Atrac3plus vs others at 64 kbps
I did a quick test. I compared Sony's Atrac3plus to other formats at 64 kbps. Only one sample used. All files were normalized before listening.
The original sample used:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/hahne/atrac3plus/sample.flac
-Genre: Heavy Metal
-Artist: Nightwish
-Track: Nemo
Used encoders:
Lame 3.97 a 3 --preset 128 as anchor
Lame 3.97 a 3 --preset 64
Sonic Stage 2.1 for Atrac3plus 64 kbps (+ Total Recorder for wave conversion)
WMA std 9 (dBpowerAMP) 64 kbps
Vorbis q0 (oggdropXPd 1.7.11 - libvorbis 1.1-RC1 compiled Jul 8 2006)
The results:
ABC/HR Version 1.0, 6 May 2004
Testname: atrac3plus vs others
1R = lame128.wav
2R = vorbisq0.wav
3L = wma64.wav
4R = lame64.wav
5R = a3p64.wav
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General Comments:
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1R File: lame128.wav
1R Rating: 4.0
1R Comment: perceptible, but not annoying
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2R File: vorbisq0.wav
2R Rating: 2.0
2R Comment: weird stereo problems
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3L File: wma64.wav
3L Rating: 2.2
3L Comment: metallic sound
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4R File: lame64.wav
4R Rating: 1.0
4R Comment:
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5R File: a3p64.wav
5R Rating: 3.0
5R Comment:
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Conclusion:
Atrac3plus is surprisingly good with this sample @ 62 kbps. Don't know about other samples though.
Edit: ABX results removed because they might make you misinterprete my main idea.