---
license: openmdw-1.1
base_model: poolside/Laguna-XS-2.1
base_model_relation: quantized
library_name: mlx
pipeline_tag: text-generation
tags:
  - mlx
  - laguna
  - quantized
  - 4-bit
  - imatrix
  - sbq
  - apple-silicon
---

# Laguna-XS-2.1-sbQ-4bit

A 4-bit imatrix MLX quantization of [poolside/Laguna-XS-2.1](https://hf.co/poolside/Laguna-XS-2.1),
calibrated on a generic code + multilingual corpus.

**This repo exists as the control.** It is the exact same build — same bits,
same tool, same commit — as
[Laguna-XS-2.1-sbQ-cal-4bit](https://hf.co/SoftBacon-Software/Laguna-XS-2.1-sbQ-cal-4bit),
except the imatrix calibration corpus: generic text here, real agent traces
there. The comparison between the two is the finding — calibration shifts
behaviour and speed at equal perplexity — and a comparison you cannot
reproduce is a story, so both sides are published. Read the sbQ-cal card for
the full grid and the probe battery; this card carries this build's own
numbers.

Published by [SoftBacon Software](https://hf.co/SoftBacon-Software). We
publish the whole ladder, losing rungs included. On behavioural probes this
build ties or loses to its agent-calibrated sibling on every probe (by 1–2
passes of 96, zero inversions) — that is precisely why it is here.

## Measurements (same regime as the sbQ-cal card, 2026-08-23/24)

| | this build | sbQ-cal-4bit |
|---|---|---|
| size | 18 GB | 18 GB |
| decode tok/s | **136.5** | 131.5 |
| speculative tok/s | **320.6** | 315.8 |
| held-out NLL (merged split, cap 8192) | 1.4806 | **1.4802** |
| needle n=72 | 71/72 | 71/72 |
| verify_before_assert (n=96) | 0.833 | **0.844** |
| say_not_measured (n=96) | 0.354 | **0.375** |

It is the slightly **faster** of the pair — calibration shapes bit
allocation, and bit allocation shapes the compute layout — so if you want
raw decode speed over agentic-behaviour margins, this is the rung to take.
The single dropped needle cell (`ctx32000_pos0.5`) is dropped by the 8-bit
reference too: workload artifact, not quant damage.

Full expert-activation report from calibration: `oq_imatrix_report.json`
(0 dark experts of 256 for this corpus).

## What's in the repo

MLX safetensors + tokenizer + chat template, `PROVENANCE.md`,
`oq_build.json`, `oq_imatrix_report.json`, and `LICENSE.md` (OpenMDW-1.1,
inherited from the base model).

## Reproduce

Build tool and measurement harness: [github.com/SoftBacon-Software](https://github.com/SoftBacon-Software).
Built from poolside's official BF16 with no third party in the chain. The
`sbQ` family name marks SoftBacon builds — unrelated to poolside releases
and to community `oQ`-series quants.