[bigshot]

I don't mean to offend you or doubt about your ears, but some of us can hear the difference. It became apparent to me by comparing some tracks and some whole CDs I previously ripped in 320kbps MP3 after I re-ripped them in ALAC.

Plain vanilla MP3 is a very old codec. There are newer ones that are much better.

Try 320 LAME and balance the line level. Compressed files are often a little quieter than the originals, presumably to avoid clipping during compression. Also try AAC 256 VBR. AAC is as good as LAME 320 at 256. Both of these are better than 320 MP3.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

I don't have any 128 files at all. Most of my music is in 350 AAC vbr (using dbPoweramp to rip to FLAC and then to convert) and I can't tell a difference between that, and lossless, except for 2 albums that sound slightly louder with a bigger soundstage in lossless (both are live albums). It's not worth the space and drain on battery life to me.
 
MrScratch -  I said the majority of people can't hear the difference between lossless and high-bitrate lossy files. I don't doubt that a few people can hear a difference, but not the majority.

Actually Soozieq if you were to use WAV files you'd save battery life opposed to mp3. Since there is no conversion going on and its just playing back the file. At least that is what I've experienced with my DAPs. But you are right on the space. But the devices I use warrant the usage of lossless as they are very revealing sources.

 

[MrScratch]

I also use AAC 256kbps (used to rip some CDs with this codec and I buy tracks on iTunes from time to time). As I said before, I had have noticed something different in my personal ultimate shootout between lossy and lossless codecs.

 

[eahm]

It's not only the quality you have to care about, the main reason you should ALWAYS go lossless is because you can transcode the music as many times as you want, in different formats, for the many devices you have or will have in the future.

 

[StratocasterMan]

 
Once you go FLAC, you never go back! 

 
Storage space is darn cheap these days! Most new devices support FLAC or other lossless. Who needs lossy file formats anymore? Only those who've ripped all their music to lossy. They call it lossy for a reason!
 
Messing around with lossy audio is a thing of the past. It's a dinosaur!
 
Vinyl is still valid, but lossy is never going to make a comeback!
 
Storage is cheap! Too many people can hear the difference!