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Upgrading from MP3 to WAV or not

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  • May 21, 2014 at 9:37 pm #2033004
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    I cannot see any advantage to using WAV over 320k mp3 or 256 AAC.

    The simple facts:

    Will lossless sound better over an extremely good DAC with an audiophile amplifier and speaker system: Sure if the source material is good enough, which in most cases of pop or dance music it is not.

    Will lossless sound better over any PA I have every played through or any PA you or Tiesto will ever play through: Very unlikely and even if so 99.9% of the audience will not hear a difference.

    Will I change my mind if I ever get sponsored hard cash from a music service offering lossless for a premium price: No doubt about it.

    May 21, 2014 at 9:47 pm #2033009
    Alex Moschopoulos
    Participant

    Only thing I’m doing with WAV files is when I need something for production, and long-term storage of rare items.

    If I try to make a mashup or remix of a tune, I’ll buy a WAV file.

    I’m also in the process of recording most of my vinyl collection into WAV files simply to store them and get rid of my vinyls. I chose WAV simply in case down the road we see a new standard, and thus I can convert WAVs into whatever standard I choose.

    Buying music to use in general…I just stick to 320kbps MP3s. Audiophiles will rant on MP3s, but most folks in a club/bar/event really won’t care.

    May 22, 2014 at 4:24 am #2033062
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    Plus im poor, I cant afford to storage the bigger size of WAV into my external HD, and then a month later I have to buy a new HD

    May 22, 2014 at 6:45 am #2033076
    Eliah Holiday
    Participant

    Well, HD are cheap these days. Me I go AIFF 1) the quality + meta tagging, 2) I can fix nicely in Ableton if I need to, I can re-edit in Ableton as well. Only time I go MPW 320K is when I don’t have the AIFF or WAV option. But I am an old audiophile.

    May 22, 2014 at 7:01 am #2033080
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I keep my originals in WAV on my network drive (2TB). Better for editing, Mixed in Key and Platinum Notes. With the latter I have an MP3 copy made which goes into my DJ Software.

    Tagging options are plenty, sound quality more than sufficient for our kind of work (PA’s are made to sound loud, not hifi+ quality plus most our ears can’t hear the difference) and it’s supported on EVERY platform and in any media player (except really old CDJs).

    I try keeping my collection down to a size that I can have it on a USB-stick, iPad/iPhone and small external SSD (backup). Since MP3 320 is about a factor 4-5 smaller, that means I would have a really small collection if it were all WAV.

    Greetinx.

    May 25, 2014 at 3:53 pm #2033788
    Jason Nankoo
    Participant

    Thanks for the responses

    Reading through the various blog posts and comments I know there’s a lot of pressure to jump on the WAV bandwagon, but 320 MP3’s seem to be sufficient.
    I get 320 MP3’s when I buy tunes online although I do get WAV’s if they cost the same price. Been trying to get music on CD or vinyl where possible.

    May 30, 2014 at 8:55 pm #2035024
    Vesper
    Participant

    As far as i know, MP3 and Wav are both very widely supported, but MP3 is very, very slightly more supported. Both have decent tagging abilities and both are solid filetypes. Realistically, there is no great overhaul on the horizon, so MP3s are just as good as ever. While Lossy filetypes do get tutted on by audiophiles, I’m just going to make this clear

    Most people cannot tell the difference between a 128kbps track and a 320kbps track. Let alone Lossy and a Lossless

    I would always recommend going for a 320kbps of course. I mean, it’s better to be safe than sorry (PA systems might make a difference after all). But i would hardly go out of my way to choose a higher bitrate.

    May 31, 2014 at 1:53 am #2035047
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Sorry Vesper, I have to disagree. If you swap 128 for 192 in that sentence than you are close to the truth. But personal testing has revealed that most of my panel picked out the 128s without a problem. It was from 192 and up that things became more blurry. From 256 up there was nobody that got the difference between 256, 320 and WAV right.

    My first advice stands:
    WAV (or any lossless format although WAV is preferred due to it’s widespread acceptance as the standard) as source material.
    MP3 320 for your collection, 256 works ok too, 192 you need to listen before slamming it onto the deck.

    But always … TRUST your EARS! If it’s sound bogus it probably is, regardless of the format. If it sounds great, it probably is too. A good 192k MP3 that had only one conversion from wav is worth more than a 320k that has been all over the place and maybe even converted to 192 at some point and then back later.

    Greetinx.

    June 2, 2014 at 9:07 am #2035373
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    I always can tell the diff between 128 and 320, its like some kind of its elements was missing (no idea what it was, me no audio engineering)
    And thats just playin it on my factory car stereo,

    June 8, 2014 at 7:25 pm #2036361
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Yeah, 128 is audible for most people. And even the crowd will usually “sense” that something is off, even if they can’t put a label on it.

    I have 192 MP3 as absolute bottom treshold. I’ll use it if I can’t find a track I really need/want in a better quality. Other than that it’s either home-ripped CD’s to WAV then after prep-work to 320MP3 or buying 320MP3/256AAC.

    Greetinx.

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