Ah yes. For disc releases I can see that single inventory may well be attractive.
And the logic is that if people come to think MQA based on 44.1k/16 is OK for 'high rez' that can be rolled over into using it for some 'high rez'.
Given some of the 'dubious high rez' examples HFN shows up each month now, how long before downloaded high rez files that are *not* themselves MQA show the signs of having been 'expanded' from an MQA Audio CD? Given the mess that HDCD has made, I assume it *will* happen. Just a question of when and how often.
However my main concern with decisions to *only* make a 'CD' available with MQA is that it may mean that people who prefer CD will be left to lump it, even if the result is only 13 or 14 bits per sample as LPCM. You can't buy what they won't sell.
The bottom line for me is that I'm not bothered by MQA being offered as an 'option'. But I *am* worried if it means other choices are removed. e.g. the removal of well made plain LPCM Red Book Audio CDs.
FWIW I did see the 'Stereophile' thread on the Chesky CD. I have actually emailed JA about it. But I have no idea if he'll read and then respond or agree at all.
But more generally, it is a bit (pun alert) of a worry if professionals in the audio area aren't twigging that bits used for non-LPCM purposes means bits lost from the 'pool' available for LPCM. Information Theory is pretty firm about this.
If the total available bitrate is X and the rate used up for non-LPCM is Y then the amount available for LPCM is X-Y. You can play stats with how you reshuffle the data, but that rule isn't going to change.
The best you can do is 'scramble' the 'lost bits' to make them like 'added noise' when played as LPCM. And as has already been pointed out, well made Audio CDs are noise shaped *now*. So that can't be pulled out of a hat to magically recover what was lost compared to such a CD.
If people decide that 'lost bits' MQA Audio CDs sound fine when played as plain LPCM then the implication is that Philips early idea to use 14bit samples, not 16, would also have been fine. But how many audiophiles would agree with that?! Many has complained for years that *16* isn't enough.