Since 2014 isn't over yet and I recently received "Dickens," Barrister & Mann gets my vote over my previous selections of Strop Shoppe and D.R. Harris. Lavanille is on order.
It's possible you have very hard water. Arko has EDTA, a chelating agent that makes lathering with hard water much easier. There are other soaps out there with EDTA, mostly from the bigs. Tabac is one, perhaps others know of others.
This year tried many good soaps/creams including Catie's Bubbles, Mike's Natural and MdC. The soap(croap) I go back to most often is Truefitt & Hill 1805.
I am quite new to the shave soap game and this web site. I have been using MWF and it lathers ok but nothing spectacular in my experience. I got caught up in the B & M Lavanille excitement and thought I'd give his soaps a try. Nice scent but the soap itself. Wow. What a proformer. Slick lather with lots of protection. I use a fusion and normally get a little razor burn. Not so with B & M soap.