Japan's Ottava Label to Release First Compact Disc Recording Using MQA

A Unamas Septet recording of A. Piazzolla by Strings and Oboe, to be released Friday on the Ottava label in Japan, will be the first Master Quality Authenticated recording on CD, said MQA in a Thursday announcement. The MQA-enabled CD could mark “a new era of hi-res audio,” said mastering engineer Mick Sawaguchi. MQA CD works the same way as an MQA digital file, said MQA: With a conventional CD player connected to an MQA-enabled device, the MQA CD will “unwrap’ to the original sample rate,” it said.