Unique fan-focused service comes to BluOS enabled products via previously announced adaptive streaming protocol
Lenbrook International, developer of the BluOS hi-res wireless premium distributed audio and music management platform, has integrated the Neil Young Archives (NYA), the high-resolution, studio-quality streaming online archive of famed Canadian-born rock icon, Neil Young, into the BluOS platform.
Effective immediately, Canada- and US- based users of BluOS Enabled products from NAD Electronics, Bluesound, and DALI Loudspeakers, will be prompted to update their players for the unique opportunity to freely sample Neil Young Archives’ “Song of the Day” and “Album of the Week” in high-resolution, with a tap of a button in the BluOS Controller app. Existing subscribers of the Neil Young Archives can simply enter their credentials into the “Add Music” area of the BluOS app to access the service, and those who wish to become a subscriber will find a link to the sign-up page on NYA’s website.
This integration is possible due to the addition of OraStream’s adaptive streaming protocol utilizing the MPEG 4 SLS codec in BluOS, introduced late last year as part of BluOS’s goal to maintain its leadership in offering high-resolution music content options for its users. Music files are encoded and delivered in their native resolution, thereby retaining and preserving the nuances and details of the original source file.
In 2018, Canadian-born Young launched his Neil Young Archives, an ambitious project that models a novel way for artists to distribute unique content to their fans without the damaging compression so prevalent in today’s mass market streaming music world. His website and app provide access to all of his audio, video, memorabilia, notes, lyrics, original manuscripts, and news.
Meanwhile, Canada-based Lenbrook International was in the midst of growing its reach with a new and modern audiophile customer seeking a completely new performance standard and user experience supporting high-resolution 24/192 audio streaming, layered with multi-room music capabilities. Such an innovative solution had never before been made commercially available and the Bluesound brand, with its BluOS operating system, had been setting new standards and winning awards worldwide since its launch in 2012.
This “Canadian connection” around high-resolution audio has been developing over a number of years, with Young even mentioning Lenbrook as an example of hardware manufacturers who remain dedicated to hi-res audio in his 2019 book co-written with Phil Baker, “To Feel the Music.”
“Perhaps an under-appreciated point for those who want to experience hi-res audio is that it takes two elements working together to achieve the optimal outcome,” explains Gordon Simmonds, President and CEO of the Lenbrook Group of Companies. ”Hi-res audio is only possible when both the content is offered in hi-res and the audio equipment that music lovers use can decode that content in its highest quality. In this integration, we have put these two pieces together for the end consumer to enjoy, simply and elegantly.”
Beyond just the technical integration of Young’s service with BluOS, the agreement also demonstrates how a content creator and a home audio equipment provider can collaborate and model an effective and simple solution for music lovers to access and enjoy a unique and fully high-resolution streaming experience.
“It is important to me to be able to offer my life’s work to music lovers in its highest resolution. I want them to experience my music in the absolute best quality possible on their devices,” says Young. “Creating Neil Young Archives has enabled me to support and partner with established hi-res audio brands using BluOS to achieve great improvement over mainstream consumer devices and bring the true beauty of music to you.”
“Although my music already sounds better on all devices because our master’s high-resolution source is so pure,” Young continues, “to reach its true potential, it will sound even better with BluOS Enabled products!”
“This is how the hi-res masters enable the very best quality for all music lovers, combining the best source with superior playback of devices using BluOS, designed to provide all the music and easily unwraps the true emotional hit from my hi-res music.”
The Neil Young Archives, described as a “Revolution in fandom” by The Guardian, is a website and app where fans have access to Neil Young’s audio, video, memorabilia, notes, lyrics, original manuscripts and an eight-page newspaper. It’s where Young is continually adding new content and where his fans and he communicate with each other. It went live a little over a year ago and has tens of thousands of paid members. A subscription costs $19.99 per year.
BluOS is a premium multi-room audio ecosystem that manages stored and cloud music sources and playback, with support for high-resolution audio streams up to 24/192. Adopted by some of the most renowned hifi audio brands and integrated with numerous smarthome and voice control systems, BluOS allows for interoperability among enabled devices across brands for maximum versatility and use cases. Integrations with popular streaming music services like Tidal, Spotify, Amazon Music HD, Qobuz, and Deezer, as well as featuring support for FLAC, WAV, OraStream, MQA, and other high-resolution formats and codecs, BluOS offers virtually unlimited access to music of all genres for any occasion. Made up of an operating system and a control application for smart phones, tablets, and PC desktops, BluOS is the ultimate choice for the modern audiophile.
