Hey all,

Well, I wish I would have found this site BEFORE I encoded my 300-some CD's! I was doing a search for gapless MP3 playback and found a lot of posts warning about Lame v3.93, the version I used to encode my entire CD collection using the --alt-preset extreme preset (not sure if I used 3.93 or 3.93.1).

If there IS a quality difference between 3.90.3 and 3.93, where should I be listening? Highs? Lows? Midtones? What type of music should I use to "stress test"? I like to pretend I'm an audiophile every now and then, and if I can tell a difference between 3.90.3 and 3.93 using --alt-preset extreme, I may consider re-encoding parts of my collection. But it's a lot easer if I know where to listen! I usually listen through a decent pair of studio monitors, so if it's something I can distinguish, my speakers should reveal it to me.

From searching former posts, it seems the 3.93 issues have been beaten to death... I hope my question is specific enough to warrant a response!

Thanks all,

Paul

3.93.1 the major turn off is that it is highly untested. In theory you should be fine. Before you encode any more cd's listen the mp3's you have already encoded. If they sound fine keep at it. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

As I know it is not proven that 3.93.1 (and even 3.93) is worse than 3.90.3 or 3.90.2 when presets NOT used. However insane is not VBR preset so if 3.93 problem is in VBR implementation than it safe to use. But I don't know where exactly problem lays. . And even if INSANE also affected by that bug, I think 320 kbs is enough to sound transparent.

ABX some stuff from your encodes and stuff you just encode in 3.90.3

See if you can tell a difference.

If you can't hear artifacts (sounds transparent) in the stuff you just encoded. Should be fine for you.