(January 9, 2024) In a move that could impact the landscape of high-resolution audio content, Lenbrook, known for its high-fidelity brands like NAD Electronics, PSB Speakers, and Bluesound, has announced the formation of a new business unit: The Lenbrook Media Group. This strategic development, announced at CES 2024, heralds a new era in audio content management and distribution, promising enhanced choices for music fans and enthusiasts searching for quality sound.
The Lenbrook Media Group is built on the foundation of BluOS, Lenbrook’s renowned high-resolution multiroom platform. The group's creation follows Lenbrook's acquisition of the assets of MQA Ltd. and SCL6 in late 2023, marking a pivotal step in integrating these advanced content encoding solutions into Lenbrook's broader ecosystem.
Former MQA CEO, Mike Jbara, has been appointed as the Vice-President and General Manager of this new division, bringing his extensive experience in the field to the helm of Lenbrook Media Group. According to Gord Simmonds, President and CEO of The Lenbrook Group, the formation of this specialized group will allow Lenbrook to fully leverage its unique position in the market, aligning the right strategies, structure, and resources to enhance the audio experience from the recording studio to the listener's home.
This move by Lenbrook is more than just an expansion; it's a strategic separation that allows the company to keenly focus on both its hardware and content sides. It also addresses potential conflicts of interest, given Lenbrook's new role in charge of MQA. With a separate company managing these assets, Lenbrook can minimize conflicts with other MQA licensees, many of whom are competitors to Lenbrook brands.
Both MQA and SCL6 codecs, central to Lenbrook Media Group's strategy, are designed to deliver high-quality audio, surpassing traditional Bluetooth wireless music streaming capabilities. MQA efficiently packages studio-quality audio for streaming, powering high-resolution streams on platforms like TIDAL. SCL6, on the other hand, is a wireless transmission codec optimized to maintain the highest possible sound quality over various wireless connections.
As for tangible impacts, the market may enjoy a taste of synergistic fruit from Lenbrook’s two divisions early this year. Originally announced in 2023, a pair of high-resolution PSB-branded wireless headphones, a result of collaboration between PSB, MQA technologies, and the smart-hearables startup Sonical, might arrive during Q1. The rumor mill says the headphones will tap the power of MQA’s SCL6 Hi-Res streaming codec and an onboard computing system called CosmOS developed by Sonical. CosmOS gives access to uploadable third party apps and powerful low wattage processing cores.
Jbara says, “Once you combine Lenbrook’s vision for advancing choice and innovation in the performance audio industry with the assembly of some of the best minds in audio hardware and software engineering, it results in substantive opportunity to empower creators, distributors, fans, and broadcasters in addition to hardware manufacturers. It is an exciting list of possibilities that we believe will benefit both the music and the specialty audio industries.”
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