Autumn 2006 Listening Test
Reply #93 – 2006-08-15 22:55:24
My interest for a MP3-listening-test-only is not very high, but my interest for a MP3 test using CBR or ABR is really low. I'd personally focus on VBR performance of various MP3 encoders. List of possible contenders allowing VBR: - LAME - Helix - Fraunhofer Fastenc - iTunes - gogo It's not really surprising but these encoders are also the most interesting MP3 encoders available. I don't really see the point of testing them at an unefficient setting. If we force LAME to use ABR/CBR then we should logically force all other competitors to use the same kind of setting (otherwise the test will look as a very dubious one). If I had to perform myself such test (as a personal exercise), I would: 1/ select all encoders mentioned above 2/ build a bitrate table to see if they all offer a setting close to 128 kbps and of course which one may work [three encoders are finely tunable then it shouldn't be a problem; LAME has -V5 which correspong to ~130 kbps; iTunes is maybe harder to include for this reason] 3/ think about the samples 4/ think about anchors I would try to avoid VBR/CBR confrontation (and as I said, I don't consider a CBR-only test as a useful solution). I'd tend to forget the idea of making a "popular encoders" listening test for that reason (assuming that one at least would be CBR only, like WMP encoder IIRC). It's just my personal point of view on this subject.