Not being able to go out and enjoy live music sucks.
Usually, one of my favorite things to do is hit up a jazz club and watch the band cook up something marvelous. Well, during this time of “stay at home” or “safer at home” or whatever they call it in your state, that’s ceased to be an option, at least for a time.
If you’re like me, and you’re looking for another way to get your concert fix, then check out MQA’s British Music Embassy (BME) sessions in HD video with MQA Audio. These performances are among the first of their kind, utilizing MQA to provide studio-quality audio alongside a crystal clear video stream.
The streams are free to watch on MQA’s website and include sets from phenomenal jazz artists like Theon Cross (who I’ve featured on the site) and Noya Rao.
I’m a big fan of MQA technology. With MQA, content creators can fold the full quality of a 24-bit studio recording into a relatively small FLAC file for audio-only playback, or package it with HD video for a high-resolution viewing experience.
While pretty much any DAC should allow you to hear the superior quality of the MQA audio track, if you want to listen to it in its full 24-bit glory, you should get an MQA enabled DAC. It will “unfold” the sound and reproduce the music as it was recorded in the studio.
For more info on how MQA works, check out this article.
Bluesound and NAD make some great amps and streamers with MQA DACs built-in (including the NAD D3045 DAC/Amp, which I reviewed), and you can also get some affordable USB DAC’s with MQA tech like the Zorloo Ztella, and the AudioQuest Dragonfly.
You can also check out the MQA audio-only versions on TIDAL. (Use the links below)
Here’s a list of performances currently available:
Theon Cross
Hailed as a ‘prodigious young talent’ by the New York Times, award-winning progressive jazz tuba player and composer, Theon Cross, was included in Paste Magazine’s “The 20 Artists We Most Wanted to See at SXSW 2020”. For the first time, experience this recording in HD video with MQA sound.
https://www.mqa.co.uk/mqa-
live/bme-sessions Daniel Casimir and Tess Hirst
Described by Clash Magazine as ‘deft and soulful’, this special collaboration combines the contemporary jazz talents of bassist Daniel Casimir and vocalist Tess Hirst. For the first time, experience this recording in HD video with MQA sound.
https://www.mqa.co.uk/mqa-
live/bme-sessions Dominique Fils-Aime
The Montreal singer-songwriter’s rich and bluesy voice is showcased to maximum effect in the title track from her debut album. For the first time, experience this recording in HD video with MQA sound. She said, “I’m so glad to share my music in MQA for the world to hear every detail that went into the original recordings.”
https://www.mqa.co.uk/mqa-
video/dominique-fils-aime ‘Et Misericordia’ is the fourth movement from Kim André Arnesen’s Grammy-nominated Magnificat album released by Norwegian label 2L. For the first time, experience this performance in HD video with MQA sound:
I’m an audio writer who started as a young audio salesman/consumer electronics professional back in the late 90s. That’s where I discovered the magic of 2-Channel sound. My thirst for great sound has led me on a delightful music quest that continues today.
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