For audio enthusiasts and integrators who may have been wondering about the status of the MQA format, we have a major update. Lenbrook has acquired the premium music encoder, adding MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) to its stable of audio brands and associated software.

Pickering, Ontario-based Lenbrook Group is the parent company of renowned brands NAD Electronics, PSB Speakers and Bluesound and distributor of DALI Speakers. On the software side it has continued to improve its BluOS whole-house audio platform, recently highlighting BluOS 4.0 at CEDIA Expo 2023 in Denver.

Now, with this acquisition of UK-based MQA and its technology assets, the hi-fi company has added what it calls “an assortment of significant patents” and introduces two prominent audio codecs – MQA and SCL6 – to its ecosystem. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the privately held company.

“Lenbrook’s vision is of a thriving hi-fi industry where technologies that promote both consumer choice and the pursuit of the highest sound quality are deserving of investment and nurture,” says Gordon Simmonds, Lenbrook CEO.

“We view this acquisition as an opportunity to ensure the technologies developed by the scientists and engineers at MQA continue to serve the industry’s interests rather than be confined to any single brand or company.”

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Established by acclaimed Meridian co-founder Bob Stuart, MQA sought to provide music creators with the means to efficiently preserve the detail and nuance of their works in high-resolution recorded formats, as opposed to the trend toward heavily compressed music such as MP3.

On the streaming music scene, MQA was adopted and offered by high-res service TIDAL, which helped serve as a differentiator from competitors such as Qobuz.

“MQA is the only technology that considers the entire audio signal chain, from studio to listening room, to assure consistent quality of reproduction. The patents and research that underlie MQA represent significant contributions to digital audio quality due to their focus on time domain issues that have not been well understood until recently,” explains Greg Stidsen, chief technology officer at Lenbrook.

“We’re determined to continue to develop our marketplace and encourage the possibilities these technologies can achieve.”

Lenbrook Investment in MQA Includes 120+ Licensees & Content Partnerships

Lenbrook notes that as a stable and well capitalized organization that takes a long-term view of investments and market development. Toward that end, MQA had amassed over 120 licensees and several content partnerships, so Lenbrook’s main driver of this acquisition was to provide certainty for business and technical developments that were underway prior to MQA’s administration.

As a result, Lenbrook notes that it retained a core group of engineers and developers and sales and marketing personnel including Andy Dowell, previously the head of licensing for MQA, who will continue to lead business development activities and strategies.

“As one of MQA’s most significant licensees and also the owner of the award winning BluOS high-res content platform, Lenbrook is well positioned to build on what was started,” says Dowell.

“Its BluOS platform work has proven that the Lenbrook team understands it takes a certain amount of neutrality to be a licensor, but it can also take a customer view when it comes to the wants and needs from a product development standpoint.”

Lenbrook and its NAD, PSB, Bluesound and DALI brands recently exhibited at CEDIA Expo 2023, showing new streaming amplifiers, aforementioned BluOS v4.0 and other products aimed at elevating its multiroom audio prowess. This year, the company celebrated 10 years of Bluesound in the market; last year it honored the 50th anniversary of PSB and founder Paul Barton.

The global company reports that leading high-res music labels are happy to hear the acquisition news that brings MQA into the fold.

“I’m delighted that MQA will continue in good hands with Lenbrook,” Morten Lindberg, Grammy-nominated Master Engineer at lauded Norwegian high-res audio label 2L, told the company.

“For 2L, using MQA has allowed us to enhance the experience of our recordings, beyond the raw capture, with increased access to sonic details, transparency and lower listening fatigue.”

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