--aps would give around 190-200kbps VBR. Is there another alt-preset that would give me a VBR MP3 around 160-192kbps? Or do I have to start doing a manual command line?

Thanks

Use preset MEDIUM with 3.96.1.

Or you could try --alt-preset standard -Y

What about using -V 3 with 3.96.1 ?

Didn't realize it's that simple.
Thanks.

If there are ever any more LAME listening tests I'd love to see that preset tested.

-V3 is slightly higher quality than --preset medium (= -V4) and slightly lower than --preset standard (= -V2).

Similarly, -V1 is slightly higher quality than --preset standard, and slightly lower than --preset extreme (= -V0).

Regards,
Madrigal

-r3mix with 3.96.1!

I tried --preset medium, and the big difference from --preset standard is that the bitrate can go as low as 48-96kbps during encoding. The frequency cutoff is also lower than --ps. IMO, the quality is good, but some people may be able to notice the lower frequency cutoff. Just for comparison, the filesize was 6.83MB, while the same song using --ps was 7.7MB, using --p extreme was 10.1MB.

--preset medium and standard -Y are great for my portable discman. I use the fast modes and haven't noticed anything annoying yet.

I have a 158 files ripped this month using 3.96 it's rap/rock/pop music encoded using --preset standard & average bitrate is 184kbps if preset standard could go lower than 128kbps it could be lower.

You may be surprised on how little the average bitrate would drop if preset standard was allowed to use frames smaller than 128kbps. You can try it yourself: use "--preset standard -b 32". This tells LAME to use all available framesizes (32-320kbps). Because of the bit reservoir, LAME doesn't waste as many bits with a forced 128kbps minimum as you might think. Since you encode rap/rock/pop, I wouldn't expect "--preset standard -b 32" to save you more than 1-2kbps...in some cases the bitrate savings may only be 0.5kbps.

How your music >looks< like, doesn't say much about how it >sounds< like (see TOS).
- Lyx

edit: i have an exeptionally high frequency cutoff(i'm 26years old and can hear a 17,5KHz sine-wave in a noisy environment(pc-fans blowing)), yet still i doubt i could hear a 16KHz lowpass with casual listening - because normal music doesn't only consist of a simple sine-wave - other instruments mask high-frequencies. Besides - what do you think is more annoying: missing ultra-high-frequencies or artifacts in the low-high frequency-range? A higher lowpass has a price: much less bits left to encode the "normal" (and more audible) frequency-ranges.