hi pals!
the last 2 or 3 years i encoded my mp3-files with the fraunhofer encoder @ 128bps(because lame allways sounded realy terrible to my ears). Now I'm going to encode my favourite music with a better codec at a higher bitrate and i've tested LAME, FHG,OggVorbis and WMA9 by now. oggvorbis doesn't "fit" for me, because my mp3player doesn't support it.
so the hearing-tests started off.

:in this test i'm using winamp 5.07 with rock-equalizer(EQ):
i compared the original with the lame-mp3 and the wma.
It seemed to me, that lame made the sound "deeper"(dully).......really changed the instrument(')s sound!
Where wma was "great" and i couldn't distinguish any more between the original and the wma.

:now i'm still using winamp but without euqalizer:
same routine as above. original, lame-mp3 and then wma
listening to lame.......oh my god! what happend!??! now lame sounds completelly like the original. can't find any difference. wma still sounds good.

now the final question: Why do lame-encoded MP3-files WITH EQ sound different from the original and WITHOUT EQ the same???
hell, i can't listen to music without EQ. so help me to solve this problem (maybe a problem with winamp???)

thanks

ps: i used lame 3.90.1 and 3.96.3

yes, its EQ just sucks (like Pearl Habor, the movie)



SebastianG

maybe, BUT but why makes winamp's EQ the lame-mp3's sound so different and creepy where the original and the wma still sound the same with EQ on? thats a fact i don't understand Maybe the lame-compress-algorithm is so shitty and the EQ shows us that.

No. Winamp uses a completely different EQ for MP3 to gain performance (AFAIK it's called something like "Fast Layer 3 EQ" in the preferences).

[feedtroll]Ok, so you're saying that anybody here on this forum who uses LAME to encode their music either have shitty hearing or shitty taste.[/feedtroll]

If you want to make sure that the same equaliser is used for both mp3s and wmas in Winamp, go to the options window for the in_mp3.dll plugin and uncheck all the so-called "Fast Layer EQ" options you can find.

It seems to me that you have upgraded your audio equipment to a considerable extent... You'll find that LAME will start to show its strengths from now on, as long as shitty equalisers don't get in the way..

OK, I'll check this.

Edit
Yep, it worked. thanks pals. Fast Layer 3 EQ really sucks. Now i can enjoy my mp3s in a perfect quality!