Just looking at the presets:
-0, --compression-level-0, --fast Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -r 2,2
-1, --compression-level-1 Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -M -r 2,2
-2, --compression-level-2 Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -m -r 3
-3, --compression-level-3 Synonymous with -l 6 -b 4608 -r 3,3
-4, --compression-level-4 Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -M -r 3,3
-5, --compression-level-5 Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 3,3
-5 is the default setting
-6, --compression-level-6 Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 4
-7, --compression-level-7 Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6
-8, --compression-level-8, --best Synonymous with -l 12 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6
It looks like it might have something to do with the -M or the -m switch which control whether or not adaptive mid-side or mid-side are used. It doesn't make sense though because those switches are only supposed to affect stereo encoding, unless there is a bug in the implementation. That is the only thing that I can see though. I've got some mono recordings I can test later and I'll see if the results are the same.
EDIT: If I don't try before you do, try using the -0 or the -3 switch with --channels=1.