Getting the best from Mp3 or Wma files

[sthomas048]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone can suggest how to get the best from my mp3 and wma music files ? I play them through my cd player (which can play these formats) and im finding the sound quality is slightly lacking through my system. Is there software that can improve the sound quality ? Even when i encode from flac or wav etc; the resulting mp3 is poor at 320kbps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[idc]

Hi Stephen. I think that is an interesting question. So I googled 'improve sound quality' and it came up with an option for mp3. There is a lot there, but it all looked very techy and for those with a high degree of computing experience. But I don't see how any form of file manipulation can really improve a mp3 file. I have heard that converting from one file to another, eg Ogg Vorbis to mp3 can make the SQ worse. I have not read of a vice versa where there is an improvement.

I would say that the file is pretty much as is and you would be better looking to the hardware used to produce the final sound as a means to improving SQ.

 

[sthomas048]

Formats such as flac and ogg vorbis sound fantastic and i wish my cd player could use them ! I will probably just use mp3 as a test as to whether i like an album or not, then if i do then just fork out and buy the cd. I had a dream that mp3 would be a great extra feature on my cd player, but alas no. Mp3 is ideal for portable music through headphones and thats about it. I had some fun coverting flac to wav - it was an horrendous end result, sounded like my speakers were being played through a sock !

 

[Anonymous]

Everytime you encode, you will lose something. Buy a good sound card. And play it from your pc.

 

[sthomas048]

Thanks but i dont really want to go down that route, im very happy with my hifi !

 

[Alec]

the results of a flac to wav conversion should sound fine...

 

[sthomas048]

please could you tell me the best method for converting flac to wav, thank you.

are there specific settings i can select for the wav file that bring out the best sound ? At present i use the "FLAC frontend" software to decode from flac into wav.

 

[manicm]

sthomas048:please could you tell me the best method for converting flac to wav, thank you.

are there specific settings i can select for the wav file that bring out the best sound ? At present i use the "FLAC frontend" software to decode from flac into wav.

I use the FLAC frontend - it's free and works perfectly - why use anything else to decode?

 

[Anonymous]

The new Denon receivers have a feature called "restorer" which works wonders on mp3's of all types.
It has 3 settings, very low quality mp3/medium/high.

It really helps with mp3.

 

[sthomas048]

Sorry i got confused there, im looking for help with mp3 or wma files.

 

[sthomas048]

Just to update - i found the best method for downloading music files in my situation was to ignore the fact my cd player can use mp3 or wma. What i do now is download flac music files then decode them using Flac Frontend to wav, then simply burn them onto a cd in audio cd format. What i get then is a file almost exactly like the original with zero compression. Viola !

 

[Alec]

Indeed!

But yes, that sounds good to me.