This is by no means an attack of any kind, so don't take this the wrong way. I am new to MPC and am curious about its benefits.

Can most of you ABX the difference between LAME cbr 256 mp3 and the original WAV (real music, not test samples)? What about --alt-preset extreme and WAV?

If you can, does MPC fix the problems? At what setting? I realize that all music samples are different, but I was hoping for a general answer if that's possible.

Also, is the difference between MP3 and MPC generally atmospherically apparent (i.e., the "feel" of the music), or is it restricted to specific artifacts that one trains oneself to hear? Besides pre-echo, what other kinds of artifacts does MP3 produce?

I know that everyone hears differently and at different levels, but again I was hoping for some sort of mode of the general opinion. Thank you for your help.

I think there are as many opinions as there are users. Define "real music". I have at least as many samples I think you would consider "real music" as I have "effect clips".

Also MP3 is too general concept. I think most people could ABX Xing old 320cbr quite easily with proper equipments.
Lame --alt-preset extreme... I think most people can't ABX it most of the time. But many people can ABX it quite often of course depending on the music.

There's no general answer. Everybody has different hearing and audio equipments.

Ok, that's what I was afraid you were going to say....

But a couple of my other questions I think can get a general answer:

Specifically, LAME VBR preset mp3s.