converting up to 192kbps from 128kbps

[studleydudley]

If you have a track in iTunes that has been ripped at 128kbps as an Mp3 and you then convert it to 192 or higher does the song/sound quality actually improve?

I don't see how it can improve something that is lower than what you want to change it to. It can't produce a better sound from nothing??

I think you have to re-rip the CD.

Of course you can convert down from higher to lower as it strips out the unnecessary elemants of the music but what about from lower to higher?

Thanks

[hotphil]

You're right - converting a 128 track to 192 is a waste of time and disk space. You're best to re-rip.
Going from higher to lower can save some disk space, but bear in mind that you're taking a compressed file, expanding it and then recompressing it, i.e. you rip at 192 then convert to 128 you will lose a bit of quality compared to if you just rip straight to 128.

[studleydudley]

I thought as much. What about converting 128kbps mp3 to 128kbps AAC? Same thing?

See my other thread on AAC Vs Mp3 in this forum

Thanks