When I had hardware capable of MQA decoding (hardware which went belly up a mere couple days after the warranty expired🤣), I had already decided that I enjoyed the fidelity I got from non-MQA capable Qobuz more than I got from the MQA capable Tidal. In other words, sure MQA was okay, but it didn't make enough of a difference to keep me wedded to the format.
Using streaming as a main source ---DSD, FLAC, MQA Streamers and DACS
As I read these forums, and watch copious amounts of Youtube, I'm struck by what a bad idea some of the streaming / digital formats are doing. I'm trying to build a system where I have a streamer, dad, and amplifier (with pre-amp) as separate components but what I keep finding is that the streaming/digital world is totally confused.
--MQA--
MQA seems to be both advancing with new MQair support and dying (few audiophiles seem to like it).
-- DSD --
Seems to be favored by High-end audiophiles but not streaming services.
-- FLAC --
FLAC seems to be pushed by Qobuz which seems to be the preferred service for high quality audio (but not for music recommendations).
Choosing a Streamer / DAC is a nightmare -- given the industry going back and forth on quality, formats, special licensing. Does one choose the formats they want to use and then find appropriate DAC etc or does one choose a DAC that sounds great and then accept its limitations.
I don't understand why streamers don't commit to upscaling to 24/192 or DSD256 for any format so the DAC peeps can focus on a single format.
So how does one decide where to start?