Check the Auto-Conversion rules. MP3 already starts with a max of 320kbps and the alac may be getting converted (I believe that you can't level lossless formats, only lossy, thus enabling leveling results in conversion).

The files are a mix of mp3 and alac. they seem to be getting converted to m4a at lower bitrates. i dont have any specific conversion rules set up because my car can play all formats.

What format are your files in and what format are they being synced to?

Hello - need help figuring this out.

I am syncing my audio library to an SD card to play in a car. I am not doing any format conversions but I do have level volume option checked in the synch options. The problem is that volume leveling drops down the bit rate of the tracks that it works on to low values (e.g. it goes from lossless (~700kbps down to ~175kbps).
Is there a way to control the bit rate of output tracks during volume leveling in synchronization?