MQA's game-changing breakthrough has arrived. On 9am UK time on May 6, 2016, Warner Music Group (WMG), whose vast catalog includes everything from the Beatles to Maria Callas, announced a long-term licensing deal with MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). The agreement makes it possible to digitize the entire WMG catalogue in the superior MQA-encoded format of various resolutions, and disseminate the files via download and streaming services in a far more efficient and user-friendly manner.
Up until now, MQA-encoded music files have only been available from a handful of small labels. These include Acoustic Music Records, Bauer Studios/Neuklang, Eudora Records, Jazz Arts, Personality Records, Mons Records, Ozella Music and Triplet Records, all available exclusively through HighRes Audio. In addition, 2L, Onkyo Music, e-Onkyo, 7digital, and Technics Tracks now make MQA-encoded music files available through their services. With the addition of Warner, one of the "Big Three" record labels in the world, music lovers can at last expect to see a huge amount of quality music in all genres available in MQA.
Bob Stuart, creator of MQA (above), received the news of the WMG signing just minutes before appearing at a press conference at Munich High End to introduce Brinkmann Audio's new Nyquist DAC (approx. $12,000–$13,000 US). Brinkmann's is one of the first DACs optimized for MQA streaming and playback. Standing before a roomful of representatives from publications around the world, Stuart barely raised an eyelash as he announced, in his characteristically soft-spoken manner, that the deal had just been sealed.
Stuart noted that as much as MQA is a technology, "it is also a mission." To paraphrase what he said rather quickly, our capacity to hear minute timing differences is central to our survival, because the sounds of nature give us cues as to what is going on in the environment around us. When those sounds are smeared, vital information is lost.
Stuart asserted that MP3s and even CDs push people into a corner where they are no longer listening to natural sounds. MQA changes all that. With MQA, engineers go back to the original recordings and ensure the timing information on them arrives at the ears in a natural manner. MQA removes the pollution of time smearing, giving us sounds as artists intended them to be heard.
In a press release issued by MQA, Craig Kallman, Chairman & CEO of WMG's Atlantic Records division, cited the other important aspect of MQA: the ability to convey PCM music files of all resolutions over the internet in a far more efficient and rapid manner. "The digital music era has been all about convenience," he said. "It is fantastic that we can listen to virtually any song, anywhere, any time. In that process, however, convenience has trumped sound quality, and we have gotten further away from the sound that artists work so hard to create. MQA makes hi-resolution music easy to stream or download to any device. Music fans will love it when they hear it, and WMG is thrilled to be partnering with MQA to take the next step in bringing hi-resolution music to consumers across the globe."
MQA's Bob Stuart (center) flanked by Helmut Brinkmann (left) and Matthias Lück (right) of Brinkmann Audio, shows off the new Nyquist DAC.
As of Munich High End 2016, we now have MQA-decoding available on Pioneer XDP-100R and Onkyo DP-X1 portable players, as well as DACs from Mytek, Brinkmann, Meridian, and all Bluesound BluOS-enabled wireless music systems. With Warner on board, it is far more likely that MQA-encoded streaming via Tidal, and MQA downloads from HDTracks, will come sooner rather than later.
