MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) launches major partnerships at CES 2016, including agreements with music download store 2L and playback partners Bluesound and AURALiC, plus reveals a smartphone first from HTC.

CES Unveiled on January 4^th and the MQA Suite within the Venetian (30-335) are the places to experience a world first: the MQA demonstration on the HTC One A9. HTC has equipped its latest smartphone with MQA technology in a ‘proof of concept’ exclusive for CES 2016.

2L claims the honour of first label to offer fans the chance to buy their music in MQA. Founded by Morten Lindberg – a highly respected figure in the world of digital music recording and a GRAMMY multi-nominee, including three selections in the 2016 list – the Scandinavian music label is revered for its pristine-quality recordings. Morten commented on MQA and said: “Meeting Bob Stuart and discovering MQA has been a total revelation. I have spent many hours with Bob listening to original recordings and being constantly amazed by the incredible sense of space and clarity brought by MQA. The end-to-end process allows us to more accurately capture the original sound and to deliver it perfectly all the way through to music lovers.”

The library of MQA music is set to expand further during 2016 with 7digital, Onkyo Music, HQM (Japan) and Jay Z-led TIDAL all aiming to bring MQA music to the masses.

CES 2016 will also see the announcement of new playback partners including AURALiC, Bluesound and Aurender. The award-winning Bluesound range of MQA-compatible products will compromise the Node 2, Powervault 2, Pulse 2, Pulse Flex, Pulse Mini, Vault 2, and all legacy Bluesound components. MQA demonstrations will take place in Bluesound’s CES Venetian suite 34-204. AURALiC and Aurender will also be demonstrating new MQA-enabled products. MQA will be available on all three of AURALiC’s streamer models: ARIES, ARIES LE and ARIES MINI, with MQA demonstrations taking place in AURALiC’s suite within the Venetian (29-122).

MQA support grows further with Berkeley Audio, dCS, Kripton and Ixion joining the official MQA supplier list. All of these brands are actively planning MQA-enabled product lines, adding to previously announced MQA-ready product announcements from Meridian Audio, Mytek, Onkyo, and Pioneer

Commenting on these announcements Bob Stuart, MQA creator, said: “It’s truly gratifying to see such widespread levels of industry support for MQA. We are especially delighted to partner with 2L, MQA’s debut content retailer, and we look forward to welcoming aboard many more partners during 2016. We are also honoured to work with HTC at CES 2016, enabling the opportunity for the show visitors to hear MQA on today’s portable music device of choice, the smartphone.”

MQA CES Locations

CES Unveiled, 4^th January 2016, 4:00pm – 7:30pm (PST)

Mandalay Bay, Level 0, South Pacific Ballroom, Stand 119

The Venetian, 30-335, MQA Suite