It depends of how that now bankrupted company was selling these licenses. Maybe SMSL bought rights to display the MQA symbol on all there devices for 3 or 5 years, and so they try to leverage it.
From Stereophile in Jun 2025:
Lenbrook Breathes Life into MQA—and Teases a New Streaming Service
Jason Victor SerinusJun 02, 2025
As someone who has repeatedly reaped the sonic benefits of MQA, I found the MQA Labs press release tantalizing. "MQA Labs Debuts FOQUS ADC Design with First Ever Demonstration, Showcases Full Technology Suite," it declared, then continued, "Highlights will include a first listen to audio captured with a FOQUS ADC chip, showcasing the enhanced clarity made possible by a reimagined decimation process." The press release promised further surprises, including "a walk-through of our new and upcoming studio plug-ins, offering creators powerful tools for managing impulse response and noise shaping," and "a showcase of QRONO d2a, our playback solution that delivers unmatched transparency and time performance across all audio formats."
The company claims that these technologies improve sound quality from creation through playback, all in pursuit of "digital audio with an analogue soul."
MQA Labs was acquired by Toronto-based Lenbrook in the fall of 2023. Lenbrook is the same company that brings us NAD, PSB, and Bluesound. As for MQA, the technology turned 10 years old during this year's High End Munich; it was introduced at the show in 2015.
I was unable to attend a full presentation, so I engaged in before and after-session discussion with Mike Jbara, Lenbrook Media Group's VP and general manager, and Pål Bråtelund, a Lenbrook consultant. Here’s what I learned:
First, many MQA Labs technologies are now embedded in plug-ins for studio workstations. Sound engineers can apply MQA dithering and time correction to their master before it goes to the record label. The Lenbrook Media Group, which is responsible for both BluOS and MQA, believes that these plug-ins give engineers the ability to resolve
alltiming issues in their recordings. Jbara said, "Engineers can now convey an analog sense of timing and space without the need to record at 192kHz or DXD sampling rates."
Lenbrook's MQA team also announced a new ESS ADC chip, which Peter Craven, Al Wood, and Bob Stuart helped create. Jbara says that the chip bypasses timing issues caused by traditional decimation filters. The chip will make its debut in Lenbrook's forthcoming NAD M33 V2 BluOS streaming DAC/amplifier.
Also coming in the near future, though with no confirmed launch date, is a new streaming service serving up MQA-encoded music. Several major labels are expected to sign on, and the plan is for the new streaming service to be available via several platforms, including Roon. This is welcome news for those who were dismayed when Tidal dropped MQA streaming.
For more on FOQUS technology, MQA studio plug-ins, and QRONO d2a playback, see
mqalabs.com
From EJ3: So Lenbrook bought it and they are trying to bring it back to life instead of doing the right thing and letting it die off.
MORE from:
The Rise and Fall and Maybe Rise Again of MQA
Written by: Geoffrey Morrison Created: 01 November 2023
The (maybe) rise
It was more than a little surprising when, at the end of September, Lenbrook acquired some of MQA’s assets, which consisted mainly of intellectual property and business relationships with MQA licensees. Lenbrook is well known for its engineering prowess, so bringing on something as controversial as MQA seemed extremely out of character.
Lenbrook hasn’t announced what it plans to do with MQA, but we can make a few guesses about the short term. One, the company has been using MQA in some of its products, so perhaps this is an attempt to use the technology for “free” in its products while making a little money from fees to other licensees. It may also see something in the underlying technology for use in its wireless products. There are lots of patents and tech involved behind the scenes that we never see on the consumer side. It’s also possible this purchase had nothing to do with the MQA codec at all. MQA Limited was working on MQair, also called SCL6, a codec that works over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Perhaps that alone was something Lenbrook wanted to use or to help fast-track something else it’s working on.
For now, we don’t know. It’s entirely possible Lenbrook will use the tech they want and let the MQA name disappear, since among certain audiophiles, MQA is tainted goods. Perhaps it will remain a line-item on fact sheets like DTS, generating a modicum of income for Lenbrook among the circles of audiophile companies that do think it’s worthwhile.
I find the story of MQA fascinating, from its storied pedigree, to its inglorious demise, to its unexpected rescue. I wouldn’t call it a redemption arc, at least not yet, but who knows where this wild story (for high-end audio anyway) will go next?
. . . Geoffrey Morrison
[email protected]
