Audio Video News

The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), in cooperation with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and The Recording Academy, announced today the results of their efforts to create a formal definition for High Resolution Audio, in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.

The definition is accompanied by a series of descriptors for the Master Quality Recordings used to produce the hi-res files available to digital music retailers. Usage of the descriptors is voluntary but the goal is to provide the latest and most accurate information to consumers.

High Resolution Audio is defined as “lossless audio that is capable of reproducing the full range of sound from recordings that have been mastered from better than CD quality music sources.”

The four Master Quality Recording categories are as follows:

MQ-P – From a PCM master source 48 kHz/20 bit or higher; (typically 96/24 or 192/24 content)
MQ-A – From an analog master source
MQ-C – From a CD master source (44.1 kHz/16 bit content)
MQ-D – From a DSD/DSF master source (typically 2.8 or 5.6 MHz content)

Recordings carrying these descriptors are intended to sound like the artists, producers, and engineers originally intended.