The wait is almost over for MQA fans. The new streaming service by Lenbrook will launch in May at Munich high-end. Key points include it will stream MQA content exclusively and not in partnership with HD-Tracks as previously announced.
Here is an interview with Mike Jbara the CEO of MQA Labs with details of the streaming service and the broader MQA digital ecosystem of products.
https://www.soundstagesimplifi.com/index.php/feature-articles/275-mqas-second-chapter
Thanks for the link. I skimmed through it.
Jbara wasn’t just referring to sound quality, but also to data efficiency, user experience, and cost. That’s a big reason why Lenbrook opted not to offer both FLAC and MQA content. “If we were going to replicate the industry’s catalog in both MQA and PCM, that was going to be a lot more expensive for us, and we’d have to pass that cost along,” Jbara explained.
I thought storage was really cheap these days, but I guess it depends on the context.
Also, I thought MQA was encoded as PCM, which can be further compressed into FLAC, reducing costs even more. Either they changed something, or there’s some technical confusion going on there.
Anyway, it looks like it’s going to be a 100% lossy streaming service, like Spotify (unless Spotify offers a lossless plan at some point).
I seem to remember that in the Tidal days, MQA was riding piggyback in a FLAC stream. Just like goods loaded into a container. To unload it you’ll needed an MQA decoder. Otherwise you would be presented with a FLAC file.
You are correct, on Tidal MQA files are delivered within a FLAC container. If you don’t have a MQA decoder it plays back at 16/44 resolution which made it compatible with anything that could play redbook CD resolution.
Any way you put it, it’s not FLAC or MQA.
Well seems to indicate that the new nodes still don’t actually play native DSD it’s converted to PCM now using the MQA code. Hilarious. They keep trying to sell this proprietary claptrap. Let it stay in Blusound and never darken any one else’s doors.
The best part of this, to my mind is it’s apparently going to be an MQA-only service, so those who aren’t fans need not sign up, or comment, leaving those of us who do like it in peace to enjoy, without being constantly trolled.
What’s the status of this new service? Is there a beta?
I haven’t heard anything other than the MQA Labs meetings in Munich were B2B focused and those who attended heard the new streaming service. So presumably it’s still in the works but no official launch date yet.
I wish there was news about lenbrook and hdtracks streaming service in development…
I still buy MQA tracks, as much as I buy DSD.
Well, for now we will have to keep waiting…
I forget where I heard this, but I don’t think HD Tracks is involved any longer.
I’ve also heard HDTracks is no longer involved.
I don’t know how label negotiations function but I’m going to naively assume HDTracks would have shortened time to launch due to existing contracts and relationships with all the labels.
I could be so wrong about this.
In the interview with Mike Jbara (link in original post) he states they are no longer partnering with HDTracks.
“Because of factors that were outside the control of either party, the partnership with HDtracks did not proceed,” Jbara told me. “We love those guys and we’re continuing to look for opportunities for things we can do together. Lenbrook is proceeding with launching a service.”
That’s a shame, because I remember hearing they were also planning on even giving DSD as another option for the streaming service, these would have been provided by HDTracks as well.