Imagination’s Caskeid Wireless Audio Platform to Support MQA; Brings Studio-Quality Sound to the Masses

LAS VEGAS – CES – Jan. 5, 2015 – Imagination Technologies (IMG.L) announces that its Caskeid wireless audio IP platform is set to be the first multiroom streaming solution to support MQA (Master Quality Authenticated), a revolutionary new British technology developed by Bob Stuart, founder of Meridian Audio that is bringing a whole new meaning to the sound of music.

Adding MQA support to Imagination's Caskeid wireless audio platform will enable licensees of the Caskeid family of technologies to develop wireless multiroom and multi-channel speakers that offer their customers the benefit of high-resolution audio experience throughout their homes. The Caskeid platform's class-leading sub 20µs synchronization technology is uniquely capable of delivering MQA's intended studio quality audio in a wireless multiroom or multi-channel environment.

Caskeid licensees and partners include Frontier Silicon, Media-Saturn Group, Onkyo, Pure and Meridian Audio with many more to follow.

"MQA is the result of years of work in a bid to elevate sound quality whilst ensuring convenience for the customer," said Bob Stuart, Meridian Audio chairman and co-founder. "The news that Imagination's Caskeid wireless audio platform, which is the only wireless multiroom synchronization technology out there that truly offers a platform for high quality audio, is to support MQA is very exciting as this will enable us and others to achieve the best audio reproduction in the wireless sphere whilst retaining the purity of the original source material."

"Integrating Meridian's MQA technology will elevate the listening experience and bring audio quality back to the center stage enabling music fans to hear content as the artist originally created," said Hossein Yassaie, CEO, Imagination. "We are delighted to be working with a company with such a respected audio heritage as Meridian to drive this agenda."

MQA, announced in December 2014, allows the listener to hear the sound exactly as it was captured in the studio. Rather than capturing the highest sample rates, MQA brings together the three ideals of studio-quality sound, convenience and end-to-end authenticity. It uses a completely new concept of capturing the total essence of an original recording and conveying it all the way to the listener, assuring that what is listened to is identical to the final recording.

MQA begins with the sound that's been signed off by the artist and producer. Every last subtlety of that recording is captured using a new sampling method that can resolve the finest nuances and important timing information delivering them to the player. The process is called 'Encapsulation" and it is informed by the latest neuroscience and psychoacoustic research that shows how people identify and locate sounds and that timing details of a few microseconds are important. MQA also uses innovative coding to build a file or stream which also delivers sophisticated metadata and can be delivered inside any lossless container, e.g. as ALAC, FLAC or WAV. Unlike the huge files from super-high-sample-rate systems, the MQA file is extremely efficiently encoded and yet it contains and protects all the sound of the original.

Caskeid is Imagination's wireless audio IP platform, a collection of class leading hardware and software technologies that deliver efficient and accurate wireless multiroom and multi-channel audio. Specifically, the Caskeid platform integrates advanced quality audio processing, wireless connectivity and synchronization (for the best sounding audio). It also incorporates effective low latency (for instant response across the system), intelligent management and configuration of the speaker system and a gateway to over-the-air cloud management and maintenance. Uniquely, Caskeid delivers outstanding audiophile-quality stereo playback with less than 20µs synchronization accuracy, providing a true 'Wi-Fi Hi-Fi' experience that is good enough to replace wires, satisfying even the most demanding audiophile.

Imagination will be working closely with 7digital, a leading digital music platform and MQA supporter, to ensure its licensees have access to a rich catalog of MQA encapsulated tracks that can be streamed to Caskeid-enabled speakers.

For more information, please visit www.imgtec.com and www.caskeid.com.

About Meridian Audio

Meridian Audio is based in Cambridgeshire, UK, and was founded in 1977 by psychoacoustics expert, Bob Stuart and design engineer, Allen Boothroyd. With over 35 years' history of innovation and development of uncompromised consumer home entertainment systems offering exceptional performance, this award-winning company is widely recognized as a world leader in high-quality audio and video reproduction. Meridian developed the first audiophile CD player, the world's first consumer digital surround controller, and the MLP lossless packing system included in Blu-ray Disc. The company's optical disc players, DSP-based loudspeakers, video projectors, and scalers are unique in the industry, maintaining a super-quality digital signal throughout the path from the studio to the home, using advanced digital signal processing to deliver natural sound and smooth, crystal-sharp images with true cinematic realism. In 2008, Meridian established its Automotive division and has since developed in-car entertainment systems featuring their unique Trifield technology for models including the McLaren MP12C supercar, the Range Rover Evoque, and more recently, the luxury Jaguar XJ Ultimate. www.meridian-audio.com

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination is a global technology leader whose products touch the lives of billions of people throughout the world. The company's broad range of silicon IP (intellectual property) includes the key multimedia, communications and general purpose processors needed to create the SoCs (Systems on Chips) that power all mobile, consumer, automotive, enterprise, infrastructure, IoT and embedded electronics. These are complemented by its unique software and cloud IP and system solution focus, enabling its licensees and partners get to market quickly by creating and leveraging highly differentiated SoC platforms. Imagination's licensees include many of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEMs/ODMs who are creating some of the world's most iconic and disruptive products. See: www.imgtec.com.

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