I've found a yet another problem sample that effects Nero AAC at 0.50 greatly:
-q 0.50
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.8
2009/08/18 13:35:50
File A: C:\Music\Nine Inch Nails\Closer To God (Single)\01. Closer To God.m4a
File B: E:\Music\Albums\Nine Inch Nails - Closer To God (Single)\01. Closer To God.flac
13:35:50 : Test started.
13:36:06 : 01/01 50.0%
13:36:18 : 02/02 25.0%
13:36:26 : 03/03 12.5%
13:36:33 : 04/04 6.3%
13:36:43 : 05/05 3.1%
13:36:52 : 06/06 1.6%
13:37:02 : 07/07 0.8%
13:37:12 : 08/08 0.4%
13:37:24 : 09/09 0.2%
13:37:36 : 10/10 0.1%
13:37:37 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 10/10 (0.1%)
Nasty disortion and possibly stereo corruption. Very easy to ABX.
Edit sample:
-q 0.5
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.8
2009/08/18 13:55:48
File A: C:\Temp\Closer To God [Edit].flac
File B: C:\Temp\Closer To God [Edit] q 0.5.mp4
13:55:48 : Test started.
13:55:55 : 01/01 50.0%
13:56:01 : 02/02 25.0%
13:56:07 : 03/03 12.5%
13:56:10 : 04/04 6.3%
13:56:15 : 05/05 3.1%
13:56:21 : 06/06 1.6%
13:56:26 : 07/07 0.8%
13:56:31 : 08/08 0.4%
13:56:35 : 09/09 0.2%
13:56:41 : 10/10 0.1%
13:56:43 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 10/10 (0.1%)
Still present on the sample.
-q 0.55
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.8
2009/08/18 13:57:52
File A: C:\Temp\Closer To God [Edit].flac
File B: C:\Temp\Closer To God [Edit] q 0.55.mp4
13:57:52 : Test started.
13:58:11 : 01/01 50.0%
13:58:18 : 02/02 25.0%
13:58:28 : 03/03 12.5%
13:58:40 : 04/04 6.3%
13:58:56 : 05/05 3.1%
13:59:11 : 06/06 1.6%
13:59:22 : 07/07 0.8%
13:59:38 : 08/08 0.4%
13:59:48 : 09/09 0.2%
13:59:58 : 10/10 0.1%
14:00:00 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 10/10 (0.1%)
Better then 0.50, but still far from being transparent.
iTunes AAC 160kbps VBR
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.8
2009/08/18 14:02:57
File A: C:\Temp\Closer To God [Edit] iTunes 160 VBR.m4a
File B: C:\Temp\Closer To God [Edit].flac
14:02:57 : Test started.
14:03:42 : 01/01 50.0%
14:03:57 : 02/02 25.0%
14:04:24 : 03/03 12.5%
14:04:40 : 04/04 6.3%
14:04:54 : 05/05 3.1%
14:05:09 : 05/06 10.9%
14:05:19 : 05/07 22.7%
14:05:35 : 05/08 36.3%
14:05:36 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 5/8 (36.3%)
Possible but i find it hard to ABX on the iTunes encode. Sounds better then the Nero encodes.
Sample:
Closer To God