Am I correct that decompressing to WAV cannot reverse loss of quality?, [TOS #6: was "mp3 to wav quality" in General Audio] Options

[Paul77]

Hi

I have just used winamp to convert some mp3 files to wav for recording to cd (as the tracks are only available on Amazon as mp3 currently).

Wav's are 7 or 8 times the size of mp3's due to the compression. When you decompress to wav can you only ever get the quality that was present in the mp3. That is when the mp3 was created from the original source some loss of quality is inevitable and decompressing to wav presumably cannot reverse that loss of quality so my wav files presumably cannot sound as good as on a purchased CD.

Can someone confirm this is about right or have I missed something?

[benski]

Decompressing an MP3 to WAV is the exact same process as playing back an MP3. You will not get back any of the original "lost" audio data. It's gone for good.

The only benefit of using Winamp to convert to do the WAV conversion will be, as Greynol pointed out, that Winamp will properly trim the lead-in and lead-out silence added by the encoding and decoding process (so called "gapless handling"). Very few decoders do this properly, and it is unlikely that your burner software is capable of it.

[Gainless]

Decompressing an MP3 to WAV is the exact same process as playing back an MP3. You will not get back any of the original "lost" audio data. It's gone for good.

The only benefit of using Winamp to convert to do the WAV conversion will be, as Greynol pointed out, that Winamp will properly trim the lead-in and lead-out silence added by the encoding and decoding process (so called "gapless handling"). Very few decoders do this properly, and it is unlikely that your burner software is capable of it.

But how does a decoder get along with the overdrive that is there with most mp3's when it converts to WAV?

[greynol]

But how does a decoder get along with the overdrive that is there with most mp3's when it converts to WAV?

What you mean to say is decoded samples that clip when decompressed to fixed-point. Can you demonstrate that this is audible with just one single piece of music that you would actually want to hear on your stereo? If not then this is really a non-issue!