RMAF 2018 – MQA Live: Streaming Your Favorite Concerts in High-Res

Streaming live concerts to your TV or mobile device isn’t anything new. I’ve watched a few on Youtube, including one by Linkin Park last year. Although the concert was sold out at the Hollywood Bowl (a few miles away), I was able to enjoy the performance on an OLED TV and an 11 speaker surround system – in my underwear. The only drawback was the quality of the audio stream. It was veiled, flat, and muddied and took away from the illusion of actually being there.

MQA Live sets out to solve this with high-res, real-time streaming.

We’re pretty neutral when it comes to these format wars. Some sound better or worse – and you have a choice. Which in itself, could be a blessing or a curse. With the heavy shift towards music streaming services, we believe artists should receive their fair share. Without their hard work and creativity, none of this even matters.

MQA Live was streamed into many MQA partner rooms at RMAF. We were, fortunately, able to catch the stream in Mark Levison room. With MQA live, we were able to enjoy a performance by the Misha Mullov-Abbado Group – who were performing in London at the time. With the Revel 3-way F228Be loudspeakers and Mark Levinson electronics, we were pleasantly surprised at the resolution, dynamics, and overall rawness of the performance. It was a fascinating and a uniquely fun experience.

Not sure about others, but if I can’t fly out to New York to see Eric Clapton live, I would gladly pay to be a part of that experience – especially with a decent Hi-Fi system. I believe, with high-res stereo, there’s probably no need for a surround sound system in order to be immersed and compelled. For this reason, MQA Live may be a viable proposition for many audiophiles.

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