[dmort]

Seriously!
 
If head-fi has taught me anything it is that source matters a lot! Gear is great, but if source is .mp3 is there a way to fix this short of buying my entire library on cd, then ripping it into some sort of lossless format?

 

[leeperry]

many ppl are OCD'ed about lossless audio, and also the fact that there's no point in ruining your source on purpose...I'm listening to some 320kbit LAME MP3 as I'm typing this, it sounds good.
 
sometimes you really need to concentrate to hear the diff, and it's still very open to placebo.
 
to improve your lossy audio, use a player that decodes it in 32/64bit float and outputs via a bit-perfect andio renderer.

 

[volume]

Quote:

Seriously!
 
If head-fi has taught me anything it is that source matters a lot! Gear is great, but if source is .mp3 is there a way to fix this short of buying my entire library on cd, then ripping it into some sort of lossless format?

the basics are crucial here, once the source is taken care of you can concentrate on others aspects.make sure you listen to lossless.

 

[anomalouscode]

not really,.... encoding to mp3 is a destructive process, which is how you get 600mbs down to some 100mbs.
 
I've got loads of mp3's,... some even at 128 that i got years ago. 
 
if you've bought it, then i dont see any reason why you couldnt justify seeking out high quality rips that others have put up "for backup purposes", and these days, there are loads of blogs and sites where people are putting up flacs and 320's.
 

 

[tasteful]

I'd say don't stress it too much, especially if you don't have really really really really nice gear. Modern top quality MP3s sound pretty darn good.
 
And if there's something you absolutely have to have perfect (favorite album, maybe), just go find a lossless copy (CD or elsewhere).
 
Also, probably buy CDs from now on, I'd think.

 

[Hero Kid]

Yeah .mp3s are OK. Not the best, but OK none the less.
 
What really matters is the bitrate. If they are all ~128kbps then I would shudder and sadly put them in the recycle bin... or at least try and avoid listening to them unless you are on a noisy bus.
However if they are V0 or 320cbr you should be mostly set. 
 
Considering most people can't pick the difference between 320cbr mp3s and a lossless format (eg FLAC) don't jump to any assumptions that you NEED lossless audio.
Noticing a difference will depends on your gear, ears and most importantly the music itself.
 
So either find some good (and mostly illegal) lossless audio sites or start looking at used and new cds.
I went through a stage of wanting only FLAC. Now I'm happy to settle for V0 or higher from the net and FLAC from my personal (and friends) CD collection.

 

[kingtz]

I, too, had a very extensive mp3 library when I discovered the awesomeness of FLAC. After almost 12 years of collecting them, these mp3s hold a rather sentimental value so I don't really have to heart to delete them, but I have decided to retire that entire music library and re-build from scratch.
 
Over the last several months, I've just been begging, borrowing or stealing CDs from friends and family and ripping them to FLAC. Now I'm up to around 80GB of FLAC files, but still no where near what I have on mp3s. I also refuse to download anything because I want to make sure that everything is ripped properly and error-free.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Realize that the differences between good lossy and lossless files are usually very subtle, often irrelevant if you're listening to music instead of listening for artifacts, and mostly inaudible at 320kbps and above. Last but not least, understand that the most audible effect of lossy files is bit of rolled-off highs. Audiophiles pay thousands of dollars for the same effect created by tubes

. 
 
Don't be an audiophile. Be a music lover.
 
P

 

[cravenz]

Just a note, the differences between lossy and lossless now is subtle, that is correct and was proven to some extent in a thread here where there was a comparison between 128kbps and lossless. But the mp3 was encoded using software of today's day and age. Previous encoding software e.g. 10 years ago is perhaps where the difference becomes larger. I used to stand by higher bit rates, but the divide now is so small, I would say that there isn't much difference. That said, some will detect this small difference, but not everyone will appreciate it. I hadn't listened to 128kbps for some time for the primary reason of the differences I perceived say maybe 5 - 10 years ago, but just as technology has come on leaps and bounds, so has encoding software.
 
All in all, I'm still going to be sticking with lossless for practical reasons where I can keep it down the ages and re-encode to lower bit rates at my own leisure especially when data storage now costs a fraction of what it once was. Just my two cents.

 

[loopfreak]

With little experience you should trust your ears most of the time. There is some lousy lossless rips and great 320 mp3 only thing you can do is to trust your ears. I switched from 320 mp3 to lossless but there were some fakes, of course not all. Same thing is with vinyl rips they are better but you should know some crucial things before getting one and that is what turntable, cartridge, preamp and soundcard(input) are used. For me good rip has depth-sound stage and doesnt goes compressed on complex passages.
 

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Quote:

Just a note, the differences between lossy and lossless now is subtle, that is correct and was proven to some extent in a thread here where there was a comparison between 128kbps and lossless. But the mp3 was encoded using software of today's day and age. Previous encoding software e.g. 10 years ago is perhaps where the difference becomes larger. I used to stand by higher bit rates, but the divide now is so small, I would say that there isn't much difference. That said, some will detect this small difference, but not everyone will appreciate it. I hadn't listened to 128kbps for some time for the primary reason of the differences I perceived say maybe 5 - 10 years ago, but just as technology has come on leaps and bounds, so has encoding software.
 
All in all, I'm still going to be sticking with lossless for practical reasons where I can keep it down the ages and re-encode to lower bit rates at my own leisure especially when data storage now costs a fraction of what it once was. Just my two cents.

Good points. The overwhelming majority of my collection is cds ripped to Apple lossless, and the lossy files I have are all pretty new. FWIW, I think the use of lossy files is a good argument for iTunes, as the Apple codecs are excellent. I can't hear 256, much less 320. Even 128, which iTunes converts to when syncing my iPod, is pretty good.
 
P

 

[anomalouscode]

yeah dont give it too much thought,... 
 
i'll take a 128 of a great song on airplane headphones over a flac of a mehhh song on the super-est system ever ever.

 

[xdanny]

I went all lossless.  This way if I ever need to revert back to a cd, I can do it with no worries.  I also need not worry about quality because to me, as good as a lossy encoder is it still has to get rid of data to shrink the file size by a large percentage.  On most lossy songs I can tell a difference, usually the sound is too bright and has an overly-digitized signature.
 
Besides, hard drive space is so cheap nowadays that file size doesn't really matter anymore.
 
One other reason I went all lossless is because Apple and the rest of the corporate giants have been pushing lossy a bit too much.  Combined with all the proprietary cables, formats and other restrictions they impose and force upon the consumers it's not a good thing at all.
 
As always, just my 2 cents.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Why mess with the quality of your source material?  It is up to you if you want to replace it but I guess it depends on how bad the Mp3 actually is.
Some people talk them into the fact that Mp3 or other lossy files are good enough but, if you want the best sound out of your system why would you use anything other then perfect source files?

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

yeah dont give it too much thought,... 
 
i'll take a 128 of a great song on airplane headphones over a flac of a mehhh song on the super-est system ever ever.

Really? I wouldn't. A great song is a piece of art, and I want to hear it the way the artist intended it to be heard, not with everything above 16kHz and much of the deep bass thrown away. Great songs can only be ruined by poor equipment. Sometimes a meh song provides a surprising amount of enjoyment when played over great equipment.