Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band: The Roxy July 7, 1978

Talk about choices! Let’s talk about these download options.

Which one should you buy? Here’s my take.

MP3. Never buy an MP3 unless there’s no other choice because MP3 offers lower quality reproduction than…
Lossless. All round a great choice since you are getting a bit-perfect copy of the CD-Quality recording
HD-Audio. The way I see it, HD-Audio should cost the same as Lossless. Anywho, in this case, Engineer Jon Altschiller worked from a “24 track 2″ 15 IPS tape source” so we can assume he created the HD (24-bit/192kHz) files directly from this source. For those wanting an incremental gain in sound quality and don’t mind paying the premium, this is the choice.
DSD. Forget it. $50 for DSD is not worth it. If you’re that into DSD, you probably already own HQPlayer which can send any file to your DAC as DSD.
CD. Unless you’re in love with your CD player, the lossless download delivers the same files and if your computer audio stuff is up to snuff, the download will sound better than the CD.
CD+MP3.The worst choice of the bunch since you can make your own MP3s, why would you?, from the ripped CD for free.

But wait, there’s more! When you select the HD option, you get 3 more choices!

FLAC-HD. FLAC is a lossless format and a great choice. The only problem with FLAC is Apple does not support it.
ALAC-HD. If you live in Apple-land and want the HD-version this is your choice.
MQA. MQA is a relatively new-on-the-scene format/codec. If you do not own an MQA-capable device, this 24/192 download will not play back at 24/192. Some say it will still sound better, others say it won’t. If you’ve never heard of MQA, stick with option 1 or 2.

Onto the music. I happen to be a Bruce fan, being from NJ and all, and this is a legendary set. A four-hour performance for 500 people, which is ‘intimate’ is Springsteen terms. I’m going to buy it. I may even go for the HD-version if I can get past the price.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band: The Roxy July 7, 1978 is available directly from live.brucespringsteen.net.

I bet the lossless download is going to sound better than this