Audio Video News

MQA Music Encoding Tech Gains New Supporters

SV Staff  |  Oct 2, 2015

Mytek Digital and AudioQuest are the latest companies to support the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) technology created by Meridian founder Bob Stuart, which enables high-resolution music files to be streamed efficiently without sonic compromise. The technology has been adopted by the streaming service Tidal.

At the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF), which opens today in Denver and runs through Sunday, Mytek is introducing the Brooklyn USB2 DAC preamplifier/headphone amp ($2,000), which incorporates an MQA decoder.

“With MQA we see a potentially significant piece of the streaming puzzle about to be resolved,” AudioQuest VP Steve Silberman said. “It’ll be possible to stream rich uncompressed music under circumstances that would otherwise be impossible without this solution. Additionally, MQA achieves the ultimate goal—preservation of the music as the artists intended it to be heard.”

MQA-encoded files can be streamed or downloaded in existing lossless file formats, such as FLAC, and the technology is backwards-compatible with existing equipment, though an MQA hardware or software decoder is required.

Meridian’s Explorer² USB DAC and Prime headphone amp were the first MQA-compatible products. Pioneer, Onkyo, and Bluesound announced support for MQA earlier this year.

Bob Stuart is participating in two seminars at RMAF: “Streaming Audio: Preserving the Past, Protecting the Future” with Tidal’s Pal Bratelund today at 4:45 pm MT and “Legends of High-End Audio” tomorrow (October 3) at 2:30 p.m. MT.

COMMENTS
BradleyP's picture
Submitted by BradleyP on October 2, 2015 - 7:23am

There is no shortage of audio companies that have signed on to MQA, and now a streaming service. Great! Now, we just need record labels to sign on and open their vaults of treasured analog tapes and digit files to the MQA process. Until that happens, I'll curb my enthusiasm. Meridian will run out of gas quickly if they don't announce some record labels that have signed on. Still, my fingers are crossed.

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