Converting between lossless files?

Tommy B

Tommy B

Tommy B

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Say I've got a collection of flac files. If I use dBpoweramp to convert them into Apple Lossless Files (for playback in iTunes) - is there any loss in quality during this process?

Cheers,
 
Oh, and whilst we're on the subject.

Is there actually any benefit in encoding your music in lossless. I've got an X-Fi (soon to be replaced with M-Audio kit) with absolutely NO sound enhancers/EQs etc connected to a NAD32BEE amp and a pair of Eltax Symphony 6 floor standers.
 
Lossless -> Lossless - shouldn't lose anything.

Don't know how dbpoweramp works though. I use Foobar2000 for all lossless conversions.

As for any benefit with lossless. Well, it's exactly whats on the CD, so it sounds exactly the same. MP3/AAC/WMA etc... lose parts of the audio to compress the files better.

Stick with FLAC and convert form there as necessary.

Simon/~Flibster
 
I don't think you will lose anything. Just bought dbPoweramp Reference and it supports Dual-core, conversion now is much much quicker :)
 
Tommy B said:
Oh, and whilst we're on the subject.

Is there actually any benefit in encoding your music in lossless. I've got an X-Fi (soon to be replaced with M-Audio kit) with absolutely NO sound enhancers/EQs etc connected to a NAD32BEE amp and a pair of Eltax Symphony 6 floor standers.
Click to expand...

yep mucho benefit, your basicly (As Flibster said) getting a direct copy of the original CD with no loss of audio quality and tbh I would'nt want to put anything less than flac (or any lossless format) through your Nad320bee amp tbh, what M-audio are you looking to get, I recently got an X-fi but am still temped with the M-Audio 192, I even brought the 1/4" jack to phono adapters ready just in case :D.
 
I tried FLAC for the first time a few months ago, was blown away by the difference between that at the 32-320kbps VBR MP3's I was using on my iAudio.

So much so that I spent 3 months re-converting all my audio cd's. 1750ish of them..... Also had to buy a couple of new hdd's for the server.

Will have to have a look at dbPoweramp though. Sounds interesting.

Simon/~Flibster
 
Even if you can't tell the difference, it's worth going lossless just to eliminate any weak link in the chain. Kind of illogical to spend money on nice equipment then feed it a compromised signal. :)
 
Flibster said:
I tried FLAC for the first time a few months ago, was blown away by the difference between that at the 32-320kbps VBR MP3's I was using on my iAudio.

So much so that I spent 3 months re-converting all my audio cd's. 1750ish of them..... Also had to buy a couple of new hdd's for the server.

Will have to have a look at dbPoweramp though. Sounds interesting.

Simon/~Flibster
Click to expand...

out if intrest what compression setting did you use ?, I'm using 5 at the moment.
 
lowrider007 said:
out if intrest what compression setting did you use ?, I'm using 5 at the moment.
Click to expand...

I always use level 8.
It's not that much slower but produces smallest files. Although when you have to do 1750 CD's, file size matters. ;)

Seems to average out at 392mb per CD. 690gb *near enough* in total.

Simon/~Flibster
 
I have been looking at getting my music files into iTunes as ALAC files on my MacBook (and might be getting an iPod)- they are in APE format at the moment.

Downloaded dbpoweramp converter and Max.

But now thinking of just converting them to Mp3 (LAME), as probably not worth it for an iPod - not enough space for Lossless.
 
The one thing I've noticed about Lossless is it doesn't distort. I can turn the volume up as much as I want and it will still sound perfect. The other thing is the bass response is much better. It's much more smooth, and doesn't distort like it does in MP3s.

I've ripped all my CDs to Apple Lossless and converted all my FLACs to Apple Lossless Codec.

I'm now debating whether to dump the X-Fi and get some sort of M-Audio product.
 
So If I use iTunes to encode an Apple Lossless File to a 320kbps MP3 file, will that be the same as if I'd used the CD as the source?

Basically, so if a friend lends me a load of CDs, I can rip them to lossless but then convert the songs I don't like as much down to save disk space?
 
Yeah. Transcoding from lossless to MP3 shouldn't be any more destructuve, as long as the application doesn't do something wacky, which I doubt iTunes does.
 
Tommy B said:
So If I use iTunes to encode an Apple Lossless File to a 320kbps MP3 file, will that be the same as if I'd used the CD as the source?

Basically, so if a friend lends me a load of CDs, I can rip them to lossless but then convert the songs I don't like as much down to save disk space?
Click to expand...

Yes - that should be fine.
 
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