Talkin 'bout my generation!!!!!

[Unregistered]

To anyone who might know,
If a wav file is converted to 128kb then converted back to wav then say to 320 kb is there any generation loss? I can't see how there could be, cause everything remains in the digital domain. If you know, Please share your opinion!

[xoas]

In theory, you should expect loss of musical quality whenever you compress an audio file and when you convert audio files from a "lossy" (such as mp3 or Ogg Vorbis-as opposed to "lossless" (such as .wav or Monkeys)) formats. You might want to reference Modatic's explanation of this phenomenon in the FAQ section of the Music Converter forum.
In practice, you may or may not notice any difference in music quality and if it does not make a difference to you (or the people listening to the files you are creating) then there really is no difference.
That being said, if you convert a 128 kbs mp3 file to .wav and then to a 320 kbs. mp3 file (to use what is your example) you may be making a slightly better copy of the 128 kbs than if you re-converted it to 128 kbs but it would not be any better quality than the original 128 kbs file and probably not signifigantly better than if you re-converted it to 128 kbs (or better yet, just make a duplicate copy of the original 128 kbs mp3 file).
best wishes,
bill mikkelsen