Universal Music Group and Zappa Records launched a hi-res reissue campaign for 29 Frank Zappa albums Wednesday, with nine exclusive to Qobuz in native 24-bit hi-res FLAC format beginning Friday, said Qobuz. On Thursday at 4 p.m. EDT, Zappa’s son, Ahmet, and Joe Travers, “vaultmeister” of the Zappa recordings archive, will be part of a livestream discussion with Qobuz Chief Hi-Res Evangelist David Solomon at the StreamingMusicMatters & Qobuz (USA) fan page on Facebook. The 29 albums, available for download and streaming, will drop between Friday and May 7, Qobuz said.

Qobuz is the first music streaming service to deliver 24-bit hi-res audio content for playback on Sonos speakers compatible with the S2 operating system and controller app, said the companies Wednesday. Qobuz was available to Sonos customers in 16-bit FLAC streaming since 2013. The upgrade gives Qobuz the chance to expose “millions” of Sonos users to “the improvement" hi-res audio can make, said Qobuz USA Managing Director Dan Mackta. It’s available to customers in the U.S., Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. Sonos didn’t respond to questions about plans for a premium speaker designed for hi-res audio playback. It launched the $169 Roam portable Bluetooth speaker this month (see 2103090046).

Sony began taking preorders Monday for a $699 high-resolution wireless speaker, while announcing that beginning April 6, its 360 Reality Audio content can be streamed on Amazon Music HD by customers in North America using Alexa Cast. The RA5000 plays tracks produced in 360 Reality Audio, which creators can use to make music by mapping vocals, chorus and instruments with positional information and placing them within a spherical space. 360 Reality Audio tracks are also available from Tidal, nugs.net and Deezer. The RA5000 has a sound calibration feature, accessible by a button on the unit, that adjusts sound to fit the room. The auto volume feature adjusts music track by track to level volume, said the company. The RA3000, a non-high-res version without sound calibration, is $299. Both speakers are compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant devices, it said.

Bluesound bowed the Pulse Soundbar+ with an Arm quad-core chipset that's said to process audio eight times faster than previous generations of Bluesound architecture. The 120-watt high-resolution audio sound bar ($899 in black, $999 in white), with Dolby Atmos and multiroom, multichannel audio support, will be available next month, said the company. Dual Wi-Fi chips are said to prevent network latency for gaming use. The Pulse supports Amazon, Apple and Google voice assistants, and it’s controllable by home control platforms including those from Lutron and Crestron, said the company.

Astell&Kern announced Roon Ready certification for two portable audio players Friday. The SP1000 and SP2000 will become Roon Ready via a firmware update Tuesday, implementing Roon Advanced Audio Transport technology, said the company.

Qualcomm Technologies announced Snapdragon Sound, a set of audio technologies designed to provide high-quality audio in smartphones, wireless earbuds and headsets. The system-level approach combines multiple technologies from the chipmaker’s mobile and audio platforms, delivering “high-resolution, wired quality audio, wirelessly,” it said Thursday. Snapdragon Sound is targeted to use in streaming music, communications and wireless gaming. It supports 24-bit/96 kHz audio and ultra-low latency, down to 89 milliseconds. It’s also said to offer improved Bluetooth pairing and clearer voice quality than existing technologies. For direct listening on a mobile device, Snapdragon Sound incorporates Qualcomm’s Aqstic digital-to-analog converter, designed to support hi-res formats including 384 kHz 32-bit PCM and Direct Stream Digital with low distortion. Coinciding with the launch, Amazon Music and Qualcomm announced a curated Snapdragon Sound playlist on Amazon’s premium HD Music service, denoted as Ultra DH Snapdragon Sound. Listeners have to be Music HD subscribers to hear the content in Ultra HD, said Amazon. Xiaomi is the first mobile device maker to offer Snapdragon sound. Audio-Technica said it’s working with Qualcomm to solve challenges of connectivity and latency for next-generation wireless audio products. Products are due this year. Consumers will be able to identify optimized products by a Snapdragon Sound badge on smartphones, earbuds and headphones initially. “In time,” the technology will be on PCs, smartwatches and extended reality glasses, Qualcomm said.

MQA Ltd. “could not be happier” for Tidal after the announcement that Square is investing in the high-resolution music streaming service, said MQA CEO Mike Jbara Thursday. “Tidal has been the most innovative streaming service from the start,” said Jbara, and the new structure “equips them and Square to go further faster together.” Tidal is one of a handful of streaming services that supports playback of the Master Quality Authenticated codec. Square announced Thursday it’s buying a “significant ownership stake” in Tidal for $297 million in cash and stock. “Existing artist shareholders will be the remaining stakeholders,” it said, and Tidal will operate independently within Square, alongside the Seller and Cash App ecosystems. Tidal relaunched in March 2015 as an artist-backed alternative to high-profile streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora and is indirectly owned by rapper Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z, who will join the Tidal board after the deal is completed. Square CEO Jack Dorsey referenced an intersection between “music and the economy” and said Tidal will “continue to be the best home for music, musicians, and culture.” The deal is expected to close in Q2.

Spotify’s announcement it’s moving into hi-fi streaming Monday (see 2102230034) demonstrates a “shift in consumer expectations,” blogged Futuresource analyst Alexandre Jornod Wednesday. The streaming audio service, which had been reluctant to offer lossless streaming, has 155 million global subscribers globally, meaning “high-quality audio will finally be within reach of mainstream adoption." Amazon Music HD, available for over a year, helped drive mainstream awareness of high-quality streaming, creating “favourable grounds” for Spotify to launch its premium plan, Jornod said. The streaming service's announcement is good news for audio manufacturers, which are likely to benefit from more people having access to high-quality audio and wanting to upgrade equipment to make the most out of their lossless streaming subscription, he said. Futuresource had a surge in demand for premium audio products last year as consumers were inspired to spend more on home entertainment while sheltering at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted: Shipments of $1,000-plus sound bars rose 32% year on year from Q1-Q3. High-speed internet acceleration, along with the rollout of 5G mobile networks, facilitates high-quality audio listening, said the analyst. Pricing will be key to Spotify’s success, said Jornod. Amazon’s Music HD launch forced high-quality streaming players Qobuz and Deezer to match its $15 monthly pricing. Amazon discounts Music HD to Prime members for $13 per month. Spotify will have to take Amazon pricing into account to appeal to Prime customers, he said. Amazon also has the benefit of millions of songs in 24-bit audio, while Spotify’s HiFi plan will top out at 16-bit, he said. A Futuresource survey found more than half of consumers interested in better audio quality from streaming services would be willing to pay $1-$3 more per month, or up to $12.99.

Mainstream adoption of hi-res audio is “closer than ever,” but obstacles remain, Futuresource emailed Tuesday. Fewer than 3 million songs are available in hi-res audio vs. more than 60 million in 16-bit CD quality, it said, and Spotify and Apple -- the two largest streaming services -- don’t have hi-res offerings. Apple could replicate Amazon’s approach with the hi-res Amazon Music HD and high-end Echo Studio smart speaker, blogged analyst Alexandre Jornod. Though most high-res music services have aligned their subscriptions to match Amazon Music HD’s $15-per-month fee, that’s still $5 more a month than a standard subscription, said Futuresource: “It remains too expensive for most consumers," especially considering the "limited" hi-res content available, it said. The number of hi-res playback devices has largely been reserved for the high-end, it noted, though speakers from Amazon and Sonos are changing that. Another limiter is that as home-produced music increases, most artists stick with CD-quality when delivering content, Jornod said. Futuresource research shows consumers want better-quality audio, which could also be a differentiator in the competitive streaming space, he said.

Hi-res streaming and download service Qobuz launched a livestream series, it said Monday. The weekly conversations take place on Qobuz USA’s Facebook page. Upcoming events are with audio engineer and producer Bill Schnee on Thursday and MartinLogan Product Manager Andrew Lindsey Aug. 27. Bowers & Wilkins Director of Product Marketing Andy Kerr will have “big news to share” on his Sept. 2 event, Qobuz said. B&W didn’t respond to questions.