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arXiv · 2603.01592

TQCodec: Towards neural audio codec for high-fidelity music streaming

Lixing He·Zhouxuan Chen·Mingshuai Liu·Xinran Sun·Wucheng Wang·Minfu Li·Lingcheng Kong·Weifeng Zhao·Wenjiang Zhou
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Abstract

We propose TQCodec, a neural audio codec designed for high-bitrate, high-fidelity music streaming. Unlike existing neural codecs that primarily target ultra-low bitrates (<= 16kbps), TQCodec operates at 44.1 kHz and supports bitrates from 32 kbps to 128 kbps, aligning with the standard quality of modern music streaming platforms. The model adopts an encoder-decoder architecture based on SEANet for efficient on-device computation and introduces several enhancements: an imbalanced network design for improved quality with low overhead, SimVQ for mid-frequency detail preservation, and a phase-aware waveform loss. Additionally, we introduce a perception-driven band-wise bit allocation strategy to prioritize perceptually critical lower frequencies. Evaluations on diverse music datasets demonstrate that TQCodec achieves superior audio quality at target bitrates, making it well-suited for high-quality audio applications.

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Lixing He, Zhouxuan Chen, Mingshuai Liu, Xinran Sun, Wucheng Wang, Minfu Li, Lingcheng Kong, Weifeng Zhao, Wenjiang Zhou. 2026-03-02. TQCodec: Towards neural audio codec for high-fidelity music streaming. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.01592

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