What format do you choose when copying? AIFF, ALAC, AAC … Check the sound quality of each one by “appearance” Part 2
The “lossless compression” method, to which Apple Lossless and FLAC belong, is a method that can completely restore the original audio data during playback, at the cost of a low compression rate.
The file size is large, but the sound quality is equivalent to that of a CD. The bit rate fluctuates automatically according to the content of the audio data, and the compression rate is not constant accordingly.
AIFF and WAV are “uncompressed” methods. Extract the original audio data and create a file as is. It does not compress, so it has a lot of capacity, but the sound quality is perfect.
Let’s take a closer look at the table.
■ Don’t say it again … Considering the playback environment, the format selection criteria for copying are as follows: As
You can see from the “Compression rate” and “Sound quality” items in the table, both are highly rated. It has around “AAC / 256kbps” and “MP3 / 192kbps”, which is a Rossy format with a higher bit rate. While ensuring good sound quality, the file size can also be reduced. It also has an excellent balance with the capacity of the integrated SSD / HDD of PC, iOS devices, smartphones, etc.
The default setting for iTunes is AAC / 256kbps, and the specifications for music files sold on the iTunes Store are the same. You can tell that the current standard is around here. In terms of playback compatibility, AAC and MP3 are widespread, and no matter which one you choose, you don’t have to worry about the playback environment.
On the other hand, it is the lossless format that Apple Lossless and FLAC belong to that can reduce the file size to some extent while maintaining the best sound quality equivalent to that of a CD. If you want to give the highest priority to sound quality from an audio point of view, I would like to select this. It will be a bit difficult to balance it with the capacity of SSD / HDD, smartphone, etc. from the PC, but if it can be erased, it is convenient to use this format.
For example, if you don’t have that many CDs, creating a library in a lossless format will not put too much pressure on your PC’s SSD / HDD and you will be able to sync all the songs on your iOS device. Alternatively, you can deal with this by coming up with sync settings for iOS devices, etc. (I’ll explain later). If so, it is better to have a lossless format that can maintain the best sound quality, and there are few errors in the long run.
Just keep in mind that Apple Lossless and FLAC are a bit difficult to choose in terms of the playback environment. Until now, iTunes and iOS devices do not support FLAC, and many other devices and software do not support Apple Lossless. As of June 2012, at the time of writing, many network players only support FLAC. However, with Apple Lossless opening font in October 2011, support for the same format is expanding, so I’d like to keep an eye out for this trend as well.
AIFF and WAV are uncompressed formats. Of course, the sound quality remains the same as that of a CD. However, the data capacity is not compressed at all. In other words, the uncompressed format “has the same sound quality as the lossless format and has a larger file size than the lossless format.” In that sense, there is no reason to choose it unless you are particular about it.
Well finally the highlight of this era. Let’s review the “appearance” of “what is the actual deterioration in sound quality for each compression format?”
