[MagellanR14]

I am comparing a hiphop song in ALAC and MP3 320 and hear no difference from iTunes on my iMac. The reason I am doing this test is because I am getting a Sony Walkman F Series PMP very soon which plays lossless and I want to know if I should invest my time in converting some of my stuff to lossless. Basically, is my iMac inferior to the Sony Walkman I am going to receive to the extent that I cannot here the difference between lossless and lossy (I think my headphones are capable of hearing the difference).
 
Hopefully that all made sense, thanks for the help.

 

[Steven Stone1]

If you plan to obtain better quality by converting MP3 to a Lossless format, forget it - there will be no gain by taking a lossy format and changing it to lossless. Conversely, if you plan to re-rip CDs into a lossless format that you previously ripped in a lossy format you should hear an improvement if your system has adequate resolution. Listen for the dynamics and high frequency extension changes.

 

[MagellanR14]

Quote:

If you plan to obtain better quality by converting MP3 to a Lossless format, forget it - there will be no gain by taking a lossy format and changing it to lossless. Conversely, if you plan to re-rip CDs into a lossless format that you previously ripped in a lossy format you should hear an improvement if your system has adequate resolution. Listen for the dynamics and high frequency extension changes.

 
I am downloading songs from Bandcamp where I am fairly certain artists upload their music from CD's or something of that nature.

 

[The Heavy]

It's best to rip them from CD's and then convert them, cause converting Mp3 to lossless aint gonna do much difference.