-V2 gives way too high bitrate!?! Options

[masterridley]

I use dbpoweramp and I encode flac tracks to LAME 3.98r -V2. Usually this results in ~170 to ~220 kbps files (close to 192kbps CBR quality)

Well, not so for 2 As I Lay Dying albums that I have (think REALLY LOUD metal). When I encode those I get 230-270 kbps and of course the resulting files are quite big.

My question is: is this a bug or completely natural?
Furthermore (if it's not a bug), isn't it just better to encode in 192kbps and get a smaller file, since that's the quality I was going for anyway?

Cheers

[[JAZ]]

I would like an answer from robert, or someone that has studied this part of the code.

My interpretation of what i've heard is that in CBR mode, the code works in a way that increases the resolution only if enough bits are free and only by the amount the free bits allow. (Effectively, trying to maximize the quality for the given amount of bits).
In other words, at 320kbps, it would be working more like -V0 (without -Y), and at 192kbps would be working more like -V3 (with -Y)


@Aleron : Your explanation of the subject is correct and correlates to what i've written. I will use part of your tests to make the technical part more understandable.

[Aleron Ives]

I would like an answer from robert, or someone that has studied this part of the code.

My interpretation of what i've heard is that in CBR mode, the code works in a way that increases the resolution only if enough bits are free and only by the amount the free bits allow. (Effectively, trying to maximize the quality for the given amount of bits).
In other words, at 320kbps, it would be working more like -V0 (without -Y), and at 192kbps would be working more like -V3 (with -Y)

Would I be correct in assuming that every bitrate except 320 would probably behave as though -Y was enabled, seeing as since 320 is the maximum bitrate, -Y isn't really needed? If so, perhaps 320 isn't the best CBR example to use in the explanation, as it's sort of the exception to the rule.

I figure there must be some correlation between -Y in VBR and CBR mode, seeing as the LAME long help says:

-Y lets LAME ignore noise in sfb21, like in CBR

@Aleron : Your explanation of the subject is correct and correlates to what i've written. I will use part of your tests to make the technical part more understandable.

If you feel that I've correctly distilled the essence of -Y's function, feel free to use anything that you think would improve the quality and accessibility of the wiki entry. My paraphrase certainly isn't as precise as your post, but I hope it might be slightly more understandable to the layman who could still be somewhat confused after reading your in-depth explanation.