General WMA Lossless Question

[bostonkarl]

First of all, let me just say how much I like the dbpowerAMP application. It is fantastic!

My question is a general one about WMA lossless, and I am hopeful that one of the gurus in this forum can help this clueless individual.

I have decided to rerip my collection into a WMA Lossless archive, since hard drive space is pleantiful these days. My question is, under the WMA Lossless codec, I have a variety of options to rip to:

16 or 24 bit
frequency

Okay, in the case of CDs, I bet I should use 44kHz, cause I believe that is the sample rate for CDs. What about the bits? Will a 16 bit conversion be lossless, or do I need to go with 24?

Thanks, and have a great weekend everyone.

[brian10161]

you would want to stay with 16 buts because 24bits is dvd quality audio (i think) the .cda format is basically juts a wave file and if you goto 24 bits it may sound kinda funny. 16bits is where you want to stay because basically thats the default for audio cds. hope that helps you and have fun ripping all your audio :D

cheers

[LtData]

...
16 or 24 bit
frequency

Okay, in the case of CDs, I bet I should use 44kHz, cause I believe that is the sample rate for CDs. What about the bits? Will a 16 bit conversion be lossless, or do I need to go with 24?
CDs are 16-bit themselves, so making the files 24-bit will do nothing to improve their quality. Just leave it at 16-bit.

[bostonkarl]

Good heavens you folks respond so quickly! I really appreciate the info.

Thank you.

[brian10161]

i just respond to anything that i may be able to help because i have nothing better to do. lol

hope you have as much fun with dbpoweramp as i do.

cheers

[Jimbo2005]

what's the difference between wma lossless and just plain wma 9.1?

[LtData]

Please only start one thread for your question. This is now the second time you have asked this question across two threads. Direct all of your questions regarding WMA lossless to your other thread: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=7697

[Jimbo2005]

This is not lossless, but I was just wondering if I were to convert a 64kbps mp3 to a 64kbps WMA, will there be any enchancements made to it?

Regards.

[LtData]

No. You can never gain quality when converting already-ripped music from one lossy format to another.

[neilthecellist]

And that is because bits are lost in each lossy conversion.

[LtData]

A good rule of thumb to remember is that you can never improve on a file's quality. The best you can hope for is the same quality when going from one lossless file to another. Any other conversion will cause you to lose some quality.

[learjeff]

The best you can hope for is the same quality when going from one lossless file to another.

True, and it might be a vain hope, too. If the original format is a high bit rate you might not notice the loss. For lower rates (e.g. 128k MP3, 80k WMA, and lower), cross-converting causes noticeable artifacts like warbling.

Expect the result to be not as good as you normally get for the lower of the two bit rates, and you won't be disappointed. The results might still be playable.

[LtData]

Note that I said only when converting from one LOSSLESS file to another will you keep quality. You are referring to converting between LOSSY formats in your examples. See here for the differences: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/spoons-audio-guide.htm

[learjeff]

Right -- sorry, careless reading on my part!