[JTori]

I hope this is the correct forum for this.

I have several hundred songs, ripped from CDs, that are stored on my computer in AIFF format. Will there be loss if I convert these to ALAC, or am I better off reripping directly to ALAC?

I've done brief comparison of a couple of tunes, which I transferred to my portable rig (Nano 3G/Tomahawk/SE530/ALO Cryo Dock) and think the AIFF may sound a bit better (a little rounder, warmer and all there). I'm not sure whether this is me overthinking it or if there really is some loss associated with converting the files.

I'd really like to avoid having to rerip, if possible.

Feedback from the Headfi gang would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SR-71Panorama]

No loss.

The only way for loss to occur is if you made an MP3 or lossy AAC or OggVorbis file into ALAC, WAV, FLAC, or AIFF.

AIFF + WAV sound 100% identical to ALAC.

p.s., this is probably better off in the music section of the site

 

[ericj]

Assuming you mean AIFF and not AIFF-C, no, no loss.

 

[krmathis]

No loss!
ALAC (Apple Lossless) are, as the name say, an lossless audio codec.

 

[JTori]

Quote:

p.s., this is probably better off in the music section of the site

Thanks for the suggestion. I will repost in the music section.

 

[ken36]

None. Take it to the bank.

 

[JTori]

Quote:

The only way for loss to occur is if you made an MP3 or lossy AAC or OggVorbis file into ALAC, WAV, FLAC, or AIFF.

I understand that both AIFF and ALAC are lossless. AIFF is not identical, however, to what's on the CD (though the difference may be imperceptible), and ALAC is not identical to AIFF. Is anything lost in the translation from AIFF to ALAC?

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTori /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand that both AIFF and ALAC are lossless. AIFF is not identical, however, to what's on the CD (though the difference may be imperceptible), and ALAC is not identical to AIFF. Is anything lost in the translation from AIFF to ALAC?

Nothing is lost. I have done countless compressions and decompressions and compared original uncompressed files (using EAC's WAV comparison tool) with those having been through compression to FLAC, then ALAC, then AIFF, then WAV, etc., and there has never once been a difference between the files.

Aside from the extremely minute chance that something goes wrong during the compression, nothing can go awry. This assumes, of course, that the ALAC decoder loses nothing on playback of the ALAC files, and I think it has been well established that no compromises are made even in this case.

 

[JTori]

Quote:

Nothing is lost. I have done countless compressions and decompressions and compared original uncompressed files (using EAC's WAV comparison tool) with those having been through compression to FLAC, then ALAC, then AIFF, then WAV, etc., and there has never once been a difference between the files. Aside from the extremely minute chance that something goes wrong during the compression, nothing can go awry. This assumes, of course, that the ALAC decoder loses nothing on playback of the ALAC files, and I think it has been well established that no compromises are made even in this case.

Very helpful! Thank you.

 

[Samgotit]

wrong thread.

 

[theSEA]

i guess when you change from one lossless format to another, the file is always decompressed to wav first, and then compressed to the other format. Same idea as you will not loss anything when you change a .rar file to a .zip file.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by theSEA /img/forum/go_quote.gif i guess when you change from one lossless format to another, the file is always decompressed to wav first, and then compressed to the other format. Same idea as you will not loss anything when you change a .rar file to a .zip file.

Well that depends on the application used for transcoding.
Some pipe the audio data from the decoder straight into the encoder. Hence no temporary file. While others first decode to PCM (ex. in a WAV container), then encode the PCM with a new encoder.

Either way there will be no audio data loss.