This is my conundrum at the moment.

Tidal doing MQA over USB into an 818v2 into non-MQA DSPs vs. Tidal into 818v3 doing MQA into non-MQA DSPs. No DAC-related rendering is possible in either scenario.

Can MQA and Meridian really claim that the software MQA decoder in Tidal really betters the hardware MQA decoder in the 818v3 (and 218) when the output from both is 24/96, i.e. before the post-rendering stage?

In the spirit of Spinaltap, I would like to confirm that I am not involved in the corrupt theft of a global sport.