Lately i keep finding troubled tracks on my music collection (and still finding ) that are encoded by LAME 3.97 -V 2 --vbr-new, for some reason i am picking up artifacts more easy and i have not upgraded sound hardware and did not do any artifact training. Am shocked that i managed to ABX those tracks with a cheap Sound Blaster Audigy SE sound card and my Sennheiser HD 202 headphones.
Anthrax - Among The Living
LAME 3.97 -V 2 --vbr-new
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.4.4
2007/10/24 00:36:00
File A: F:\Listen Tests\Among The Living.flac
File B: E:\Music\Albums\Anthrax - Among The Living\01. Anthrax - Among The Living.mp3
00:36:00 : Test started.
00:36:32 : 01/01 50.0%
00:36:59 : 02/02 25.0%
00:37:27 : 03/03 12.5%
00:38:12 : 04/04 6.3%
00:38:25 : 05/05 3.1%
00:38:36 : 06/06 1.6%
00:38:45 : 07/07 0.8%
00:38:58 : 08/08 0.4%
00:39:10 : 09/09 0.2%
00:39:23 : 10/10 0.1%
00:39:25 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 10/10 (0.1%)
At 2:10 there is a sharp precho sound, and i found this track is transparent on 3.90.3 and 3.98b6.
Metallica - Harvester Of Sorrow
LAME 3.90.3 APS
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5 beta 5
2007/11/26 23:09:58
File A: F:\Listen Tests\Harvester Of Sorrow.wav.mp3
File B: F:\Listen Tests\Harvester Of Sorrow.wav
23:09:58 : Test started.
23:10:17 : 00/01 100.0%
23:10:27 : 01/02 75.0%
23:10:38 : 02/03 50.0%
23:11:01 : 03/04 31.3%
23:11:21 : 04/05 18.8%
23:11:59 : 05/06 10.9%
23:12:11 : 06/07 6.3%
23:12:48 : 07/08 3.5%
23:13:00 : 08/09 2.0%
23:13:11 : 09/10 1.1%
23:13:33 : 10/11 0.6%
23:14:16 : 11/12 0.3%
23:14:17 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 11/12 (0.3%)
A preecho at 0:04.
LAME 3.97 -V 2 --vbr-new
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5 beta 5
2007/11/26 22:42:17
File A: F:\Listen Tests\Harvester Of Sorrow.flac
File B: E:\Music\Albums\Metallica - ...And Justice For All\06. Metallica - Harvester Of Sorrow.mp3
22:42:17 : Test started.
22:42:38 : 01/01 50.0%
22:42:57 : 02/02 25.0%
22:43:25 : 03/03 12.5%
22:43:50 : 04/04 6.3%
22:44:44 : 05/05 3.1%
22:45:13 : 06/06 1.6%
22:45:37 : 07/07 0.8%
22:46:10 : 08/08 0.4%
22:46:51 : 09/09 0.2%
22:47:51 : 10/10 0.1%
22:47:53 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 10/10 (0.1%)
A preecho at 0:04, but sounds worse then the 3.90.3 encode.
LAME 3.98b6 (Nov 1) -V 2
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5 beta 5
2007/11/26 23:26:05
File A: F:\Listen Tests\Harvester Of Sorrow LAME3.98b6 V2.mp3
File B: F:\Listen Tests\Harvester Of Sorrow.flac
23:26:05 : Test started.
23:26:35 : 01/01 50.0%
23:27:06 : 02/02 25.0%
23:27:40 : 02/03 50.0%
23:27:54 : 02/04 68.8%
23:28:20 : 03/05 50.0%
23:28:26 : 04/06 34.4%
23:28:36 : 05/07 22.7%
23:29:10 : 06/08 14.5%
23:29:30 : 06/09 25.4%
23:29:51 : 07/10 17.2%
23:30:19 : 08/11 11.3%
23:30:44 : 09/12 7.3%
23:30:52 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 9/12 (7.3%)
Am not sure with this encode but its better then the last 2 encodes.
Ministry - Thieves
LAME 3.90.3 APS
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5 beta 5
2007/11/26 21:28:48
File A: F:\Listen Tests\Thieves.wav
File B: F:\Listen Tests\Thieves.wav.mp3
21:28:48 : Test started.
21:29:13 : 01/01 50.0%
21:29:29 : 02/02 25.0%
21:30:04 : 03/03 12.5%
21:30:23 : 04/04 6.3%
21:31:01 : 05/05 3.1%
21:31:34 : 06/06 1.6%
21:32:16 : 07/07 0.8%
21:32:42 : 08/08 0.4%
21:32:58 : 09/09 0.2%
21:33:22 : 10/10 0.1%
21:33:25 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 10/10 (0.1%)
A weird popping like noise at the start of the track.
LAME 3.98b6 -V 2
foo_abx 1.3.1 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5 beta 5
2007/11/26 21:43:57
File A: F:\Listen Tests\Thieves V2 LAME3.98b6.mp3
File B: F:\Listen Tests\Thieves.wav
21:43:57 : Test started.
21:44:45 : 01/01 50.0%
21:45:16 : 02/02 25.0%
21:46:26 : 02/03 50.0%
21:46:49 : 03/04 31.3%
21:47:16 : 04/05 18.8%
21:47:45 : 05/06 10.9%
21:47:59 : 05/07 22.7%
21:49:41 : 06/08 14.5%
21:49:58 : 07/09 9.0%
21:52:06 : 07/10 17.2%
21:52:17 : 07/11 27.4%
21:52:20 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 7/11 (27.4%)
Am not sure with this encode i keep thinking there is something wrong with the cymbals in backgroud.
At the moment am finding LAME 3.98b to be better then LAME 3.97 at V2 and better or good as LAME 3.90.3 --alt-preset like on my early findings a few months ago.