This question is mainly for commercial encoder developers that visit here (aac, atrac3, mp3, wma etc).

When you develop or fine-tune an encoder, do you have certain test samples or CDs that you almost always use first for testing its audio quality?

From what I've read, Lame has a set of samples (like fatboy, fugue, castanets and a whole page-full of them) that the developers often use to test new versions for audio quality (whether the new version is better or worse than the previous one etc).

I was just wondering if the developers of commercial encoders have a favorite set of test samples or CDs that they always use for testing audio quality. If so, and if it's not like an industrial secret, would you mind sharing them with us (the titles of CDs etc) ?

as far as MPC goes, you might be intersted in this

Thanks for the link!

After thinking about it a little bit, I guess both full-time codec developers and non-profit developers would have to use the same type of test samples, because end-users will be encoding whatever kind of music they like whether they use a commercial encoder or a non-commercial encoder...