Lenbrook Media Group forms to grow MQA and SCL6 for a bright hi-res audio future

By Becky Roberts
published

The new group will be headed up by former MQA CEO Mike Jbara

Lenbrook Media Group
(Image credit: Lenbrook Media Group)

The Lenbrook Group of Companies, owners of NAD Electronics, PSB Speakers, Bluesound and the BluOS multiroom platform, has created a new business unit that will oversee the growth of the MQA and SCL6 technologies it acquired in September.

The new Lenbrook Media Group, which is being overseen by former MQA CEO Mike Jbara in his newly appointed role as vice president and general manager, will develop the portfolio’s content management solutions and, as per the official press release, 'pursue new opportunities that fit Lenbrook’s vision to offer increased choice to music fans and enthusiasts for quality audio'.

This is the first MQA-related ‘news’ out of the Lenbrook stable since it rescued MQA Ltd from administration, and it strongly insinuates the company’s intent to use the established MQA and brand-new SCL6 codecs for future hi-res solutions, presumably in both software and hardware. 

Both codecs were designed to deliver high-quality, ‘better than Bluetooth’ wireless music streaming. MQA is a codec that efficiently packages studio-quality audio for easy streaming and is used to power hi-res streams on Tidal (now alongside the service's new hi-res FLAC library). Meanwhile, SCL6 is touted as a wireless transmission codec that can retain the maximum (possible) sound quality of any audio file over Bluetooth, wi-fi or Ultra Wide Band wireless connections.

We already know that a pair of hi-res, PSB-branded wireless headphones from Lenbrook is on the cards, supposedly due to arrive this year, courtesy of a collaboration between PSB, MQA technologies and smart-hearables start-up firm Sonical. And this new division could mean other products aren’t too far down the road.

Gordon Simmonds, president and CEO of The Lenbrook Group of Companies, says that the acquisition of MQA’s assets helps it offer and facilitate high-quality music experiences throughout the chain, supporting “creators in the recording studio with capturing and delivering directly and in the highest quality, their art into the homes of music lovers”.

“Creating the Lenbrook Media Group allows us to fully capitalize on this unique position by giving it focus, and putting the right strategies, structure, and resources in place,” he says.

MORE:

Wi-fi for headphones is great news for sound quality, so is it the death knell for Bluetooth?

It gets a lot of FLAC, but MQA's saving is a good thing for hi-fi

High-resolution audio: everything you need to know

Hi-res music streaming services compared: which should you subscribe to?

Becky Roberts
Becky Roberts

Becky is the managing editor of What Hi-Fi? and, since her recent move to Melbourne, also the editor of Australian Hi-Fi magazine. During her 10 years in the hi-fi industry, she has been fortunate enough to travel the world to report on the biggest and most exciting brands in hi-fi and consumer tech (and has had the jetlag and hangovers to remember them by). In her spare time, Becky can often be found running, watching Liverpool FC and horror movies, and hunting for gluten-free cake.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bristollinnet
    With ever-increasing broadband coverage and average audiophile user broadband speeds creeping ever higher, there is ZERO market potential for newer lossless or lossy algorithms. Silly purchase.
    Reply
  • manicm
    bristollinnet said:
    With ever-increasing broadband coverage and average audiophile user broadband speeds creeping ever higher, there is ZERO market potential for newer lossless or lossy algorithms. Silly purchase.

    Streaming hires lossless at 24/192 is still a waste of bandwidth, and in that respect I'm all for MQA.
    Reply
  • Friesiansam
    manicm said:
    Streaming hires lossless at 24/192 is still a waste of bandwidth, and in that respect I'm all for MQA.
    If you have a fast internet connection, why is it a waste of bandwidth? I would rather stream hi-res FLAC, than spend a lot of money buying a replacement DAC/headphone amp, with full MQA decoding capability to at least match the performance of the one I have. As I see it, lossless FLAC is preferable to any lossy format, unless you have a very slow internet connection.
    Reply
  • manicm
    Friesiansam said:
    If you have a fast internet connection, why is it a waste of bandwidth? I would rather stream hi-res FLAC, than spend a lot of money buying a replacement DAC/headphone amp, with full MQA decoding capability to at least match the performance of the one I have. As I see it, lossless FLAC is preferable to any lossy format, unless you have a very slow internet connection.

    A hires stream uses more bandwidth than 1080p streaming, about 10mbps. That to me is just wasteful.

    If I'm going to do that I'll also be purchasing hires downloads. Which I've done a few times. I don't see the value in hires streaming. But it's fine for some, and that's ok.
    Reply
  • daveh75
    Bandwidth isn't a valid reason not to stream hi-res, especially in an era where 4/5G connections are now capable of delivering comparable, and even greater speeds than fixed line broadband in some cases.

    The fact it's largely pointless, at least as far as playback is concerned, when most can't discern a difference between lossy and lossless codecs, let alone hi-res is.

    However, MQA is and will always be a scam, thats only purpose is licensing fees.
    Reply
  • koshka
    All these negative comment s about MQA seem to be an obsession with some people. I have recently discovered MQA CD's having bought a Luxman CD player with built in decoder and they sound amazing. They can also be ripped to a Hires file if required.
    I have compared some MQA CD's to the same music on CD and vinyl LP and MQA CD's just sound more real.
    MQA could transform CD sales with audio enthusiasts but needing a MQA decoder is definitely a negative.
    Their scarceness and popularity has pushed Japanese MQA CD prices through the roof but there are some reasonably priced on Amazon and if you have an open mind and a decoder I would give one a go.
    Reply