Anyhoo, I would just like to note that today I became just a little more l33t.
I was playing around with encoding Miles Davis, the Complete 1964 concert, using lame, oggenc, and mppenc, just for shits 'n giggles (intending to encode w/ ogg@q6, but hey, can't let those other encoders go to waste...)
Never one before who could really tell that much difference between encoders past ~160 (but I use aps / q6 anyway), I was absolutely thrilled when I had a revelation!
I could tell a distinct difference between MPC - standard, and OGG - q6 and MP3 - aps on a certain 4-second clip! The MPC sample (of audience applause) sounded distinctly and clearly different in the MPC track!
Wee! Now I too have golden ears! (well, not really, but still, this excites me).
Not that I really have the vocabulary to describe the differences fully, but the MPC applause sounded more like loud drops of rain hitting a wooden roof, whereas the OGG and MP3 tracks sounded more like rain hitting an aluminum roof. That's the best I can explain it (and compared to the original - MPC was the most accurate representation of the original sound).
Anyway, since this is the only community that cares about such things as encoder quality differentials, I thought I would share my good fortune!
(FWIW, I still use OGG - q6 as 'good enough' encoding, esp. since I have little interest in properly encoding applause, which I regard as noise anyway, but at least now I can engage in some real haughty MPC-weenie superiority complex / snootiness if I want to - and be truthful in the process! Wee! Not that I will - but I can, and that's the important thing... that 4-second clip gives me the right and privilege to do so if I want, dammit!)
Well, there you go. One Sunday evening wasted. But hey - it's better than rotting my brain on television...
