HI… I just installed Audirvana Origin, I am reorginisizing my musical library, and I have a question abouts the different formats : is it relevant to convert AAC in WAV or AIFF ? These two formats should be better than AAC, but when a track has been compressed, can it be improved afterwards by converting it in a better format ? I doubt it, but I’m not certain at all…
Thank you for your answers
Leave them like they are… or get the real format.
You can transform a mp3 in DSD256 if you want…
it will still be a mp3 disguise in a hires format, and sound the same.
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No reason to convert AAC to AIFF or WAV, because you are starting with a file that has been stripped of certain frequencies and these will not be re-created by any format conversion or up-sampling unless intelligent interpolation is applied in the playback audio-engine or in the up-sampling process, that will try to recreate the original recorded source waveform data… You can up-sample in Audirvana to a higher resolution of your DAC to get better dynamic-range, however, you will not recreate the missing audio information…
Others already stated that you can’t recreate information that is lost.
Here some more info (hopefully):
File types like MP3 and AAC are lossy. That means that they are compressed and information is thrown away. Converting them to a better quality (lossless like WAV, FLAC, DSD etc.) will not help in this case, because the lost information can not be magically recreated.
Always start with good quality lossless source files (WAV, FLAC, DSD). You can upsample these in Audirvana in realtime (while playing) to a higher quality (PCM or DSD). Some people like that and others don’t. That is a matter of taste. Just listen and decide what you like best.
Here is a link to a site with some more explanation about file formats:
MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC: all the audio file formats explained | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)
In short: if you go for sound quality then avoid lossy formats like MP3, AAC, OGG etc. Because once lost, never found. Start with losless source formats like WAV, FLAC, DSD. These formats have the same data as the original source and no musical information is thrown away.
Thank you very much. The vast majority of my music (I would say at least 95%) comes from my CDs, no problem for these. But sometimes I only like one track or two in a album, and in this case I’ve been buying the music on the ITunes Store (I’ve been a ITunes user for at least 15 years, and I can’t stand it anymore, I can’t say the number of problems I had with this… thing). On the ITunes store the music comes in the AAC format. That’s why I asked the question, and things are clearer for me now. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Sorry, but not even then…
Matt