MQA press release IFA 2017

Audio Gear Talk MQA
1

IFA 2017: MQA EXPANDS GLOBAL REACH ON SMARTPHONE, PORTABLE DEVICES & MUSIC SERVICES

London / Berlin, 31 August 2017 – Music technology company, MQA, announces a breadth of partnership news at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Developed for convenient delivery and unmatched audio quality, MQA technology will now be embedded in LG’s new V30 smartphone, the first globally available MQA-enabled handset. MQA music playback will also be available on the two latest portable devices from Sony’s iconic Walkman brand, the WM-ZX300 and WM-A40 models. Both portable players are capable of playing back downloaded MQA music.

Said MQA CEO, Mike Jbara, of the latest news, “Our announcements at IFA illustrate the global presence and diverse footprint of MQA. We’re inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of our partners to keep pushing the opportunities to access master quality audio.”

New MQA Streaming Partners

Korean-based hi-res streaming service, Groovers, has confirmed it is working on MQA mobile and desktop implementation for its platform, due to launch by the end of 2017. This follows recent news from b2b digital music solutions provider, 7digital, that it will be powering a forthcoming hi-res streaming service, HDmusicStream, using MQA technology to deliver studio quality audio.

Current live music download partner, nugs.net, offers thousands of on-demand concerts from artists including Metallica, Bruce Springsteen and Dead & Company. This autumn, the nugs.net HiFi tier will offer MQA streaming on iOS and desktop players.

MQA Music Availability Grows

Universal Music Group, the world-leader in music-based entertainment, is working closely with MQA to encode its vast library of recordings in MQA’s technology.

Further reinforcing MQA’s mobile footprint expansion, Pioneer and Onkyo will be showcasing TIDAL Masters mobile streaming on their latest Digital Audio Players, the XDP-30R and DP-S1 models, at the IFA trade fair.

Sonic Studio’s Amarra Luxe 4.1 media player, enabling all the benefits of the MQA experience for local playback and streaming of high resolution music, is scheduled for release in September 2017.

On the download front, Japan-based music store, e-onkyo music, has announced the expansion of their MQA music offering, with the addition of Warner Music Group’s hi-res catalogue in MQA, which will be available for the first time in the region in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Onkyo Music store, which serves Germany, UK and the US, will also be offering MQA music, as it rolls out a redesigned store front throughout September. Existing download stores, including HIGHRESAUDIO, continue to add more MQA music as it becomes available.

Hi-Res Keynote Features MQA

MQA’s CEO, Mike Jbara, will take part in a keynote discussion at IFA, organised by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) and hosted by Sony Electronics, on Friday 1 September at 14:00 [Hall 20 101]. “The Future of Hi-Res Audio” panel will also feature Morvan Boury (VP, Global Business Development, Sony Music Entertainment), Michael Drexler (VP, Digital Strategy at Warner Music), and Bill Gagnon (UMG’s SVP Business Development) as fellow panelists.

MQA will be supporting partner demonstrations at this year’s IFA, including new MQA hardware partner, iFi Audio, who will be showing their prototype micro iDSD Black Label DAC featuring MQA integration.

-Ends-

MQA Press Contacts lisa@mqa.co.uk | sarah@mqa.co.uk

Press Site for MQA www.mqa.co.uk/press

2 Likes
2

Great news! Especially iFi iDSD Black Label MQA integration and more mobile streaming and player options.

3

Not much announcement from major hardware manufacturers, streaming partners does not include big players like Spotify and Apple and other popular streaming service providers. Well it takes a long time before we can see any form of adoption or may be it will just a niche marketplace? Now waiting for Roon to support MQA… it going to be a long long time…

4

It is going on Sony players. That to me is significant because they together with Onkyo and Pioneer suggests acceptance in the Japanese domestic market.

1 Like
5

Actually there is more - Esoteric, TEAC, Technics.

1 Like
6

It is the portable aspect I was referring to as significant, the Walkman brand is a pretty big coupe.

1 Like
7

Sony Walkman no longer dominates the market like yesteryear, now the main players are Astell & Kern plus China made manufacturers like FiiO and iBasso. We have to wait for a few more years to see if there’s any up taking.

8

That thing spreads like the Chinese Chicken Flue Virus.
At least they try…

9

Guess who’s got two thumbs and just bought an iDSD BL that is not MQA upgradable?

10

Oh? Last I read they had decided against offering more MQA downloads.

11

I admit the reference to a “prototype” implies there’s a different iDSD BL model for MQA integration but are you sure the iDSD BL you own is not MQA upgradable?

12

Yes, at one point they said this: (which I assume to be no longer completely valid)

Current status:
https://www.highresaudio.com/en/mqasm

13

From an interview, I think in the Archimago Blog.
They sell just a handfull of MQA downloads, where the content is without doubt verified to be HiRes.

14

https://www.musicweek.com/digital/read/mqa-signs-global-deal-with-deezer/069660

15

Roon could add deezer as an altenative service to the hiphopster Tidal.
That would add real value.

1 Like
16

Deezer need to want to be part of Roon though. And ownership aside, is Deezer actually better as a service?

17

Warner’s parent owns Deezer so no surprise that they move into MQA.

18

Makes sense. Let’s see where this all goes then!

19

No idea if it is better.
But to have various choices is usually kind of a good thing.
And if you look at the numbers of Tidal, a second service which would be integrated in Roon makes even more sense.
For Roon, for the service in question and for us, the paying users.

20

Options are good. While I’m happy with Roon + Tidal, I’d like to have an option to Tidal… just in case.