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itunes match quality?

Recently imported my entire music library into itunes, and I've got some really old files from 20 years ago I originally ripped from my CDs that are 128Kbps. Back then that was thought to be "cd-quality," but we obviously know better now. Long story short, itunes match "upgraded" all of these old low bit-rate files to much higher quality AAC files, but the many of the new files sound terrible. I mean, like playing through a wet blanket with cotton in your ears type bad. No dynamic range, no high end, no low end - almost like the low quality file was reprocessed from the low-bitrate mp3 into the aac. I am playing through a high quality receiver and speakers, where it is most evident. Not so much on my computer or bluetooth speaker, so the question is: WTF is going on?


It is also hit and miss, as some files sound great and better than before. But some are obviously much worse. I still have the CDs in question but was hoping I wouldn't have to re-rip them into higher bitrate since itunes match was part of what I paid for on itunes (talking maybe a few hundred titles here). I found another thread about this but was unable to respond there due to the age of the discussion. Sound quality using iTunes Match is terri… - Apple Community


Posted on Apr 4, 2022 8:35 AM

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Posted on Apr 4, 2022 12:59 PM

If you still have your original files you can use them instead of the matches you now have. Failing that you'll need to re-rip where you want better quality versions. I'm not aware of any setting you can adjust to regain lost quality, although I suppose if you have a Mac you could see if lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support does anything for you.


tt2


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 4, 2022 12:59 PM in response to smilingbob

If you still have your original files you can use them instead of the matches you now have. Failing that you'll need to re-rip where you want better quality versions. I'm not aware of any setting you can adjust to regain lost quality, although I suppose if you have a Mac you could see if lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support does anything for you.


tt2


itunes match quality?

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