I've seemed to have come across a track from my flac collection that has a really bad precho problem, just like eig. At the very start of the track it has artifacts and is even ABXable at 320kbps.
LAME 3.98.2
V2
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.3
2009/03/21 22:00:17
File A: C:\Rips\Music\Ministry - Side Trax\13. Show Me Your Spine (PTP).flac
File B: C:\Temp\PTP - Show Me Your Spine LAME 3.98 V2.mp3
22:00:17 : Test started.
22:00:47 : 01/01 50.0%
22:00:50 : 02/02 25.0%
22:00:54 : 03/03 12.5%
22:00:58 : 04/04 6.3%
22:01:03 : 05/05 3.1%
22:01:07 : 06/06 1.6%
22:01:12 : 07/07 0.8%
22:01:15 : 08/08 0.4%
22:01:19 : 09/09 0.2%
22:01:23 : 10/10 0.1%
22:01:28 : 11/11 0.0%
22:01:31 : 12/12 0.0%
22:01:37 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 12/12 (0.0%)
Precho and scratching noises.
V0
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.3
2009/03/21 22:03:28
File A: C:\Rips\Music\Ministry - Side Trax\13. Show Me Your Spine (PTP).flac
File B: C:\Temp\PTP - Show Me Your Spine LAME 3.98 V0.mp3
22:03:28 : Test started.
22:03:44 : 01/01 50.0%
22:03:53 : 02/02 25.0%
22:03:58 : 03/03 12.5%
22:04:04 : 04/04 6.3%
22:04:09 : 05/05 3.1%
22:04:16 : 06/06 1.6%
22:04:20 : 07/07 0.8%
22:04:26 : 08/08 0.4%
22:04:30 : 09/09 0.2%
22:04:33 : 10/10 0.1%
22:04:38 : 11/11 0.0%
22:04:42 : 12/12 0.0%
22:04:50 : 13/13 0.0%
22:04:57 : 14/14 0.0%
22:05:02 : 15/15 0.0%
22:05:03 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 15/15 (0.0%)
A little improvement.
-b 320
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.3
2009/03/21 22:08:28
File A: C:\Rips\Music\Ministry - Side Trax\13. Show Me Your Spine (PTP).flac
File B: C:\Temp\PTP - Show Me Your Spine LAME 3.98 320 CBR.mp3
22:08:28 : Test started.
22:08:39 : 01/01 50.0%
22:08:46 : 02/02 25.0%
22:08:50 : 03/03 12.5%
22:08:55 : 04/04 6.3%
22:09:02 : 05/05 3.1%
22:09:07 : 06/06 1.6%
22:09:13 : 07/07 0.8%
22:09:23 : 08/08 0.4%
22:09:30 : 09/09 0.2%
22:09:35 : 10/10 0.1%
22:09:40 : 11/11 0.0%
22:09:44 : 12/12 0.0%
22:09:49 : 13/13 0.0%
22:09:57 : 14/14 0.0%
22:10:07 : 15/15 0.0%
22:10:08 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 15/15 (0.0%)
A little bit better then V0.
I also tried out some other Mp3 encoders.
iTunes
192kbps VBR High
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.3
2009/03/21 22:31:54
File A: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine [Sample] iTunes Mp3 192 VBR High.mp3
File B: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine [Sample].wav
22:31:54 : Test started.
22:32:03 : 01/01 50.0%
22:32:07 : 02/02 25.0%
22:32:10 : 03/03 12.5%
22:32:14 : 04/04 6.3%
22:32:18 : 05/05 3.1%
22:32:23 : 06/06 1.6%
22:32:27 : 07/07 0.8%
22:32:30 : 08/08 0.4%
22:32:35 : 09/09 0.2%
22:32:38 : 10/10 0.1%
22:32:42 : 11/11 0.0%
22:32:51 : 12/12 0.0%
22:32:52 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 12/12 (0.0%)
Sounds worse then LAME V2.
320kbps CBR
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.3
2009/03/21 22:33:18
File A: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine [Sample] iTunes 320 CBR.mp3
File B: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine [Sample].wav
22:33:18 : Test started.
22:33:57 : 01/01 50.0%
22:34:01 : 02/02 25.0%
22:34:07 : 03/03 12.5%
22:34:12 : 04/04 6.3%
22:34:16 : 05/05 3.1%
22:34:20 : 06/06 1.6%
22:34:26 : 07/07 0.8%
22:34:30 : 08/08 0.4%
22:34:34 : 09/09 0.2%
22:34:38 : 10/10 0.1%
22:34:42 : 11/11 0.0%
22:34:47 : 12/12 0.0%
22:34:52 : 13/13 0.0%
22:34:57 : 14/14 0.0%
22:35:03 : 15/15 0.0%
22:35:05 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 15/15 (0.0%)
Sounds better, but alot worse then LAME 320.
FhG Mp3 Surround 1.5
M1 q1
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.3
2009/03/21 23:13:04
File A: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine Fhg VBR M1.mp3
File B: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine [Sample].flac
23:13:04 : Test started.
23:13:16 : 01/01 50.0%
23:13:19 : 02/02 25.0%
23:13:23 : 03/03 12.5%
23:13:26 : 04/04 6.3%
23:13:29 : 05/05 3.1%
23:13:33 : 06/06 1.6%
23:13:38 : 07/07 0.8%
23:13:41 : 08/08 0.4%
23:13:45 : 09/09 0.2%
23:13:52 : 10/10 0.1%
23:13:57 : 11/11 0.0%
23:14:01 : 12/12 0.0%
23:14:02 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 12/12 (0.0%)
320kbps
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.3
2009/03/21 23:14:25
File A: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine Fhg 320.mp3
File B: C:\Temp\Show Me Your Spine [Sample].flac
23:14:25 : Test started.
23:14:35 : 01/01 50.0%
23:14:39 : 02/02 25.0%
23:14:42 : 03/03 12.5%
23:14:46 : 04/04 6.3%
23:14:49 : 05/05 3.1%
23:14:51 : 06/06 1.6%
23:14:54 : 07/07 0.8%
23:14:58 : 08/08 0.4%
23:15:03 : 09/09 0.2%
23:15:07 : 10/10 0.1%
23:15:11 : 11/11 0.0%
23:15:16 : 12/12 0.0%
23:15:18 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 12/12 (0.0%)