Is this MQA news a big deal?

rbstehno,First off my $7000 will not be wasted. Years of enjoying all my already owned CDs await me.
Even is I did ever decide to join the stampede to MQA, buying another decoder which can play it is no big deal. I know PLENTY of folks who wait to do anything, never actually committing  hoping to hit the right wave. Sadly they never get anywhere, always waiting... LOLI made a choice that is right for me now. Your need may vary.

@ptss

My statement:

2 - DRM prevents copying. MQA does not do this. I can make copies and send them to others. If they have an MQA capable player, it will play at full resolution.

Was specifically about Digital Rights Management, which MQA has nothing to do with. Any MQA file may be copied by any file copy method. Those copies all retain the same qualities of the original MQA file and therefore it is not DRM.

It is closer to "Dolby Surround" in that any stereo can pay back "Dolby Surround" but only Dolby branded decoders will enable the full 4 channel playback. But Dolby Surround does not in anyway prevent copying.

Best,
Erik

I am listening to MQA Master albums at several resolutions from 24/44 up to 24/385 and am very impressed what the new format achieves and how it improves the sound quality. One of the better articles out there explaining MQA is this one https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mqa-time-domain-accuracy-digital-audio-quality