MP3@192kbps or AAC@256kbps?

[curtisinoc]

I have a large collection of iTunes music, mostly from ripped CD's (almost 20,000 songs). My music files are: "MPEG audio file / MPEG-1 layer 3" @ 192kbps (I'm guessing that's same as MP3 ?).

I've searched around a bit and see that most audiophiles generally agree that AAC is "better" than MP3.

Question: Will an average listener (like me) notice a difference between MP3@192kbps vs AAC@256kbps?

In iTunes, I see that I can "convert" my music library pretty easily from MP3@192kbps to AAC@256kbps, and was wondering if it would be worth my time to convert 20,000 files.

Thanks for your input.

[miles01110]

Originally Posted by curtisinoc

Question: Will an average listener (like me) notice a difference between MP3@192kbps vs AAC@256kbps?

No.

[simsaladimbamba]

Originally Posted by curtisinoc

In iTunes, I see that I can "convert" my music library pretty easily from MP3@192kbps to AAC@256kbps, and was wondering if it would be worth my time to convert 20,000 files.

If you music is using MP2 as codec and 192Kb/s as bitrate, transcoding (converting) the music to AAC with 256Kb/s will not improve anything, as the quality is already "low" and information is already missing, which you will not regain with a better codec and a higher bitrate.
If you have the original uncompressed audio, that would be different, but 192Kb/s will be fine for a normal user.

Signature of matteusclement:

try this:
take an empty pop can, place it on the floor, smash it flat, now try to pull it back to how it was.
see how it looks like crap? that's called compression

[Jolly Jimmy]

Not only can you not regain any quality like simsaladimbamba said, but the quality can only get even worse when transcoding.

[curtisinoc]

Thank you mucho !

How about from this point on when ripping CD's?

MP3@192 or AAC@256? Or is the difference negligible?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jolly Jimmy]

Try them both out and see if you can hear a difference.

[dj-anon]

The best thing you can do is to perform an ABX test

http://emptymusic.com/software/ABXer.html

Let you ears decide. What quality is best for you depends on the quality of your headphones/speakers and average background noise you experience while listening to your music.

Although, there is some sort of consensus, you should take a look at a website called hyrdogenaudio. Is generally agreed that the current AAC is more efficient than MP3s and with apple's AAC you can achieve transparency at around 192 kbps.

[Jolly Jimmy]

Originally Posted by dj-anon

The best thing you can do is to perform an ABX test

http://emptymusic.com/software/ABXer.html

Thanks a lot for the link. I've been using CrossOver to run a Windows program until now.