Speaking of low bitrate vbr files I have a few tracks that have less offensive artifacts on V3, while sounds awful at V2 .
Also if you find about 2+ tracks on the same album, that is not transparent at V2 and might have regression problems. Does that mean that V2 is not really transparent at all?
Anyway i did some ABX tests, even if am trying to stop performing ABX tests, so I could settle with V2; but this track was very noticable though.
LAME 3.97 -V2 --vbr-new
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5.6
2008/10/15 00:03:45
File A: C:\Rips\Ministry - Singles Box\1.01. Over The Shoulder (12' Version).flac
File B: C:\Music\Albums\Ministry - Singles Box\1.01. Over The Shoulder (12'' Version).mp3
00:03:45 : Test started.
00:04:13 : 01/01 50.0%
00:04:29 : 02/02 25.0%
00:04:33 : 03/03 12.5%
00:04:40 : 04/04 6.3%
00:04:48 : 05/05 3.1%
00:04:58 : 06/06 1.6%
00:05:04 : 07/07 0.8%
00:05:10 : 08/08 0.4%
00:05:18 : 09/09 0.2%
00:05:23 : 10/10 0.1%
00:05:34 : 11/11 0.0%
00:05:38 : 12/12 0.0%
00:05:42 : 13/13 0.0%
00:05:44 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 13/13 (0.0%)
At 4:38, there is warbling and drum smearing. This has to be one of the worst artifacts I have ever heard at V2. I could also ABX it with my iPod earbuds, without any problems.
LAME 3.97 -V0 --vbr-new
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5.6
2008/10/14 23:14:16
File A: C:\Rips\Ministry - Singles Box\1.01. Over The Shoulder (12' Version).flac
File B: C:\Temp\Ministry - Singles Box\1.01. Over The Shoulder (12'' Version).mp3
23:14:16 : Test started.
23:14:46 : 01/01 50.0%
23:14:54 : 02/02 25.0%
23:15:12 : 03/03 12.5%
23:15:23 : 04/04 6.3%
23:15:30 : 05/05 3.1%
23:15:41 : 06/06 1.6%
23:15:53 : 07/07 0.8%
23:16:00 : 08/08 0.4%
23:16:15 : 09/09 0.2%
23:16:24 : 10/10 0.1%
23:16:31 : 10/11 0.6%
23:16:38 : 11/12 0.3%
23:16:50 : 11/13 1.1%
23:17:05 : 12/14 0.6%
23:17:11 : 13/15 0.4%
23:17:17 : 14/16 0.2%
23:17:31 : 15/17 0.1%
23:17:38 : 16/18 0.1%
23:17:56 : 17/19 0.0%
23:18:00 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 17/19 (0.0%)
Smearing is gone, but the warbling can be heard if you try to listen very carefully.
V3 vs V2
foo_abx 1.3.3 report
foobar2000 v0.9.5.6
2008/10/15 02:04:16
File A: C:\Temp\Over The Shoulder (12'' Version) v3.mp3
File B: C:\Music\Albums\Ministry - Singles Box\1.01. Over The Shoulder (12'' Version).mp3
02:04:16 : Test started.
02:04:50 : 01/01 50.0%
02:05:03 : 02/02 25.0%
02:05:11 : 03/03 12.5%
02:05:22 : 04/04 6.3%
02:05:30 : 05/05 3.1%
02:05:35 : 06/06 1.6%
02:05:41 : 07/07 0.8%
02:05:46 : 08/08 0.4%
02:05:52 : 08/09 2.0%
02:05:56 : 09/10 1.1%
02:06:02 : 10/11 0.6%
02:06:07 : 10/12 1.9%
02:06:16 : 11/13 1.1%
02:06:22 : 12/14 0.6%
02:06:27 : 13/15 0.4%
02:06:33 : 14/16 0.2%
02:06:39 : 15/17 0.1%
02:06:48 : 16/18 0.1%
02:06:54 : 17/19 0.0%
02:06:56 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 17/19 (0.0%)
At 4:38, V3 does sound better then V2.
I find the track to be ok with 3.98 and 3.90.3 at APS, this seems to be a regression issue with 3.97 just like Iron Maiden's Run To The Hills at 0:48.