[ipodlover77]

thread title. just curious, do you lost any quality at all when converting flac to m4a? i just find it a bit hard to believe that your able to keep the source file 100% identical when converting plays a part.

 

[HeatFan12]

Lossless is lossless....However, use CueTools for all your converting needs, once a good rip has been made.  I don't trans-code myself...I convert to wav, keep master and from there the world is your oyster...
 
http://www.cuetools.net/wiki/Main_Page

 

[Satellite_6]

m4a audio is AAC right, so yes? 

 

[Nagasaki_Kid]

You need to convert to alac to keep it lossless. m4a is just the container type. 

 

[TheKisho]

If you mean Apple Lossless Audio (ALAC), then there is no sound quality loss unless you are trying to convert a 24-bit 96kHz (lets say as one example) to 16-bit 44.1kHz.  Long as the bit rate and sample frequency are the same you should have a 100% same audio as you started with.  Tags are different, depends on how the converter program handles it but that doesn't change sound quality.  If you mean the lossy Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format then the answer is you'll always lose quality.  M4A which is really just an MP4 are containers not an audio format.  They can store lossless audio (ALAC) or lossly audio (AAC).

 

[ziocomposite]

You always lose something when you convert.  Maybe it's not noticeable.  Kind of like pouring water from one cup to the other.  Not all the water is in the new cup but for the most part is there.

 

[TheKisho]

Quote:

You always lose something when you convert.  Maybe it's not noticeable.  Kind of like pouring water from one cup to the other.  Not all the water is in the new cup but for the most part is there.

 
If you compare the audio of the original file and the converted file (lossless formats only) you'll find out you have a bit perfect copy if done right.  [The audio stream, the important part is the same].

 

[soundstige]

Wrong. Lossless to lossless (if OP is using ALAC and not AAC) is 100% identical. It's just the same 1s and 0s being stored a different way.
 
Quote:

You always lose something when you convert.  Maybe it's not noticeable.  Kind of like pouring water from one cup to the other.  Not all the water is in the new cup but for the most part is there.

 

 

[wagolters]

If you choose to convert FLAC to Apple Lossless Audio M4A format, you will not loss the quality. Faasoft FLAC to M4A Converter is a wonderful choice to complete this job.

 

[Nada190]

Nope unless you're converting a flac file above 16/44.1 it will be exactly the same. I converted some 24/192 to ALAC and the quality does suffer from the lower bit and sample rate but it's just for my car so idc.