I downloaded an album in FLAC and want to convert it to something that sounds good but doesn't use up gobs of space on my iMac, iPad 2, and 4th-gen iPod touch. Using a program called Max, I converted it to HE-AAC v2 and thought things sounded great even with the tremendous drop in file size, so I went to move that onto my iStuff.
Then I played a piano-only track and wow, it sounded AWFUL!
I'm assuming that it's the v2 part that iTunes isn't handling, so its ignoring the newer features of the format and decoding only what it recognizes. So my question is, what is the best compression that my devices support natively?
Also, what does iTunes encode in when I tell it to use HE AAC?
EDIT: I tried messing around with the regular HE AAC and it's decent, with noticeable loss in the lower pitch string interments, and then when I try the soft piano piece, AAC sounds very flat. I'm not willing to convert to apple lossless, because I don't need perfect, but I don't want to notice that it's been compressed. Low strings and high piano throws this off at every setting. What do you guys suggest for something more orchestral? It's the Xenogears Myth album that apple pulled from there iTunes store recently. (It's still listed and will let you preview it, but my mobile products say it is not available anymore, and my mac give some other incredibly vague error.)
Then I played a piano-only track and wow, it sounded AWFUL!
I'm assuming that it's the v2 part that iTunes isn't handling, so its ignoring the newer features of the format and decoding only what it recognizes. So my question is, what is the best compression that my devices support natively?
Also, what does iTunes encode in when I tell it to use HE AAC?
EDIT: I tried messing around with the regular HE AAC and it's decent, with noticeable loss in the lower pitch string interments, and then when I try the soft piano piece, AAC sounds very flat. I'm not willing to convert to apple lossless, because I don't need perfect, but I don't want to notice that it's been compressed. Low strings and high piano throws this off at every setting. What do you guys suggest for something more orchestral? It's the Xenogears Myth album that apple pulled from there iTunes store recently. (It's still listed and will let you preview it, but my mobile products say it is not available anymore, and my mac give some other incredibly vague error.)
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