Lavardin memory distortion theory - serious science or marketing?

[MEGB1262]

Hi audio science enthusiasts,

i have found an old post in the DIY Audio Forum:

Memory distortion, crap or serious?

Is this crap or serious? I can’t make anything of it ... http://www.lavardin.com/techE.html http://www.lavardin.com/aesE.html#AES Cheers ;)

www.diyaudio.com

my favorite answer is the post with this comment

"i vote for serious crap"

but after 14 years some other guys found the post and voted also for "serious - no crap"

the basic theory is on the web site of Lavardin

Lavardin Technologies audio systems

Lavardin amplifier, a truly innovative audio amplifiers based on a revolutionary Memory Free amplification technology. Lavardin amplifiers are the most ambitious and innovative product in the world of audio

lavardin.com

i am no nuclear physicist and cannot judge that, that goes deep into semiconductor theory

i found the comment after looking the nice fotos of the "wonderful" german hifi magazine "image hifi" 03 / 2025 of Uwe Kirbach where the Lavardin ISx has been tested and the testing device named "revelation of the quarter" - every quarter they have some kind of revelation with her tests indeed

any comments from "serious science" to "marketing hype" are welcome, thanks in advance for your interest

- Stefano

 

[antcollinet]

Hi audio science enthusiasts,

i have found an old post in the DIY Audio Forum:

Memory distortion, crap or serious?

Is this crap or serious? I can’t make anything of it ... http://www.lavardin.com/techE.html http://www.lavardin.com/aesE.html#AES Cheers ;)

www.diyaudio.com

my favorite answer is the post with this comment

"i vote for serious crap"

but after 14 years some other guys found the post and voted also for "serious - no crap"

the basic theory is on the web site of Lavardin

Lavardin Technologies audio systems

Lavardin amplifier, a truly innovative audio amplifiers based on a revolutionary Memory Free amplification technology. Lavardin amplifiers are the most ambitious and innovative product in the world of audio

lavardin.com

i am no nuclear physicist and cannot judge that, that goes deep into semiconductor theory

i found the comment after looking the nice fotos of the "wonderful" german hifi magazine "image hifi" 03 / 2025 of Uwe Kirbach where the Lavardin ISx has been tested and the testing device named "revelation of the quarter" - every quarter they have some kind of revelation with her tests indeed

any comments from "serious science" to "marketing hype" are welcome, thanks in advance for your interest

- Stefano

Even if there were such a thing as "memory distortion" it would show up in the measurements carried out here where Amir measures.... distortion. Those measurements. repeatedly show that valve based products have significantly higher distortion than solid state.

So basically his argument is nonsense.

As is his argumnet that (conveniently for him) it is not possible to measure these things. There is nothing we can hear, that can't be measured. The fact that he states otherwise is the clearest indication that what he is saying is nonsense, and, more importantly, that he knows it is. Which makes him also a charlatan.

 

[kemmler3D]

Apparently current hysteresis in transistors is real and it's true that not all modes of distortion are revealed by sweeping tones. Even so, it's hard to say what audio distortion they're even claiming to remove. "Memory" or hysteresis in circuits doesn't necessarily show up in the audio signal.

As @antcollinet mentions, we can measure anything audible, and if they are able to concretely show an audible difference, why don't they?

There's not enough here to say whether their claims are true or even plausible, which tends to be indirect evidence that the claims are crap.

 

[Mart68]

As is his argumnet that (conveniently for him) it is not possible to measure these things

If it can't be measured how does he know that it's a problem and how does he know that he's fixed the problem?

 

[Mnyb]

If it can't be measured how does he know that it's a problem and how does he know that he's fixed the problem?

The gurus would now by using their ears what a terrible method of developing circuits , if you cant measure, the math and other usual tools cant work either . So you swap component and sagely listen to it

 

[Mnyb]

It's a classic audiophile trope . Invent a "problem" spread the FUD , and coincidentally you also happens to sell a products that fixes the "problem"

 

[JayGilb]

It's a classic audiophile trope . Invent a "problem" spread the FUD , and coincidentally you also happens to sell a products that fixes the "problem"

Your comment is the exact template used by all high end cable manufacturers. It’s always a head scratcher when reading their literature.

 

[Francis Vaughan]

Just about every component you can think of suffers from a host of second order effects that make them less than perfect. Hysteresis being a manifestation of some of them. There is nothing new in that. Designs of actual systems always work with the real components, not perfect abstractions. That is simply what engineering is.

I remember the diyaudio thread when it first appeared. Agree with the comments still. No numbers, no measurements, no science. Pure snake oil.

 

[MEGB1262]

Hello audio science enthusiasts, thanks a lot for the feedback

in a German forum a member pointed to a document, PDF is the attachment

the first comment in it:

Copyright Advice : I first heard of this in a patent from a French designer named Gérard Perrot so Thanks to him.
He owns intellectual property on some of the circuits.
Fortunately this only concerns commercial matters and DIYers can't get sued from building stuff at home, even if it is patented by other people...

hope that this is still interesting, Stefano

 

[Mnyb]

If you read further into lavardins decades old claims you will have the usual "negative feedback is bad" speil and the actual products will have copious amounts of normal distorsion ( at least when they appeared on the market 30 years ago ) just forget the whole brand ...