Lenbrook who also owns BluOS, NAD and PSB acquired MQA.
MQA sounds fantastic on my NAD streaming devices, I was kind off sad to hear that MQA was not doing well. After rain comes sunshine and so for the MQA team and all MQA compliant DACs and streamers out there, which are a lot.
That is interesting news!
I remember when buying a NAD pre one of the selling points from the salesperson was its MQA capacity. With Lenbrook behind it, sounds as if MQA will stay in place. Good news for those who like the option of playing in MQA
I think Lenbrook bought MQA for SCL6 (MQair) but who really knows.
John Darko has an interesting opinion piece on the purchase.
Read about it earlier today. Purchased the assets which have been in receivership. Now Lenbrook’s problem. Read the continuing, silly debate over lossy versus lossless versus whatever it really is on the Stereophile chat board. Sheez. The fact nobody can even agree what it is is testament to what a snowjob the ‘technology’ is. Abetted by an aggressive campaign to snuff out criticism of what it is actually doing.
So glad I have zero investment supporting that albatross.
But it clearly sounds better!!!
(LOL)
For internet radio with my NAD devices the improvement is audible. I like the MQA radio options.
I trust for TEAC, NAD, Technics price level audio equipment MQA is a very good match. Most DAC chips have the MQA unfolding built in. I guess affordable brands have much higher turnover that allows them to actually utilize it.
For custom DAC solutions of high end manufacturers MQA complicates things too much. Thus maybe the tendency to underrate MQA’s SQ.
My take on the Lenbrook deal is:
Lenbrook has been making deals with third party streaming equipment manufacturers to roll out BluOS to other hardware. Allowing consumers who bought MQA compatible equipment to actually utilize that option BluOS will become the way to do it. This deal is a win for all those hardware manufacturers, BluOS and the consumers.
Yes Lenbrook need to make MQA multi platform for it to survive. If they can also do this with blue OS it will give roon some much needed competition. However streaming services will be the stumbling block now that Tidal have ditched MQA.
What do we think of the recent press release regarding MQA?
JUNE 5, 2024, TORONTO, ONTARIO CANADA – Lenbrook Media Group (LMG), specialists in high resolution audio, has announced a suite of products from the newly formed MQA Labs that bring audio processing enhancements across the music supply chain. AIRIA by MQA Labs™ (also known by its technical name, SCL6) delivers high resolution audio while seamlessly scaling from full lossless to very lossy rates. FOQUS by MQA Labs™ represents an innovative approach for analogue to digital conversion. QRONO by MQA Labs™ brings a variety of audio processing enhancements within playback devices. These technologies are expected to debut in a variety of licensee products before the end of calendar 2025.