Question about WAV > MP3

[AF14]

Hello,

I have a question about converting audio file types that I'm hoping someone can answer for me. I thank you in advance for your help.

My Question: I'm on a mac, and I have a bunch of WAV audio music files that I need to convert into the highest, or near highest quality MP3 format. I understand MP3 will be a lossy format, but because it's very universally accepted, it simply has to be in that format. Would the best way to convert the WAV files simply be to drop them into iTunes and convert them at either the highest setting (192kbps) or should I use the custom settings panel at it's highest of 320 kbps (and potentially any of the other custom features within that panel in addition to the 320)? I do have a program called sound sound converter but I'm not sure if that offers a better solution or just an alternate one. In the end, I'm looking for as high quality MP3's as I can get from source WAV files.

Thank you for your help.

 

[TMRaven]

That question might have been valid 6 years ago, but nowadays mp3/aac compression is so good and consistent, no matter the program. Just do it through iTunes, and if you're really worried about quality loss, take the same recording through iTunes and whatever else and see if you can tell a difference in blind abx.

 

[AF14]

Thank you for your reply. I guess I will look into it further. Maybe MP3 at 320 is the highest as it's in the custom panel and I should just go with that. I just want to retain as much quality as I can in the conversion.

 

[spoonie1972]

Thank you for your reply. I guess I will look into it further. Maybe MP3 at 320 is the highest as it's in the custom panel and I should just go with that. I just want to retain as much quality as I can in the conversion.

make sure you turn off "joint stereo" as well in the prefs screen.

 

[AF14]

Thank you very much. That tip about turning off Joint Stereo seems to be really good for higher quality audio, I'll do that for sure.

Thank you for responding.