Master-Ful Move
Think that decent hi-fidelity audio was lost with the demise of vinyl?
Frustrated at having the woofers and tweeters to get top-notch noise into your living room if only you could actually buy it these days?
Then you will be cheered by the emergence of MQA.
Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) is a new approach to digitising music that retains more of the original sound and is said to deliver a ‘better than CD’ quality.
New algorithms have been introduced to retain greater detail, and thus sound depth, in the same number of bits and bytes.
In an age where consumers are migrating away from music purchase towards streaming on demand, this is even more important.
Without high levels of buffering and delay, bandwidth limitations significantly impact sound reproduction when streaming over the Net. Those who have listened to tracks recorded with MQA say it streams with a far richer result than with current techniques.
Commercially, MQA is on the cusp of taking off.
Recent signings have triggered predications that it will become the new standard for digital recording.
Last week, Warner Music became the first big industry player to mail its colours to the MQA mast, leading to expectations that others will follow.
Once MQA penetrates the market, though, hi-fi buffs will need the kit to exploit it, whether they download tracks or stream them.
The first MQA-ready phones have been announced and your MP3 player will need to make way to one of the new MQA players.
Even then, though, that deeper, richer sound will not be drawn from an external speaker that was built for the now closing, era of ‘tinny digital’.
