LAME 3.99 is out, 2012-02-28: version 3.99.5 has been released Options

[lvqcl]

October 15 2011: 3.99 beta 1 becomes 3.99

Download: http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php

Changelog: http://lame.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/lam...ml/history.html


This post has been edited by greynol: Nov 9 2011, 21:10

[halb27]

I did a short listening test comparing 3.99 against 3.98.4.

I chose samples which are real ugly with CBR 128 (better, but still very bad with -V5):

harp40_1 (harpsichord is a problem for mp3 - I concentrate on the chords around sec. 10.0)
lead-voice (a strong tremolo at sec. 0.0-2.0)
eig (strong pre-echo, with a special problem at around sec. 3.0)
herding_calls (at sec. 0.9-3.7 an artifact is audible)
trumpet (an artifact / an inaccuracy which sounds a bit like that in herding_calls)

The samples with all the encoded mp3 variants can be downloaded from here.

I started comparing -V5.
The result can be summed up quickly: it's all bad, for none of the samples did I have a preference for one of the versions. From that the good message is: 3.99 behaves like 3.98.4, in spite of a somewhat lower average bitrate.

I continued with -V2 and found some differences.
The problem spot with eig at sec. 3.0 is more pronounced with 3.99. On the other hand herding_calls was harder to ABX with 3.99 than with 3.98.4. I was astonished about lead-voice and trumpet: lead-voice because it was so extremely easy to ABX (with both versions), and trumpet because it was rather hard (with both versions).

I finished with -V0.
eig is nearly fine for me as I'm not sensitive for pre-echo. It's just the spot at sec. 3.0 which has me ABX eig rather easily. Again the problem is more pronounced with 3.99. I am also very content with harp40_1 which wasn't easy to ABX (harder with 3.99). The difference with herding_calls was rather strong: With volume set up the right way for this sample (not too loud!) ABXing with 3.98.4 was rather easy, with 3.99 it was very noticeably harder. I ABXed lead-voice easily with both versions. trumpet was hard for me, and with the restricted time I allowed for the test, I could not get sufficiently good ABX results for 3.98.4. With 3.99 I succeeded, but it was very hard, and I consider the 3.99 result to be fine, too. I will redo trumpet tomorrow morning when I hopefully feel fresher than I just did.

As a result I see a certain progress with 3.99. The spot at sec. 3.0 of eig shouldn't be overestimated. For judging pre-echo behavior we hopefully get other listening test results from members who are more concerned about pre-echo problems than I am.

This post has been edited by halb27: Oct 16 2011, 22:00