours at Mike's dedicated listening room.

His system gave unlimited and natural bass and dynamics with pure tonality.

The only nitpick is that the soundstage depth coud be more if speaker could breath in larger space.

I had got similar impression when I auditioned Magico M9 at Seoul Korea last November.

The dealer's showroom happened to be almost same size as Mikes( 20ft w 29ft d 11ft h)

But I would not down size speakers if I were Mike.

He will miss unlimited bass and dynamics.

The bass was very clean with no overhang.

Thanks Mike for his hospitality as friendly guest.

awesome report. Mike has many text based feedbacks from listeners, but this is the first video report of the room. We can say that Mike has finally arrived on the audio scene!

 

Yes, very interesting to hear Mike's systems on a youtube video, so thanks for allowing that to happen, Mike. Happy to have large orchestral+choir as an example ... a change of pace from most system videos. I understand those are Solti/Beethoven. Are they the same recorded performance? They sound quite different.

 

Yes, very interesting to hear Mike's systems on a youtube video, so thanks for allowing that to happen, Mike.

Wow, didn't think of that. It is a first?

 

Wow, didn't think of that. It is a first?

I'm somewhat sure that Mike has not posted any here.

 

Great to hear Mike system. it is gorgeous.

I wonder what the MSRP price is for both complete sources. I suppose that the vinyl one is half the price of the digital one

 

Wow, didn't think of that. It is a first?

there is one Ella video Mike had posted which is on the female vocals thread. People will forever be left wondering if I released any underground

 

Mesmerizing. Thank you to Thomas for taking all that time, and thank you to Mike for graciously opening his home/system to everyone to 'hear' for the first time. Wow...what a remarkable reference!

 

Thank you for allowing the videos Mike and to Thomask for the report. Do you guys think the videos capture and represent well the sound in the room? To me, the videos sound very good but quite different from each other. The written description is that they sound similar with a slightly greater soundstage depth for the vinyl. The videos indicate more difference than that to me.

Thomask, you mention the quality of the bass standing out. Did you listen to the other turntables?

These are very nice words: “His system gave unlimited and natural bass and dynamics with pure tonality.”

 

Hello Mike, many thanks for the feedback. I suspect you meant Etsuro Gold rather than Esoteric gold? Happy listening.

 

Thank you for allowing the videos Mike and to Thomask for the report. Do you guys think the videos capture and represent well the sound in the room? To me, the videos sound very good but quite different from each other. The written description is that they sound similar with a slightly greater soundstage depth for the vinyl. The videos indicate more difference than that to me.

Thomask, you mention the quality of the bass standing out. Did you listen to the other turntables?

These are very nice words: “His system gave unlimited and natural bass and dynamics with pure tonality.”

Cellphone video will not capture exact sound.

But it wil give rough glimpse of sound.

Thus it is better than nothing.

With limited time, I asked Mike to play just Esoteric.