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Hydrogenaudio Forum => General Audio => Topic started by: BassHead on 2010-08-07 12:33:25

Title: Converting new music to high quality
Post by: BassHead on 2010-08-07 12:33:25
I have alot of new music that I want to convert to high quality. I have some music that is on MP3 LAME 320kbps and is in joint stereo. The music is on the most updated LAME version. The rest of my music is on MP3 Fraunhofer 320kbps and is also in JS. My questions are: What codec should I use to convert my new music? How many kbps? or should I use WMA lossless or MP3 Helix? add use CBR, VBR, or JS when converting?
Title: Converting new music to high quality
Post by: garym on 2010-08-07 12:54:58
I have alot of new music that I want to convert to high quality. I have some music that is on MP3 LAME 320kbps and is in joint stereo. The music is on the most updated LAME version. The rest of my music is on MP3 Fraunhofer 320kbps and is also in JS. My questions are: What codec should I use to convert my new music? How many kbps? or should I use WMA lossless or MP3 Helix? add use CBR, VBR, or JS when converting?


No conversion can increase the quality of your music files. The best you could do is to get the SAME quality (by converting from mp3 to, say, FLAC or some other lossless format). But this would be a waste of time and space as all you'd have would be a lossless version of a lossy file (a lot larger with no improvement in "quality", however that is defined).  Do some reading on lossless (FLAC, etc.) and lossy compression. You'll find lots of info on the web and at this site.
Title: Converting new music to high quality
Post by: 2Bdecided on 2010-08-07 13:17:55
I think BassHead was asking about new music, not transcoding.

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...ncoder_settings (http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME#Recommended_encoder_settings)

Cheers,
David.
Title: Converting new music to high quality
Post by: Apesbrain on 2010-08-07 15:22:49
The highest quality and most versatile format you can use for your future music is lossless.  FLAC, Apple Lossless, WMA Lossless -- you decide; it doesn't matter.  "Lossless" means the file can be decoded to a bit-perfect copy of the source.  Any lossless format can be converted to any other lossless format with zero quality loss, e.g. FLAC to WMAL.  Lossless can also be converted to any lossy format (MP3, AAC, WMA, etc.) whenever needed for transfer to a limited capacity device such as an MP3 player or phone.  If your new music is on CD, then both Exact Audio Copy and dbPowerAmp are good choices to do your lossless ripping and encoding.  Windows Media Player and iTunes can also be used if that is what you are used to using.

Leave your existing files alone; there is nothing you can do to improve their quality.  I wouldn't sweat it too much; lossy compression at 320kbps is for most listeners -- on most music samples -- indistinguishable from the original source.

You're new to the forum (welcome), so search a bit and you'll find there are many discussions on this topic.
Title: Converting new music to high quality
Post by: garym on 2010-08-07 15:30:53
I think BassHead was asking about new music, not transcoding.

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...ncoder_settings (http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME#Recommended_encoder_settings)

Cheers,
David.


Ah, yes I see I misinterpreted. I agree on EAC and dbpa as quality choices for rippers. I use dbpa and create FLAC files.