Converting Short Array From Audio Record To Byte Array Without Degrading Audio Quality?

I'm recording audio using the Android Audio Record class. The recording is PCM 16bit so (I heard) it is best to let Audio Record write the data into a Short array. However for what

Solution 1:

Why don't you try this, While read data from AudioRecord object, read it into byte[] array instead of short array

audioRecord.startRecording();
byte[] buffer = newbyte[_bufferSize]; //recorded data is stored in this byte array
audioRecord.read(buffer, 0, _bufferSize);

Solution 2:

First off, you cannot change the bit depth of your audio without degrading the quality.I'm really not sure how you are doing your scaling.Look at the following indicative code to get an idea about how bit reduction can be done.

float byteNorm = Absolute(Byte.MaxValue);  //255float shortNorm = Absolute(Short.MinValue); //32768for (int audioSample = 0; audioSample < numShorts; audioSample++)
{
    myActualSample = (float)myShorts[audioSample] / shortNorm;
    myBytes[audioSample] = (byte)(mySample * byteNorm);
}