The Digital Entertainment Group signed on as a "major sponsor" of the "Hi-Res Audio Experience" component of CE Week festivities June 22-26 in New York, DEG said in a Tuesday announcement. DEG has been "at the forefront" of promoting hi-res audio across the CE industry in tandem with the major labels, said DEG President Amy Jo Smith in a statement. "This initiative was conceived to bring audiophiles and entertainment enthusiasts closer to the music recording experience," she said. DEG's CE Week sponsorship includes "a number of activities that will help broaden this message to an even wider audience and further evangelize" hi-res audio, she said. Those activities will include the "Your Next Audio" conference June 22 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, DEG said.

Meridian Audio will use this weekend's Montreal Audio Show to showcase its Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) lossless audio coding platform (see 1412050023), it said Monday. It will be the first public demonstration of MQA in Canada, Meridian said. The show opens Friday for a three-day run at Montreal's Hotel Bonaventure.

Meridian Audio continues “to work closely with the music industry” on its Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) lossless audio coding platform, and is “progressing detailed conversations with many content and hardware providers” toward the codec's adoption. So said Lisa Sullivan, Meridian strategic projects manager, in an emailed statement Tuesday responding to a Linn executive’s criticism that MQA lacks technological teeth and represents little more than “an announcement right now” (see 1503160030). At Meridian, “we were also delighted to report the recent, successful public demonstration of MQA streaming,” jointly conducted by Meridian and Tidal, the audiophile music streaming service, Sullivan said: More information and announcements will come "over the coming months.”

Sony wants to have the same success in hi-res audio as it has scored in 4K Ultra HD, Toshi Okuda, Sony Electronics deputy president, told a media briefing Wednesday in Beverly Hills, California. When it comes to 4K TV, the U.S. is the envy of other Sony subsidiaries throughout the world, Okuda said. The U.S. has grown to become Sony’s largest global market for 4K TVs, so much so that it has won the U.S. operation greater clout with Tokyo headquarters, Okuda said. With hi-res audio, “we hope we can start to resonate with the needs of the customer” in a way that “we bring back the sense of quality in the music” that has deteriorated over the years with delivery mechanisms like MP3 or iTunes, he said. Okuda has been listening to Led Zeppelin “for years and years,” but the quality of its recordings progressively has been “getting worse,” he said. But with hi-res audio, "now it’s coming back, as if Jimmy Page were really playing in front of me,” Okuda said of Led Zeppelin’s lead guitarist. Sony spokesman John Dolak later joked it was the first time in his recollection that a Sony executive had invoked the name Jimmy Page in a business conference.