SIMPLE CONCEPT
      Ever since I began my quest for the best music replay I could obtain, keeping things simple was one of my criteria. Whenever I have stayed from that concept of simplicity in any audio system, the quality of music playback has suffered. The trick was in keeping my audio system simple without going so far as to compromise playback quality.
      47 Laboratory is a company with similar goals. They believe in simplifying all technology as "only the simplest can accommodate the most complex." It is their belief that graphs and charts only measure sound, and have very little to do with the actual quality of the sound---that is, the music, which is after all the objective. Music can most definitely become complex, but the reproduction of music does not have to be complex. 47 Laboratory seems to set on pushing the limits of simplicity while achieving optimal sonic results.
      They believe that one of the major hurdles to overcome in bringing music playback closer to reality is the ability to maintain the liveliness and the activity of the music. This means that the audio components must be able to track the rise and fall of the music signal with great precision. 47 Laboratory's philosophy is that the key to restoring the liveliness of the music is to minimize any storage of energy, be it mechanical or electrical.
      To control electrical energy storage, they minimize the number of parts in the circuitry of all their products as much as possible. Then, they shorten the signal pass length to the absolute minimum. They utilize compact, rigid chassis construction in an effort to minimize mechanical energy storage. They believe that damping materials and suspension systems merely cause delays in the inevitable transfer of mechanical energy and simply smear the music signal. Therefore, 47 Laboratory eschews the use of such things. Instead, any additional mechanical energy control is done through utilization of specific construction materials and grounding techniques.

SYMPLY NOT YOUR AVERAGE DIGITAL AUDIO
      The use of a DAC without ant filters and oversampling seems to be as simple as digital audio can get. You'd think that this is where digital audio should have started, or that someone would have tried it sooner. Yet, in every book I read about digital decoding, the 'rule' say that you need oversampling to beat down digital nasties. They say the same for filters. It's true that they say digital filters are better than analog filters, and from what I've heard, I can't argue with them there. This kind of response from the "experts" is especially true regarding 1-bit DACs. I don't know about charts, graphs and measurements, but I can argue with my ears.
      It has always strained my imagination to use the term digital audio to refer to music. While there have been times that CDs sounded good, "good" has always been a relative term, with certain limitations or stipulations. After all, the music is chopped up into myliad pieces and then brought back together. The last thing you would expect from digital music playback is smoothness.
      Yet smooth is the first word that came to mind when I listened to music played through the 47 Laboratory Flatfish CD transport/player and Progression DAC. This smoothness did not compromise the music in any way. On the contrary, it enhenced the enjoyment of the performance. This was quite evident when I listened to Lori Lieberman's Home of Whispers (Pope Music PM 1005-2). Her voice was without any trace of edge and sounded full and natural. The title track became not just lyrics against a back up band---it became a true glimpse of the secret emotions and events of one woman's life. "Roots and Wings", with the exquisite simplicity of Lori's voice against piano and cello, and then against the full glory of the choir, truly becomes, for the first time, a love song. The piano was reproduced with a continuity I have never heard with digital playback before. There was always an excellent sense of immediacy with the music in spite of the silkiness of it's treatment. There was still a wealth of detail and imaging was excellent. The mountain dulcimer sounded, for the first time, LIKE a mountain dulcimer. It was almost as if I were playing the dulcimer my father-in-law made for me; the system gave me the proper metallic twang to the strings and a touch of speed that came much closer to real than I have heard before with this recording. The most impressive thing about listening to this CD was that the emotion and mood of the music were well presented.
      This is the first CD playback system that I fully enjoyed without any caveats. The Flatfish transport and Progression DAC performed without compromise. They neither displayed the disjoined sound or edgeness so common in other solid-state design nor the glossy or bloomy sound of tubed systems. There was a full depth and sense of ambiance to performances like Jose Serebrier and the LPO performing Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (Reference Recordings RR-89 CD). The orchestra sounded natural with a huge sense of the recording venue. The strings sang out sweetly, the drums were dynamic and the horns had a very natural fullness to them. There was a great sense of speed whenever any type of percussive event took place. While the quickness and agility wasn't as good as it is with LPs, I never realized a CD could come this close to analog. Equipment with such speed and detail often has a clinical sound that causes the loss of the music's emotion and mood. This was not the case with the Flatfish/Progression combination; this setup was able to recapture the mood of the performance and portray the sheer drama of the music with aplomb.
      Timing was one of the Flatfish and Progression system's best features. The speed, beat and rhythm held together exceptionally well. These babies could boogie better than any ordinary high-end CD system. Natalie Imbruglia's Left of the Middle (RCA 07863 67634-2) sounded excellent on this system and had a high dance-ability factor. The music came alive with a nice flow of emotion, and it had a certain smoothness with flair. It was fun, lively and invigorating, and Imbruglia's unique vocal style was reproduced well.

SIMPLY MARVELOUS
      In case you haven't figure it out yet, I love the 47 Laboratory Flatfish CD player/transport and the Progression DAC. I've finally found a digital system that I truly enjoy without any qualifying factors. This system recaptures the liveliness, detail, sense of space, emotion and drama of recordings. The Flatfish and Progression harmonize to reproduce music so well that it satisfies one's emotional needs for music. If you live for music, the 47 Laboratory Flatfish and Progression are must have items. What else can I say.