I have run into much discussion on various boards about loss of audio
quality when converting from .wma to .aac. I would like to see actual
test results, if any exist. At the very least I'd like to see
discussion of the issue by experts, not just speculation by
enthusiasts. I am particularly interested in converting from wma
160Kbps to aac 128Kbps.

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Clarification of Question by jwucd-ga on 28 May 2004 12:59 PDT

I'm not looking for a comparison of the two codecs showing which is
better, I want to know what happens when I convert from one lossy
codec (wma) to another (aac). E.g., Is a  file that was 128kbs wma
converted to 128kbs aac lower than a file that was ripped at 128kbs?
How much--will I notice a difference?

You are converting from a lossy format to another lossy format.  Lossy
encoding means the sample format will be compressed, so if quality on
the source is already reduced (as WMA is... it is a lossy format)
conversion to another lossy format will result in much more loss than
converting from the analog.<br><br>