I just did an ABX test with the Children sample posted here:
Children Sample
To my ears this sample with LAME 3.98b7 -V 2 --vbr-new sounds much worse than with LAME 3.97 -V 2 --vbr-new
ABX logs:
ABX LAME 3.97 -V 2 --vbr-new vs. LAME 3.98b7 -V 2 --vbr-new
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.4.4
2008/04/08 00:31:31
File A: E:\Children 397 (edit).mp3
File B: E:\Children 398b7 (edit).mp3
00:31:31 : Test started.
00:31:55 : 01/01 50.0%
00:32:10 : 02/02 25.0%
00:32:20 : 03/03 12.5%
00:32:33 : 04/04 6.3%
00:32:40 : 05/05 3.1%
00:32:54 : 06/06 1.6%
00:33:05 : 07/07 0.8%
00:33:19 : 08/08 0.4%
00:33:24 : 09/09 0.2%
00:33:33 : 10/10 0.1%
00:33:43 : 11/11 0.0%
00:33:44 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 11/11 (0.0%)
ABX original vs. LAME 3.98b7 -V 2 --vbr-new
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.4.4
2008/04/08 00:15:19
File A: E:\Children (edit).wav
File B: E:\Children 398b7 (edit).mp3
00:15:19 : Test started.
00:15:47 : 01/01 50.0%
00:16:16 : 02/02 25.0%
00:16:26 : 03/03 12.5%
00:16:31 : 04/04 6.3%
00:16:38 : 05/05 3.1%
00:16:56 : 06/06 1.6%
00:17:08 : 07/07 0.8%
00:17:20 : 08/08 0.4%
00:17:32 : 09/09 0.2%
00:17:49 : 10/10 0.1%
00:18:02 : 11/11 0.0%
00:18:11 : 12/12 0.0%
00:18:21 : Test finished.
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Total: 12/12 (0.0%)