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Topic: Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC (Read 5571 times) previous topic - next topic
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Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

If I were to buy a Gen 3 iPod, and use iTunes to transcode my massive 320kbps MP3 collection to 256kbps AAC, would I get about the same quality?

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #1 –
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If I were to buy a Gen 3 iPod, and use iTunes to transcode my massive 320kbps MP3 collection to 256kbps AAC, would I get about the same quality?

no. you will never reach the same quality as your mp3s, simply because you're transcoding. if the difference is audible to you, that's another question.
ot: dont you think 256 (cbr?) aac is a little overkill?

[span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%']edit: spelling[/span]
Nothing but a Heartache - Since I found my Baby ;)

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #2 –
Not really. If 256 AAC is overkill, then why to we have lossless?

I have quite sensative ears to lossy compression.

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #4 –
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Not really. If 256 AAC is overkill, then why to we have lossless?

I had the idea you did that for the 'warm fuzzy feeling'.

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If you are quite sensitive to lossy compression, keep your 320kbps MP3s!
on point 
Nothing but a Heartache - Since I found my Baby ;)

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #5 –
Well, I would just keep my 320 MP3s, but with the way I'm going, I'd rapidly use up the 40GB on an iPod, so I was wondering if transcoding to AAC 256 would give me roughly the same quality so I could store more tunes on it

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #6 –
If you transcode you will lose quality.  In your case 256 AAC will sound inferior to your 320 MP3s since you want to transcode them.  If you reripped your CD collection to 256 AAC then it probably will sound better than your 320 MP3s.  Have you ever done any ABX testing to see what your transparency bitrate is for AAC?  You may find that you can't tell a difference with a lower bitrate and that would be beneficial to your iPod in terms of hard drive space and battery usage.  I found my music is transparent to me at 128 kbps AAC for the most part so I chose it.  Sounds great on higher quality stereo equipment to me and perfect for my future iPod.

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #7 –
Quote
Well, I would just keep my 320 MP3s, but with the way I'm going, I'd rapidly use up the 40GB on an iPod, so I was wondering if transcoding to AAC 256 would give me roughly the same quality so I could store more tunes on it

Are you or are you not "quite sensitive" to lossy compression?

If you really are, I think you will notice the difference right away.

I wouldn't (I can't, really; I've tested, I recommend you do the same)
I'm the one in the picture, sitting on a giant cabbage in Mexico, circa 1978.
Reseñas de Rock en Español: www.estadogeneral.com

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #8 –
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If I were to buy a Gen 3 iPod...

Do you have more than 40GB of music?  If not, then the point is moot, isn't it? 

In the future, (if you're sticking with .mp3), I recommend encoding with --alt preset standard.  fwiw, it's what I use on my (only) 10GB 1st gen iPod.  Check out the FAQ for much more detail.

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #9 –
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Not really. If 256 AAC is overkill, then why to we have lossless?

Not for the purpose of perceptual transparency.  That can be reached quite often with LAME --alt-preset standard, or AAC at mid-high bitrates.  Lossless is used mainly for archival, as a transcoding source, or (like in my case) for hardware platform compatibility if you want gapless playback and have plenty of HD space.

As for whether you should transcode your MP3s to AAC...like AtaqueEG says, test some of your tracks with your own ears.  For a test platform, try WinABX or ABC/HR.

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #10 –
Hi all,
I would like to know if there is any quality loss in transcoding APE files to AAC. What I do is decompressing APE files. Then I encode the resulting .wav file with nero aacenc. Am I lossing quality doing it that way?

Thanks in advance!

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #11 –
@humler.
Yes, there will be a quality loss.
But Monkeys Audio is lossless, so the result when transcoding to AAC would be exactly the same as if you use a .wav source.
So there is no need to decode to .wav files first! 

Solaris

Transcoding 320 MP3 to 256 AAC

Reply #12 –
He menans that this quality loss is due to the AAC encoding process, and not a result of transcoding from APE which is lossless (bit-identical to the source CDDA/WAV material)