It seems I have some forum re-reading to do Carl, I was under the impression the speakers would play the decoded material fed from some piece of MQA enabled equipment as is.
They will, up to 96/24 max.
An uplift to SE seems expensive on top of additional hardware needed.
You don't need the uplift to enjoy MQA up to 96/24, but the SEs do add a whole new dimension. Perhaps a longer term aspiration?
Is Carl's point ref the need to move to SE relevant in this context Joel?
Not quite sure what you are asking, but if you want to stream 96/24 (which was always my dream) you don't need the SE upgrade to do it. Outputting 96/24 *unencrypted* PCM is allowed (the 818v3 does it!) so there are lots of options.