Hi Gorch, thank you for the sound description. Myself I also play tunes from NativeDSD which some of are of excellent clarity. Listening Rock, Rockabilly, Blues and some Jazz basically my own CDs ripped with dbPoweramp CD Ripper. Using Audirvana 3.5 and WASAPI on Win10. The sound is related to the kind of music very good and one can hear the differences of the variuous recordings. So to say my Stereo is better than many of the CD´s recording quality. What I did not get is what loudspeaker do you use or is it earphones? This would be beneficial for me to justify the reproduced sound quality compared to my equipment. What do you mean with Vinyl signal chain. Is it playing real vinyl LP discs or were these digitized? According to my experience many vinyl discs have a lot of flaws kike distortion and tonal misaligment as well the signal went through a compressor prior to cutting the disc master. This is mostly not the case if the whole process was digital like NativeDSD does it for their own studio recording.
But don’t expect a cheap upgrade price when a new version comes out.
So Jim, to paraphrase your post: “You don’t know that, and I suspect that is incorrect”.
I think the fact neither of us actually “know” is the correct answer to this conundrum.
Here is the beauty of buying a master license. I don’t have to upgrade if I don’t want to. And I can still use my current version as long as I want. So if I am happy with the sound quality that I get now, why do I need to upgrade anyway?
Maybe, Maybe not. The software will not be supported for ever (I think the last version was supported for 2 years*). After support has ended, if during this time, an OS or driver upgrade caused the software to stop working, you may well be out of luck.
I owned the license for HQPlayer version 3 for 2 years when version 4 was introduced. HQPlayer 3 still works but various annoying things that should have been fixed (re library and interface) in that version were not.
I’m still using the old V3 of HQPlayer, and it runs perfectly on Big Sur.
And I’m still running A+ 2.5 on Big Sur. It runs better than AS. It’s free of bugs, and never crushes.
Will it work on an M1 machine?
3.5 is already native on M1 and on Big Sur
Yes, it should.
M1 Macs have Rosetta that allows to intel apps to run as they were native. There might be a small difference in speed versus a native app, but these Macs are so powerful that they often run Intel apps faster than the Intel Macs.
I will probably upgrade when I’ll buy an Apple Silicon Mac.
Let me put it this way. As subjective as it is, HQPlayer sounds superior to AS as far as I’m concerned. Secondly, I found the developer of HQPlayer very helpful. He responded to my questions promptly and provided additional information to help me search for better sound.
The master license I have even allowed me to use on the Linus OS system. The customer service and the help I received worth every penny I paid for the HQPlayer master license.
As to the continuing support beyond two years, as long as Windows 10 doesn’t morph into something completely different, I’m sure it will last more than five years. Think about it, if HQPlayer works to my satisfaction now, I won’t need any active support anyway. So, it is okay if the developer no longer “actively” supports V4 in 2024. As to the “driver” update, that will come from the DAC I’m using. So, no, I am not worried about the long-term support.
If you’re using the Linux version, it should run perfectly with this OS even in ten years.
Sound good to me!!! All WITHOUT paying a monthly or annual subscription fee! 
Two years are too little for an application. Nobody replaces his applications every two years.
An application should last at least five years.
EDIT
It doesn’t matter if it’s a music player or a text processor.
Good for you. Read this:
You use the word perfectly very liberally I see.
As far as Damien being hard at work every day fixing bugs, how can you possibly know that.
I can just as easily state that he’s taking a week vacation and celebrating Bastille Day.
Windows 11 is around the corner: