I am re-ripping many CDs in iTunes to replace lower bit rate (128) MP3s that I feel are lacking in quality.

iTunes does not support VBR at 320 KB. Would ripping in AAC at 224 kbit/sec W/VBR be better than plain 320 KB or is this completely a placebo-based exercise where I will never hear the difference, even on a high end rig (Magnepans)?

In other words, what sounds better?

A. AAC at 224 kbit/sec W/VBR
B. AAC at 320 kbit/sec Without VBR
C. My ears will never hear the difference.

TIA

I suggest that you conduct a blind ABX test, I would even go all the way down to 192kbps VBR AAC or even 160kbps VBR AAC. Past listening tests have shown that the iTunes AAC encoder performs very well even at the 128kbps VBR bitrate. Conduct the test and see for yourself, you might be surprised by the results.

So in your opinion, 192kbps VBR AAC is perfectly adequate as compared to the CD source?

My limited ABX (not blind) testing indicated even some 128 kbps files sounded pretty decent. I am guessing that 192 VBR will get the job done so 224 VBR is just mental insurance so I won't go rip again in the future.

If you are worried about ripping again in the future just rip it to lossless and store it on a DVD-/+R and pull it off whenever you decide that this lossy codec or that lossy codec at such and such bitrate is good you won't be stuck with re-ripping again. I keep a Lossless archive of all the CDs I own so I don't have to go around ripping them again (EAC Secure) and I pop in the file into foobar2000 and convert to what I want at the time.

I do the same. In fact... I'm re-doing my entire collection as we speak (the horror, the horror!).

My ears say YES!

I have to say I agree. Lossless audio does have the advantage of that you have absolutely no reason to ever have to re-rip it ever again, it is therefor the perfect archive. I like to actually listen to my lossless as well since I find that I like the sound of it better than lossy audio, but since the original poster wanted lossy for listening that isn't relevant... the archive aspect is however.

So, if you want to do storage that you can trust forever into the future, lossless is definitley the way to go. If that is not relevant to you you should just test different lossy formats and encoder settings to see which you find sounds the same as the original to you with the least used up space. Testing for yourself is better than asking someone else since people's hearing is very different between different people.