Abstract:
Blind Comparison between Lame 3.100i V2+, Lame 3.99 V1, LAME 3.98 CBR 224kbps -q 0 , Helix -V146, BladeEnc CBR 224kbps(low anchor).
Encoders:
LAME 3.100i
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=99483
LAME 3.99.5 VBR V1
http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php
LAME 3.98.4 CBR 224kbps -q 0(slowest)
Helix mp3enc v5.1 Open Source encoder 2005-12-20 -V146
http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-others.php
BladeEnc 0.94.2 CBR 224kbps (low anchor)
Settings:
lame3100i -S -V2+ input.wav output.mp3
lame3.99.5 -S -V1 input.wav output.mp3
lame3.98.4 -S -q 0 -b 224 input.wav output.mp3
hmp3 input.wav output.mp3 -X2 -U2 -V146
bladeenc -quit -nocfg input.wav output.mp3 -224
Samples:
25 Sounds of various genres.
Hardwares:
Sony PSP-3000 + RP-HT560.
Results:


Conclusions & Observations:
I could not a significant difference except the low anchor. There are no big differences in the average quality of these four encoders.
Anova analysis:
FRIEDMAN version 1.24 (Jan 17, 2002) [url=http://ff123.net/]http://ff123.net/[/url]
Blocked ANOVA analysis
Number of listeners: 25
Critical significance: 0.05
Significance of data: 0.00E+000 (highly significant)
---------------------------------------------------------------
ANOVA Table for Randomized Block Designs Using Ratings
Source of Degrees Sum of Mean
variation of Freedom squares Square F p
Total 124 23.56
Testers (blocks) 24 7.75
Codecs eval'd 4 9.24 2.31 33.80 0.00E+000
Error 96 6.56 0.07
---------------------------------------------------------------
Fisher's protected LSD for ANOVA: 0.147
Means:
Helix-V1 3.100iV2 3.98CBR 3.99V1 BladeEnc
4.60 4.58 4.57 4.54 3.90
---------------------------- p-value Matrix ---------------------------
3.100iV2 3.98CBR 3.99V1 BladeEnc
Helix-V1 0.829 0.706 0.419 0.000*
3.100iV2 0.871 0.553 0.000*
3.98CBR 0.666 0.000*
3.99V1 0.000*
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Helix-V146 is better than BladeEncCBR
3.100iV2+ is better than BladeEncCBR
3.98CBR is better than BladeEncCBR
3.99V1 is better than BladeEncCBR
Raw data:
% MP3 224kbps ABC/HR Score
% This format is compatible with my graphmaker, as well as ff123's FRIEDMAN.
3.100iV2+ 3.99V1 3.98CBR Helix-V146 BladeEncCBR
%feature 7 LAME LAME LAME Other Other
4.700 4.600 4.000 4.300 3.100
4.300 4.200 4.600 4.800 3.800
4.500 4.500 4.400 5.000 4.700
4.800 5.000 4.600 5.000 4.300
4.700 4.500 4.200 4.400 3.500
4.700 4.300 5.000 4.600 4.500
4.400 5.000 3.800 4.700 3.900
4.200 4.500 4.400 4.500 3.800
4.300 4.200 4.000 4.500 3.200
4.400 4.300 5.000 4.600 3.400
4.000 4.300 4.500 4.600 3.500
4.500 4.200 4.400 4.600 3.600
4.200 4.500 5.000 4.700 4.000
4.300 4.100 4.300 4.100 3.500
4.200 4.200 4.400 4.600 3.900
5.000 4.500 5.000 5.000 4.100
5.000 4.300 4.700 4.400 4.000
4.500 4.400 4.200 4.000 3.200
5.000 5.000 5.000 4.500 4.400
5.000 5.000 4.700 5.000 4.400
5.000 4.800 4.800 4.600 4.200
4.700 5.000 5.000 4.500 3.900
4.800 5.000 5.000 4.600 4.200
5.000 5.000 4.700 5.000 4.200
4.400 4.100 4.600 4.400 4.100
%samples 41_30sec hihats
%samples finalfantasy cemb
%samples ATrain Jazz
%samples BigYellow Pops
%samples FloorEssence Techno
%samples macabre orch
%samples mybloodrusts guitar
%samples Quizas Latin
%samples VelvetRealm Techno
%samples Amefuribana Pops
%samples Trust Gospel
%samples Waiting Rock
%samples Experiencia Latin
%samples Heart to Heart Pops
%samples Tom's Diner Vocal
%samples Reunion Blues Jazz
%samples French Speech
%samples undelete Pops
%samples Dimmu Borgir Metal
%samples Run up Pops
%samples German Speech
%samples ItCouldBeSweet Pops
%samples OnTheRoofWith Pops
%samples easy game Pops
%samples Tears Infection Pops
Bitrates:
259222 250962 224500 270110 224109
212206 190894 224404 200702 224012
210626 223963 224651 248472 224040
256744 246869 224559 243848 224081
272211 268745 224645 225813 224060
212126 222561 224771 234717 224101
227229 274100 224802 226008 224228
252353 237478 224475 243034 224060
264467 270433 225449 245293 224317
230309 214030 224517 219325 224051
243315 240742 224427 240749 224024
232944 226612 224709 251829 224129
256994 236299 224619 229343 224034
245990 237097 224533 243966 224121
220848 204723 224825 225298 224235
226596 224930 224500 248784 224110
274433 235266 224408 176326 224012
240666 234456 224458 230376 224032
218750 222924 224796 232772 224208
234844 237687 224774 229799 224189
210745 167946 224583 104856 224026
219320 180893 224796 161194 224211
211124 209905 224500 200196 224110
214539 204183 224648 182829 224167
226791 224161 224673 215760 224121
average:
235016 227514 224641 221256 224112