Bluesound Announces MQA Partnership at CES 2016

5 January 2016

lossless high-res streamingCES 2016 Las Vegas, NV January 4, 2016Bluesound, a leading brand of wireless, high-performance multi-room digital audio, announces a technology partnership with MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) to offer studio quality sound exactly as the artist intended. Bluesound will be unveiling a “proof of concept” at CES, equipping one of its most popular digital players with technology that unlocks the full richness of MQA. The live demonstration will be available at Bluesound’s suite at The Venetian throughout CES.

Using pioneering scientific research into how people hear, MQA technology captures the full magic of the original studio performance. MQA is a revolutionary end-to-end technology that delivers master quality audio in a file that’s small enough to stream or download and because it’s fully authenticated, listeners can be sure they are hearing exactly what the artist recorded and approved in the studio. MQA is the first technology to capture this crucial timing information – to transport the listener to the original performance.

Bluesound is a smart music system of audiophile-grade wireless speakers and digital players that allow you to stream your entire music collection, or from many online streaming services, to every room in your home with the intuitive control of a full-featured smartphone, tablet and desktop app. No matter where music is streamed from – a computer, a Vault, a NAS drive, a USB drive, via Bluetooth or straight from the cloud (or all of the above) – Bluesound places the utmost importance on music integrity and has spared no expense in the development of custom hardware and software to ensure that the digital signal remains true to the artist’s original recording. Combining leading digital audio technologies and striking design with radical new thinking, Bluesound products have created an exciting audio revolution.

“Music is important to us all, and being able to connect listeners with the artist’s original studio recording through Bluesound is incredibly exciting,” said Bob Stuart, MQA’s creator. “Never before have listeners been able to enjoy MQA’s studio quality music like they can with Bluesound’s line of wireless multi-room speakers and digital music players.”

“MQA is at the very forefront of digital audio, and we’re proud to lead the way for wireless multi-room systems to support MQA’s lossless audio files,” said Greg Stidsen, Bluesound Director of Technology and Product Planning. “Fusing Bluesound’s proprietary BluOS software and advanced audio architecture, with MQA’s scientific approach to digital processing, makes it possible for listeners to stream authentic Studio Master recordings in real time with enhanced audio quality.” Mr. Stidsen went on to add, “Existing Bluesound products, including first generation, will be upgraded to be MQA-ready via a firmware update, at no charge.”

In addition to the Bluesound MQA demonstration, parent company Lenbrook will also be showing products from Bluesound, NAD and PSB in Venetian (34-204) throughout CES from January 6-9th in Las Vegas, Nevada.