LAME -q option? Options

[Lucien]

I've just downloaded LAME v3.98.2, previously I used to use v3.97 with the switches

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-V 0 -q 0 --vbr-new

This being a new version I've got, I checked the wiki for recommended settings. One thing I'm not sure on is whether the -q option is still used. There's nothing about it on the wiki (and the forum search didn't allow a two character search term), though it's still listed when doing --longhelp.

So my questions is, does this setting have any effect any more? Is there a "recommended" option for this or would it be left to personal choice? Speed is not an issue - with v3.97 it was still plenty fast enough for me.

Thanks.

[halb27]

Use just -V0.
--vbr-new is defaulted with 3.98, and AFAIK -q 0 is mapped internally to exactly what's used when there is no -q switch.

[Lucien]

Thanks, I should have mentioned that I already noted dropping the --vbr-new from the wiki.

However the --longhelp switch brings up this info:

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Noise shaping & psycho acoustic algorithms:
  -q <arg>        <arg> = 0...9.  Default  -q 5
                  -q 0:  Highest quality, very slow
                  -q 9:  Poor quality, but fast
  -h              Same as -q 2.   Recommended.
  -f              Same as -q 7.   Fast, ok quality

Which indicates that -q 5 is the default, not 0.

I would assume then from that info and your reply that the -q switch still has an effect

[lvqcl]

I just tried LAME 3.98.2: for CBR, ABR and vbr-old default q value is 3. For vbr-new, it's 0.

[marcusm]

Try this: -V2 -q0 --lowpass 19.7
and see if you can make a better sounding mp3. I can make a bigger one but, I have yet to make a better sounding one.

[Lucien]

I'll give that a try and see how it sounds... What do the options mean though? V2 quality but push the passband up to 19.7 kHz? What would be the upper limit for that?

[kornchild2002]

Personally, I wouldn't use that command line. -q0 is redundant and the lowpass filter is automatically set at 18671 Hz - 19205 Hz when using -V 2. A lowpass setting of 19.7KHz is larger than the default. It is normally not recommended to increase the lowpass filter setting. If you are going to do anything to the lowpass setting, add the -Y option. I have conducted only a handful of ABX tests in which the lowpass filter setting was increased beyond what Lame normally uses, the results were not optimal.