MQA Labs has firmed up its plans for its Qrono line of audio technologies, announced in June of this year as part of segmenting MQAir shortly after being bought by Lenbrook Media Group when MQA went into administration last year. The result saw Qrono amongst newly branded Airia and Foqus initiatives, with the new owner promising to "bring audio processing enhancements across the music supply chain." Qrono specifically aims to bring a variety of audio-processing enhancements to playback devices.

MQA Labs and Lenbrook have now begun explaining Qrono and how it will be implemented as two technologies: Qrono dsd and Qrono d2a.

Qrono dsd promises to "set a new standard in DSD-to-PCM converters," while Qrono d2a's job is to "get the best audio performance out of every DAC."

MQA Labs and LMG proudly claim that these Qrono technologies "can enable time performance that exceeds the best analogue systems." They add that "the audible improvement is immediate."

Analogue output measurement with DAC oversampling and QRONO d2a. 48kHz input dB amplitude scale

Qrono DSD converts DSD audio into a PCM signal, allowing you to play DSD tracks on a DAC that wouldn't usually be able to natively. We're told that "DSD conversion is handled with the lightest possible touch to preserve all the crucial time details in the recording."

Meanwhile, Qrono d2a aims to rectify problems with digital audio timing that can occur when filters convert digital sound between digital and analogue formats.

As "human hearing is much more precise than previously understood, particularly when listening for fine detail", the goal is to make audio more natural and lifelike while reducing listener fatigue. MQA's whitepaper claims that Qrono d2a reduces issues such as 'time ringing' (where you can hear echoes before and/or after a note is played), resulting in a crisper, more authentic sound without lagging or echoes while "not blurring events that can be discerned by our hearing."

Analogue output measurement with DAC oversampling and QRONO d2a. 192kHz input dB amplitude scale

We're told that Qrono d2a uses a more tailored approach where the filters are optimised for the musical spectrum of each input sample rate and eschews the standard DAC chip design that uses the same filters for inputs at different sample rates, an approach which MQA describes as "unnecessarily aggressive." Qrono d2a's optimisation promises to preserve the original musicality as a result.

Al Wood, MQA Labs' Director of Engineering, told StereoNET:

We focus on the meticulous application of fundamental signal-processing techniques. These include filters and noise shapers that improve the overall impulse response and transparency of digital-to-analogue conversion to get the absolute best from each DAC chip.

Both of these new technologies—MQA Qrono dsd and MQA Qrono d2a—will be available this month via the Bluesound Node Icon (pictured above) we told you about in August.

Visit MQA for more information