Lenbrook Media Group Unveils Plans for MQA Labs

JUNE 5, 2024, TORONTO, ONTARIO CANADA — Lenbrook Media Group (LMG), specialists in high resolution audio, has announced a suite of products from the newly formed MQA Labs that bring audio processing enhancements across the music supply chain. AIRIA by MQA Labs^™ (also known by its technical name, SCL6) delivers high resolution audio while seamlessly scaling from full lossless to very lossy rates. FOQUS by MQA Labs^™ represents an innovative approach for analogue to digital conversion. QRONO by MQA Labs^™ brings a variety of audio processing enhancements within playback devices. These technologies are expected to debut in a variety of licensee products before the end of calendar 2025.

Gordon Simmonds, CEO of The Lenbrook Group, LMG’s parent corporation, reflected on the initial decision to acquire the assets of MQA. “These developments confirm our instincts around this team and the value of the IP. While the choice and accessibility of MQA content remains a priority for us, this was never about a single codec,” he says.

The creation of MQA Labs and its newest product families reflect Lenbrook’s passion to improve the whole audio chain and bring the highest quality recording, distribution and playback technologies to benefit the entire specialty audio industry and its fans.

“The digitization of an analogue signal introduces a range of imperfections to the resulting audio file. One of the most common and critical is something often referred to as time smearing – when the resolution of two sounds is reduced because their timing is incorrectly reproduced within the digital file,” explains Greg Stidsen, Chief Technology Officer at Lenbrook. “MQA Labs’ team are experts in time-domain audio improvements, having invented many of the techniques to avoid or eliminate such audio defects.”

Two of the new product families will address the issue head on: FOQUS, which tackles the analogue to digital processes, and QRONO, which will address converting digital back to analogue.

The third product family is among the most anticipated of LMG’s future products. Previously known by its technical name, SCL6, it is a new codec seamlessly ensuring the best resolution possible regardless of bandwidth availability. Now named AIRIA by MQA Labs, the codec was developed to transform audio across wireless connections. Most recently, LMG successfully completed pilots for use as a distribution codec – perfect for streaming services. As a transmission codec, it shines as a high-resolution codec with dramatic operational savings and reliability.

Early response from the industry around these new products has been positive.

“We are inspired by the reactions of our partners who are incorporating these technologies into their products,” explains Mike Jbara, Vice President & GM of LMG. “This is a milestone moment for us. We are committed to receiving and applying feedback from the market in how we apply our technologies and ensuring they are more flexible and accessible throughout the music supply chain.”

About MQA Labs

MQA Labs is a team of experts in music production, acoustics research, and audio engineering responsible for pioneering work that comprises a rich portfolio of patents and research. Its technologies can be found throughout the music supply chain and include MQA, AIRIA, FOQUS, and QRONO. MQA Labs is a division of Lenbrook Media Group. For more information, visit MQALabs.com.

About Lenbrook Media Group

The Lenbrook Media Group invests in and commercializes technologies and platforms that capture, package, and deliver digital audio in residential and commercial applications. Its interests include the maker of award-winning high resolution multiroom audio distribution platform, BluOS, and MQA Labs, a family of audio encoding technologies used by hardware manufacturers, streaming services and broadcasters, and music creators. The Lenbrook Media Group is a wholly owned subsidiary within the Lenbrook Group of Companies. For more information, visit lenbrookmediagroup.com.