The first hands-on review of MQA's revolutionary new high-resolution audio streaming codec has been released, and it's not likely to be a good read for the folks behind the competing formats at Qualcomm and Sony.
Previously released last year as MQair, SCL6 aims to deliver higher-quality audio files when streaming to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, with sound that can scale from Bluetooth streaming to wireless files. . .
Acting as a "bridge" between the resolution of the file you are streaming and the amount that can actually reach your ears, SCL6 is compatible with any kind of file, be it PCM, MQA, FLAC or WAV audio formats up to 384kHz, and capable of sending them over Bluetooth, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) and Wi-Fi streaming connections.
Purely digital audio files lose information through compression when packaged and sent wirelessly. However, MQA claims that the wrapping and unwrapping algorithm on which SCL6 is based manages to retain more information from the original signal than its two rivals; aptX HD from Qualcomm and LDAC from Sony.
Arguably the primary feature of the technology is that it is scalable, meaning it can scale your data rate from twenty Mbps (considered lossless for wireless audio) up to two hundred kbps (lossy) depending on the quality of the connection. wireless between devices.
In practice, this means that if the connection between the devices becomes weaker, SCL6 can reduce the data rate and then recover it in real time if the connection becomes stronger.
At a demo at the MQA headquarters, What HiFi? Andy Madden went to work (opens in a new tab) with the new format and seems to have been very impressed with what he heard.
In a demonstration of a full-resolution 96-bit/6kHz MQA file played side-by-side with the same track in SCLXNUMX running at XNUMXkbps, in a uniquely developed speaker configuration to highlight any changes in extreme detail, the difference in connection The wireless version is described as "virtually imperceptible."
Meanwhile, another test testing the scalability of the SCL6 codec, with a track starting at a lossless bitrate before dropping to XNUMXkbps, was equally impressive, leading Andy to comment on "the The track's sense of sophistication and rhythm seem to emerge partly unscathed".
Analysis: SCL6 seems to be a real game changer for wireless audio
This first hand-only use only adds to our excitement as we see the first wave of SCL6-enabled devices hit the shelves.
While we're always skeptical of describing any wireless audio technology as lossless, we think the codec's supposedly great preservation of audio data is surely a compromise most audiophiles are going to make. can live.
But the question of adoption remains: the benefits are clear, but there's a huge lack of information about which devices might support it or which music services. With wireless codecs, it takes 3 to dance: your wireless speaker or wireless headphones; your phone or anything that sends audio to your listening device; and the source of the music.
Can MQA get the best music streaming services on board? Or the makers of the best wireless headphones? Even the premium Bluetooth LE Audio standard, which is literally part of the latest Bluetooth specification, has been slowly adopted with no word of support from Apple thus far.
So while we are very excited about the potential of the SCL6 technology, there is still a huge hurdle to overcome.