I think you completely missed the point regarding DX5 Lite on the "$100" MQA fee.
The cheapest MQA decoding USB dongle (*a random Chinese brand) that I can find via a quick Google search is about $75. If the actual licensing fee of MQA per device is actually $100, that means the USB dongle I just found would be sold, even at full price, at a loss. That is simply impossible. With most MQA capable all-in-one DAC chip, you actually already paid the license to use its MQA decoding capability when you paid for the chip itself. Even if DAC/amp manufacturer decided to acquire a separate license, those are usually in some kind of bulk licensing agreement that deal with a large, but non-specified number of units that will more than cover many future products instead of individual product rolling out of production line everyday.
So why Topping chooses to 'save' people the $100 MQA fee? Well, they didn't. MQA per individual unit is probably a few cents to a few dollars depends on what kind of license Topping has. However, giving so small a discount will make no sense to the customer. Topping needs to make enough discount to make sure people who don't use or even dislike MQA think the DX5 Lite models make for a better value by giving it a big price cut, otherwise people will just going to opt for the regular DX5 (and more like not buying one altogether). In short, Topping really just want to sell more DX5 quick (*maybe the regular DX5 is selling slower than they were hoping for?), so they create an illusion to incentivize those who have no interest in MQA to take a look at a product they would otherwise skip. That $100 is cutting into Topping's own profit, not MQA's.
