Hifi Pig

UNAMAS, the Japanese hi-res music label run by award-winning recording engineer, Mick Sawaguchi, has selected ten albums from its catalogue for encoding in MQA. The recordings, ranging from Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” performed by the Unamas String Quintet, to Hiroshi Fukamizu’s “Everything for Drums”, will be available from 15 July 2016 on music download service, e-onkyo music, priced at ¥3.000 ($29 / £19) each.

MQA delivers master quality audio in a file small enough to stream or download. In 2015, Sawaguchi first listened to his own UNAMAS masters encoded in MQA, as he felt this was the best way to properly evaluate MQA’s qualities. “I found that MQA has two major advantages: firstly the excellent results in the time domain which are the key factor in reproducing the timbres of musical instruments; and secondly, the beautiful balance between low transfer rate and high quality sound,” he commented. “While we’re blessed with high-speed networks in Japan, this isn’t the case elsewhere in the world, so MQA means music lovers everywhere can enjoy high quality sound with lower bandwidth speeds.”

Bob Stuart, founder of MQA, said, “Mick’s recordings are technically superb and his technique captures the clarity and naturalness of live sound. It is a privilege to bring these superb UNAMAS recordings fully to life in MQA.”

e-onkyo music’s director, Taku Kurosawa, added, “Mick-san is one of Japan’s leading recording engineers, and listening to these UNAMAS albums will surely convince you of the ultra-high quality of his recordings. It was inevitable that Mick-san would have a keen interest in MQA, given his eagerness to try any new technical approach to further refine his recordings. The ongoing quest by Mick-san and his UNAMAS label, enhanced by the epoch-making technology MQA invented by Bob Stuart, has yet again raised the bar for high quality sound.”

MQA music is now available from the following stores: HIGHRESAUDIO, onkyo music, e-onkyo music, 7digital and 2L, and MQA will continue to expand to more streaming platforms and download stores worldwide.

Swiss manufacturer Stenheim say they are proud to have been chosen by the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival (which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year) and will be producing a limited edition of their Alumine TWO speakers which will be available for purchase in the Festival shop, situated in the event’s main hall.

25 pairs will be made and will delivered with a certificate of authenticity as well as a numbered identification plate stating “Montreux Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Special Edition”.

They will be packaged in STENHEIM flight cases which will also be numbered and which can each be employed to store about sixty vinyl records.

The speaker sets will also include a BB King album on vinyl, a DVD of excerpts from the Montreux Jazz Festival, a pair of STENHEIM microfiber gloves and a Festival T-shirt.

During the Festival period, from the 1st to the 16th of July, our Alumine TWO speakers will be on demonstration at the Laurent Marthaler Contemporary Art gallery.

The Alumine TWO represents a substantial deviation from conventional speaker design. With all-aluminium construction and hand-made, bespoke craftsmanship from Switzerland.