I feel like I should bin all this "eyes are for listening" nonsense. It is in no way advancing the original discussion, or even worth having in the first place.
It cannot be helped if BrilliantBob is unwilling to accept the fact that he is misguided.
LAME v3.100 64bit. ATH: using type: 5 (what is it?)
I experimented many types of settings in LAME to obtain a quality .mp3, as transparent as possible related to the original .wav. I disabled Y using VBR. Now the encoding speed is double. I used this batch file for faster bulk encoding (a possible solution too for dnewhous who started this topic)
@echo off
@setlocal
color 1E
echo ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
echo Ý ÚÄÄÄ¿Þ
echo Ý LAME v3.100 64bit unleashed ³ û ³Þ
echo Ý ÀÄÄÄÙÞ
echo. ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß
echo.
:: this batch is very fast for bulk encoding. drag-and-drop the .wav in the batch window or write it with quotes ("FileName.wav")
:: the encoded .mp3 is as transparent as possible related to the .wav source
:: double encoding speed compared with 320 CBR
:: highpass filter disabled. polyphase lowpass filter disabled.
:: Y disabled * VBR 0 enforced to 320 kbps 48,000 Hz 24bit
:: ATH: using type: 5 (what is it?)
:: interchannel masking ratio: 0.0002
:: using LR stereo
:: for access to dev settings (--help dev) put "#define _ALLOW_INTERNAL_OPTIONS 1" in parse.c and compile
:: default lame psychoacustic tuning: --ns-bass -0.5 --ns-alto -0.25 --ns-treble -0.025 --ns-sfb21 0.5
:: adjusted psy masking: --ns-bass -8 --ns-alto -8 --ns-treble -8 --ns-sfb21 -16 (psychoacoustic disabled?)
echo ---------------------------
Set /P _infile=drag/enter source:
echo ---------------------------
set _outfile=%_infile:~0,-5%"
lame.exe -ms --ns-bass -8 --ns-alto -8 --ns-treble -8 --ns-sfb21 -16 --interch 0.0002 --verbose -V0 -b256 -B320 -F --resample 48 --bitwidth 24^
--lowpass -1 --highpass 0.001 --clipdetect %_infile% %_outfile%.mp3 --scale 1
ECHO
:reload
echo ---------------
Set /P _scale=new scale:
echo ---------------
lame.exe -ms --ns-bass -8 --ns-alto -8 --ns-treble -8 --ns-sfb21 -16 --interch 0.0002 --verbose -V0 -b256 -B320 -F --resample 48 --bitwidth 24^
--lowpass -1 --highpass 0.001 --clipdetect %_infile% %_outfile%.mp3 --scale %_scale%
ECHO
echo ----------------------------
Set /P _abort=exit? (y, *):
echo ----------------------------
If /i "%_abort%"=="Y" goto terminate
goto reload
:terminate
pause
LAME returned these messages and I saw ATH: using type: 5
Warning: highpass filter disabled. highpass frequency too small
LAME 3.100 64bits (http://lame.sf.net)
Resampling: input 44.1 kHz output 48 kHz
polyphase lowpass filter disabled
Encoding E:\music\09-metallica-of_wolf_and_man.wav
to E:\music\09-metallica-of_wolf_and_man.mp3
Encoding as 48 kHz stereo MPEG-1 Layer III VBR(q=0)
misc:
scaling: 1
ch0 (left) scaling: 1
ch1 (right) scaling: 1
huffman search: best (outside loop)
experimental Y=0
...
stream format:
MPEG-1 Layer 3
2 channel - stereo
padding: all
variable bitrate - VBR mtrh (default)
using LAME Tag
...
psychoacoustic:
using short blocks: channel coupled
subblock gain: 1
adjust masking: -6.8 dB
adjust masking short: -6.8 dB
quantization comparison: 9
^ comparison short blocks: 9
noise shaping: 1
^ amplification: 2
^ stopping: 1
ATH: using
^ type: 5
^ shape: 1 (only for type 4)
^ level adjustement: -7.1 dB
^ adjust type: 3
^ adjust sensitivity power: 1.000000
experimental psy tunings by Naoki Shibata
adjust masking bass=-8.5 dB, alto=-8.25 dB, treble=-8.025 dB, sfb21=-
15.5 dB
using temporal masking effect: no
interchannel masking ratio: 0.0002
...
Frame | CPU time/estim | REAL time/estim | play/CPU | ETA
10695/10695 (100%)| 0:43/ 0:43| 0:44/ 0:44| 5.8555x| 0:00
256 [ 20] %
320 [10675] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
kbps LR % long switch short %
319.9 100.0 93.7 3.6 2.6
Writing LAME Tag...done
ReplayGain: -5.9dB
WARNING: clipping occurs at the current gain. Set your decoder to decrease
the gain by at least 0.7dB or encode again using --scale 0.92
or less (the value under --scale is approximate).
---------------
new scale:
Never heard before about ATH type 5. I don't post spectrograms to not make people angry, but now, the encoded .mp3 looks like the original .wav. And sounds identical.