I've searched on the forums but I can't seem to find any conclusive information.

Is --vbr-new in 3.96.1 considered safe and comparable in quality to --vbr-old? What's the purpose of --vbr-mtrh?

What's recommended for best quality at -V1 or -V2?

Don't quote me but I think --vbr-new is faster but quality is below --vbr-old. And vbr-mtrh = vbr-new.

That's what I thought too but there were several claims that the vbr-new was better than vbr-old in some cases.

Has this just not been extensively tested yet?

During the 3.96.1 vs 3.90.3 thread, I found one sample where 3.96.1's "--preset standard --vbr-new" was better than both 3.96.1's --ps and 3.90.3's --alt-preset standard. I also read about a few samples sounding better with vbr-new, but overall, vbr-old still seems to sound better (at least to me). From my personal tests, vbr-new tends to sound very slightly coarser than vbr-old, almost like mid-to-low-bitrate vorbis-like coarseness. I recommend testing both on your favorite songs and see if you can tell the difference. vbr-old also seems more economical.

In 3.x vbr-new could sometimes fail where vbr-old is not.
It is far from beeing systematic, but it can happen.

Ok. Thanks. I guess I'll stick to vbr-old for now then.