Essential Install | MQA
MQA Joins The DEG And
Gets Set For Expansion
High-quality music format Master Quality Authenticated (MQA)
looks set for a big 2017, with membership of the DEG in the bag
and strong ambition to spread adoption of its format.
Bob Stuart explains
how MQA takes a
radical new look at
how sound is turned
into digital to create
a cleaner, more
natural experience
Invented by Meridian founder, Bob Stuart, MQA uses
breakthroughs in neuroscience and the understanding of
how humans perceive sound in an effort to more closely
match the natural world and what was heard when the
music was recorded.
Evolutionary wise, it was very important for humans to not
just be able to hear sound, but to hear from which direction
it was coming from. Hearing a lion’s footsteps behind you,
is much more useful if you know from what direction they
are coming. As sound reaches the ear, microseconds apart,
the human brain builds a 3D ‘image’ of the world. When
humans witness a live performance of music, the same thing
is happening, this is what MQA tries to capture.
When an analogue sound is converted into a digital
signal, the makers of MQA say temporal ‘blurring’ occurs,
making it harder to tell ‘where’ individual sounds are
coming from. MQA is able to ‘clean’ out the distortion
and uses a process dubbed ‘Music Origami’ that makes
a large 24-bit file manageable and compatible to any
service or playback device. Listeners should notice a
difference on any ‘normal’ playback device, but when
an MQA compatible decoder is added, the format can
really-deliver the full experience.
Crucially, it does this with a data rate of under 2Mbps,
only a little larger than that required for a CD-quality file,
so it’s small enough to download easily and stream. Music
from analogue, PCM and DSD masters can be MQAencoded and placed inside any lossless-audio ‘container’
such as FLAC, ALAC or WAV.
As well as spreading its word via services such as
Tidal, MQA has recently joined the Digital Entertainment
Group (DEG). Spencer Chrislu, director of content
services, explains the significance: “The DEG has long
been associated with promoting high-quality video to the
consumer on a global basis, so it’s great that we are now
able to partner with them in promoting high-quality audio.
The next really visible part of this campaign will happen
at the CES show in Las Vegas early in the New Year with
lots of activity planned to show consumers what the
technology can do.”
Speaking at the time of the DEG announcement at
the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, MQA CEO Mike Jbara,
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