Bluesound and MQA® Bring the Studio Experience Home

MQA firmware update will be released for all Bluesound Players on June 1

HIGH END 2016, MUNICH, Germany, May 5, 2016 – Bluesound, a leading manufacturer of wireless multi-room music systems, announced today that MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) will be available on all Bluesound Players starting June 1, 2016. With the upcoming BluOS firmware release, version 2.2, listeners around the world will now have the ability to stream MQA music through any Bluesound Player.

“MQA is a natural match for Bluesound’s hi-res music and wireless streaming platform, and we’re very excited to be the first wireless multi-room system to play back music exactly how it was recorded in the studio,” said Greg Stidsen, Bluesound Director of Technology and Product Planning. “Imagine being able to instantly listen to the original studio performance from your favorite artists with the touch of your smartphone, tablet or laptop, without sacrificing sound quality for convenience. It’s the next step in Bluesound bringing the experience of the studio into your home.”

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.

“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. “Our partnership with Bluesound will enable music fans all over the world to experience MQA.”

Bluesound is a smart music system of audiophile-grade wireless speakers and digital players, that allow you to stream music from a library store on your home network and many popular music streaming services, to any room in your home with the control of a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Bluesound is available at authorized audio retailers in countries all over the world; or direct from Bluesound at www.bluesound.com.

All media are invited to experience a live MQA demonstration on Bluesound in Atrium 3.1, Room C112 (MOC Munich) at 12:00 PM CEST on May 6, 2016.

Listeners will need to upgrade to the new BluOS firmware, version 2.2 which is available starting June 1, to fully experience the magic of studio master recordings on Bluesound. In addition, Bluesound is actively working with MQA to support select BluOS-enabled systems from sister company, NAD Electronics, in the future.

About MQA
Using pioneering scientific research into how people hear, the MQA team has created a technology that captures the full magic of an original studio performance. MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) is a revolutionary end-to-end technology that delivers master quality audio in a file that’s small enough to stream or download. MQA is also backward compatible, so you can play MQA music on any device – the days of sacrificing quality for convenience are finally over. MQA is a UK-based private company.

For more information visit http://www.mqa.co.uk

About Bluesound
An alliance of audiophiles. We are the designers, engineers and individuals who have spent our lives in the music industry. Our founders helped pioneer HiFi in the 70s – innovation and the pursuit of perfection in audio runs deep in our collective DNA. Bluesound’s sole mission is to create innovative wireless audio products and technologies that allow for the most true-to-live performance music reproduction possible, utilizing the most advanced, state-of-the-art digital technology.

For more information visit www.bluesound.com