Newtonian mechanics is still used for most mechanical engineering, no one uses quantum physics or relativity which apply at extremes. Feel free to provide references to proven papers, not marketing brochures please, that show how Bob and the MQA crowd have improved on proven information theory.
BTW, do different colour socks also represent a paradigm shift in footwear?
Regardless of oneās opinions on MQA, I think youād struggle to categorise it as a āparadigm shiftā in any meaningful way.
I also think we need to see the wider picture. That vast majority of MQA is accessed via streaming. But MQA (and indeed all HiRes streaming) makes up a relatively small proportion of the streaming market. Spotify remains top-dog and there is no evidence that MQA will change that. It would appear that most people who use streaming services arenāt bothered about redbook, never mind MQA and HiRes.
Read the MQA is disappointing thread if you you want to see passionately for.
Iāve spoken to a couple well known DAC designers who have publicly said we have no need for MQA but these manufacturers have had a lot of demand for MQA support which is why their products support it.
They said they see some of the popular āagainstā MQA threads and said the demand āforā MQA (phone calls, emails from customers) outnumbers the numbers āagainstā they see on these popular forumsā¦
Remember forums can sometimes be an inaccurate representation of the populationā¦ Iām only talking āaudiophileā population in this case - not real world population with the crazy big Spotify and Apple Music numbersā¦
Adding MQA support has now become almost ubiquitous in new DACs over a certain price. Topping released the D90 with and without MQA, but the newly released D70s is only available with MQA. New DACs from SMSL and Gustard are the same. Canāt blame them, even if designers are often less keen. Regardless of my opinion about MQA, I have to admire their marketing!
People have been predicting an MQA takeover for some time (years) now and it hasnāt happened. I understand that the recent Warner dump has caused anxiety, but until FLAC files are removed from Qobuz I wonāt be losing too much sleep.
Will be interesting to see them add this to all old Tesla models, and walk around people that state this needs to be done with special MQA hardware.
I personally think MQA is an anti-feature, and wish all the principals behind it ruin and cursed loins to the tenth generation, but I couldnāt be arsed to call up some DAC manufacturer to mope about it. Iād maybe bother if the MQA filters on everything bugs were widespread, but even thenā¦ Likewise, Iāve paid MQA tax through RoonLabs, and didnāt send a nastygram to Team Roon, either, because even though it isnāt something that I personally appreciate, contrary to a number of the MQA proponents, Iām not enough of a piece of human garbage to ask others to foot the bill for my delusions, or risk other peopleās liberty in the name of my own.
If Iām not mistaken, thereās hardware support in the ESS chips theyāre using is why weāre seeing that. How much it costs (both directly and / or indirectly) to flip the switch, I donāt know, but Iād be curious - @wklie, you got anything you can tell us ?
Crazy what you can do to a niche market filled with anxious rich customers when you have tens of millions to burnā¦
Only the very latest ESS chips have built-in MQA support. I am not aware of common audiophile DAC using those yet, other than announcements like a MQA headphone from a computer peripheral manufacturer.
Of the many MQA ESS implementations (including our non-mobile ES9018S, ES9028PRO, ES9038PRO products), manufacturers have other means of providing MQA on those chips without ESS MQA hardware support. Even with those latest MQA ESS chips, I suspect they do MQA rendering only and manufacturers still need the MQA core decoding plus other stuff and going through certification, etc.
For those people who fail to understand why others demand this technology that they hate, Iād rephrase the issue as simply whether a product decodes all formats from Tidal. If it does not decode all formats designated by Tidal, this is simply not a product that supports Tidal properly.
Oh, Iād completely understood that part. Why theyād make DAC manufacturers foot the bill rather than taking it up with Tidal is completely beyond me. I mean, it should be Tidalās problem if they donāt support common standards properly, no ?
Gustard X16 DAC is using these ESS chips with MQA support. As I could read in the ASR forum, all people who ordered it are still waiting, because Gustard did not do the licensing process with MQA. There was a discussion, if the chip needs to be certified or the DAC. Anyway, delivery is postponed.
EDIT: seems like they paid the license fees. They are shipping now.
Shhtā¦ donāt say that, Team MQAās going to come out and spin that as Stuartās genius helping DAC manufacturers achieve - infinity THD+N.
Theyāre on route now and I think one two two have arrived.
2L albums on Qobuz are now only available in MQA. 
I hope this isnāt the start of a trend on Qobuz.
Thatās what the producer wants and considers best, I hope we have more of this.
This whole anti-choice thing with MQA is my main objection with it.
I understand youāre happy with it, but that shouldnāt mean the rest if us shouldnāt have any choice.
Or heās just a gullible fool who doesnāt understand information theory.
The response I received from my email to 2L expressing my disappointment with their decision would indicate you are correct.
