LAME 3.100 alpha testing Options

[IgorC]

New build of LAME 3.100 alpha is available on http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php

Changelog

[IgorC]

As of bitrate for current alpha 2 it's (3.99.5 V5)<(3.100a2 V5 )<(3.99.5 V 4.999)

So I tried one sample with these settings.

CODE

ABC/HR Version 1.1 beta 2, 18 June 2004
Testname:

1R = D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.99.5 V5.wav
2R = D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.99.5 V4.999.wav
3R = D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.100a2 V5.wav

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General Comments:

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1R File: D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.99.5 V5.wav
1R Rating: 2.5
1R Comment:
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2R File: D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.99.5 V4.999.wav
2R Rating: 2.8
2R Comment:
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3R File: D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.100a2 V5.wav
3R Rating: 2.8
3R Comment:
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ABX Results:
D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.99.5 V5.wav vs D:\Audio\Test samples\09 Fugue Prem. Notes\lame 3.100a2\sample09 3.99.5 V4.999.wav
5 out of 5, pval = 0.031

[Dynamic]

So I tried one sample with these settings.

I'll share my findings, which in relation to 3.100.alpha2 back up what IgorC ABXed.

I tried the same Fugue_Premikres_notes sample as IgorC and was able to ABX the 3.100.alpha2 -V5 version (5/5 ABX). I realised this is another case of the transient+tonal problem sample class (harpsichord is usually going to be like this, and unlike guitar, you'll never expect to hear pitch-bending in a harpsichord so it can't pass as part of the music).

I was tempted to try halb27's high-bitrate short-block method (-Vn+) for this sample to see if it helped, and I still have an old (not final) version of 3.99.5y that unintentionally allowed -V5+ to be used.

I used 3.99.5yFinal to encode -V5 and 3.99.5yNotFinal to encode -V5+ and both resulting MP3 files are attached in the Upload thread along with my fb2k ABX logs. (There's a 3.99.5z version now, but the approach is slightly different).

Neither was transparent (5/5 ABX), but I felt -V5+ was better so to be sure I heard a difference, I ABXed -V5 against -V5+ and while this was harder (somewhat noisy environment today didn't help) and both had some wavering in the pitch of the harpsichord notes (esp the last note was nice and clean on the original, and cleaner on the -V5+ version, so I focused there). I knew this was tougher, so went for 10 trials, and got 9/10 ABX.

To try to describe the difference, in essence after the plucking transient, the pitch of the original lossless harpsichord was immediately a strong consistent tone. In the -V5+ version the tone seemed to come in about right then waver slightly before becoming consistent in pitch. In the -V5 version it seemed come in less precisely on-pitch and to waver a little before the bit of wavering that I picked out in the -V5+ version, so it wavered overall a little longer, seeming like about two mild pitch-bends or tremolo oscillations rather than one.

It was easy to ABX a strong consistent tone in the lossless against any of the tones that had a wavering, poorly defined starting pitch, but more difficult to focus on the duration and nature of the wavering pitch between the -V5+ and -V5 versions.

I know this is only loosely about 3.100.alpha2, which is supposed to improve the transient-tonal problems in lead-voice for example but clearly isn't enough to cope entirely with harpsichord - which is also both highly tonal and high in sharp transients.

If I get time, I might try to compare 3.100.alpha2 to 3.99.5yNotFinal -V5.