Superlatives Abound in Meridian’s Debut of 'Master Quality Authenticated' Platform

Superlatives were many, but specifics were few, in Meridian Audio’s announcement Thursday that it will commercialize early next year a lossless coding platform that’s "poised to change the way people enjoy music all over the world." Billed as "a revolutionary British technology," the innovation, called Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), was launched at a London briefing Thursday. MQA has been designed to "reverse the trend, in which sound quality has been continually sacrificed for convenience," Meridian said. "Vital elements of our music have been thrown away to fit thousands of songs into a pocket or millions in a cloud. With MQA there is no sacrifice; it brings us right back to the enthralling sound of live music. MQA captures and preserves nuances and vital information that current music files obscure or discard, but in a file that is small and convenient to download or stream." MQA allows listeners to experience "every intricate detail the microphone heard, offering music fans the purest ever sound," the company said. "And it’s based firmly in science. For the first time in history, music fans will be able to hear at home what the artist created and approved in the recording studio, and MQA confirms its exact delivery."