I don’t think that’s what he is saying at all. What I would say is use your ears in your system and play what you prefer.
For me, it’s been MQA all the way.
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I agree. But SACD had (has?) a greater longevity than DVD-A.
So what? I don’t know anyone with an SACD player unless it’s grouped into some games console.
I don’t know anyone who buys SACD’s so it really is a niche market among enthusiasts.
Chris, I liked MQA when I was listening to it. And I know that you’re a big supporter.
But don’t you see that it’s effectively ‘dead in the water’ now?
I absolutely LOVE SACD 
I have a collection of around two-thousand SACD’s.
And even now I still buy the occasional SACD, to play on my beautiful Esoteric K-01X BH 
That’s brilliant and long may you continue…
I have purchased and ripped 60 SACDs in the last year. The main criterion for buying a SACD is if the mastering is as good or better than the best CD masterings available. DSD64 is better sounding in my setup than 16/44.1 PCM.
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With new releases from major artists every week, I would disagree. Just enjoyed Boz Skaggs and Brandy Clark in MQA and they sounded great.
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Well, I think it says a lot about SACD that new titles are still being produced twenty-years after it was originally launched 
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All I can go by is what he wrote. What he wrote is not logical.
Good.
But how long can MQA continue to ‘tread water’? Amazon Music HD hasn’t used it. And nor has Qobuz. And how many people buy MQA downloads and MQA CD’s?
We will just have to wait and see, I expect they have plans afoot. Non of us actually know these things.
Yeah, I know Chris.
But I do think that ‘the writing’s on the wall’ with respect to MQA’s future…?
I have heard MP3’s that sounded better than vinyl, so what’s your point? Like I said, when I listen to an album, I don’t care how it was mastered: analog or digital. I care about the final products sound.
So if I like the MQA version better than a vinyl or cd version, I really don’t care what mastering technique was used.
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Oh yea it is dead. With over 24,000 albums and tracks available it has passed the number of DSD releases.
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My point is and has always been that the mastering matters more than the format. Just because you have heard MP3 albums that sounds better than vinyl albums doesn’t mean that MP3 is superior to vinyl. It means the MP3 album mastering was superior to the vinyl mastering. Conversely, I would not say that MP3 is superior to MQA just because I heard an MP3 album that sounded better than an MQA album.
It’s when you compare MQA and and non-MQA album releases with the same sample rate AND mastering that you are doing an apples to apples comparison.
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Their next financials should make for interesting reading. I expect they’ll file around Nov for 2019.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09123512/filing-history
MQA has posted multi-million pound losses for the last couple of years.
I wonder if they’ll post a profit this year?
That may be true but I then laugh when the argument that MQA are making money of hapless consumers raises its head.
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I find it interesting how every MQA thread rehashes the same arguments from both sides. I think we know them by heart now …
Just enjoy the music, whatever format you prefer.
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