Quote Originally Posted by 02audionoob
That's the question I was answering. When you're making a WAV file from a CD, it's 44,100 samples per second. Each sample is 16-bit. FLAC is a compressed version of the file, but lossless. You can't make FLAC just any bit rate you want. It's like Feanor says...like a ZIP file of the original. A WAV file could be more than 44,100/16-bit and it could be less. But usually that's what it will be. I suppose for the comparison you're looking for, multiply 44100 x 16.
...
Edit...I get it now. No..."lossless" is not "at near CD quality". It's the same quality out to the new file as was in the source, regardless of bit rate. When you specify 320k, you are in effect also specifying the amount of loss.
The way I think about it is viewing bitrate as the speed at which the files are transferred; rate = velocity. Redbook rates are 2 channels (L/R) with 16bits transferred 44,100 times every second per channel. Multiply to get 2x16x44100= 1411200 bits per second. Rephrased as 1411 kilo bits per second or 1411kbps (or shorter, 1411k).

Thus the 'rate' of a redbook lossless file is 1411kbps. If you compress this file lossless, on average the file is about one-half the size and the bitrate needed to transmit the file is proportionately less, say 700-800kbps. The amount it compresses to in a lossless format is dictated by the complexity of the music. Music with pure tones compresses more than white noise, eg. a cello solo will compress more than distorted punk mayhem.

If you select a bitrate that is lower than the bitrate that the file would require as a lossless file, you must throw away information. All the good encoders attempt to first throw away the information you are least likely to hear. Which is why 320kbps files can sound very much like lossless (I can't hear the difference myself, but I don't think that the slightly smaller file sizes of 320 compared to lossless are worth it given that lossless is more flexible for me.)

On playback, all these files are converted back to a 16bit/44.1hz signal for the DAC to turn into an analog signal. Lossy formats, obviously differ from the original when converted back. They can also be upsampled further to higher resolutions but lossy is lossy.

Does that help?