How Many Bits Would You Like with Your Music? The Case of the SCL6 Scalable Codec

The Case of the SCL6 Scalable Codec. How Much Do You Want Hi-Res Audio? The candidates to become high-quality optional codecs for Bluetooth LE Audio are starting to line up. And SCL6 is leading the charge. This new scalable codec created by MQA was one of the best demonstrations at CES 2023, and is one of the most promising solutions for high-quality wireless audio. Yes, I said MQA.

PSB Speakers, together with hearables start-up Sonical and audio codecs specialists MQA, announced a partnership that intends to define a new category of high-resolution audio headphones. The collaboration is aimed at creating true hifi headphones and smart earbuds, combining MQA's SCL6 high resolution wireless audio transmission and Sonical’s CosmOS platform. Planned for release under the PSB Speakers brand by Q1 2024, the resulting products will be the first headphones to feature Sonical’s ear computing platform, enabling a variety of apps and software upgrades.

WiSA Technologies, a leading provider of wireless audio technologies for home theater already adopted by Bang & Olufsen, Harman, Klipsch, Savant, LG Electronics and many others, announced its first shipments of WiSA E development kits to leading audio brands developing multichannel audio systems. Using the 5GHz portion of the Wi-Fi band, WiSA E offers high-performance, high-quality wireless audio transmission and reception at an affordable price.

At CES 2023, LG product unveilings included two new Wi-Fi-enabled soundbars, both of which support MQA. Designed to work in harmony with LG’s latest OLED TVs, the SC9 and SE6 models support MQA and Tidal Connect, meaning Tidal members can stream Tidal Masters – at the highest quality – over Wi-Fi to the new LG soundbars. Selected existing soundbars are also MQA-capable via a software upgrade, these include high-end models such as the S95, S90 and S80 series released last year.

xMEMS Labs introduced Montara Plus, its 2nd generation high-res full-range (20Hz to 40KHz) monolithic MEMS micro speaker. At just 64mm3, Montara Plus delivers 120dB SPL at 1kHz. Matching the new Montara Plus, targeting the high end market, xMEMS announced a partnership with iFi Audio and Singularity Audio, which will be launch partners for DAC/amp and IEMs respectively.

The current generation of Fraunhofer's technologies enables the creation, transmission, and experience of an entirely new universe of immersive and high quality sound. Looking to showcase tomorrow's audio experiences and cooperate with manufacturers to bring state-of-the-art audio technologies into their products, the research institute will be at CES 2023, in Las Vegas (January 5 - 8), at booth 15915 in the Central Hall.