[amped]

A few questions:

1. How big are FLAC files compared to MP3?

2. I've read that there is a loss in sound quality when cross-encoding. How much of a loss is there, and will that make this not worth it?

3. How much of an improvement would there be over 192kbps MP3s?

4. Is there a "best" or preferred FLAC encoder?

5. Anything else I should know?

Thanks,
Amped

 

[The_Jester]

Don't bother. You won't gain anything by going from MP3 to FLAC.

 

[amped]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Jester Don't bother. You won't gain anything by going from MP3 to FLAC.

 

[selectodude]

Cross-encoding from MP3 to FLAC is worthless. If you re-ripped in FLAC, it'd sound better.

 

[amped]

Quote:

Originally Posted by selectodude Cross-encoding from MP3 to FLAC is worthless. If you re-ripped in FLAC, it'd sound better.

Yeah, so I've been reading.

Unfortunately...I've um..."misplaced" most of my CDs...

 

[selectodude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amped Yeah, so I've been reading. Unfortunately...I've um..."misplaced" most of my CDs...

Then it's not even worth the time, as your songs would end up sounding worse.

 

[soloz2]

yeah, just leave as MP3 and you'll be good.

 

[Rakukojin]

My FLAC files average at around 30MB each while my 320kbps MP3 songs are around 9MB each.

 

[amped]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rakukojin My FLAC files average at around 30MB each while my 320kbps MP3 songs are around 9MB each.

Really...I didn't know it was that huge a difference.

I realize now that converting from MP3 to FLAC doesn't make any sense, but what about from 192kbps to 320? Will that show some difference in sound quality?

 

[thenut]

Once the data is gone, it's gone. Converting a 192 kbps file to a 320 kbps file does absolutely nothing. And in many cases, the sound will actually degrade more.

You would need the original source material and encode that to 320 kbps to hear a difference.

 

[Lurikrunch]

While it is technically possible to transcode an mp3 to a flac file, there is no point. Flac files are lossless, mp3s are lossy. You won't gain any sound quality. You should go re-rip your CDs using EAC into .WAV (with correct offsets and audiophile settings, you could find these settings for your drive on the hydrogen audio forums, gooooogle) then use Flac Frontend to encode to .flac. I prefer to encode my flac's at level 5, there is almost no size difference in going to level 8 and it takes much longer. Besides, if you have an audio collection in flac, you generally aren't worried about file size.

 

[Rakukojin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lurikrunch I prefer to encode my flac's at level 5, there is almost no size difference in going to level 8 and it takes much longer. Besides, if you have an audio collection in flac, you generally aren't worried about file size.

I still use level 8 even though I only save about 1~2MB per album. Level 5 is probably the sweet spot for encoding time/file size.

 

[amped]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thenut Once the data is gone, it's gone. Converting a 192 kbps file to a 320 kbps file does absolutely nothing. And in many cases, the sound will actually degrade more. You would need the original source material and encode that to 320 kbps to hear a difference.

Gotcha.