ok, i have noticed several times a peculiar thing when i listen to MP3 files encoded in VBR with winamp: in some files the bitrate changes constantly, very fast from 128kbps to 320kbps or something like that, while in others (like the ones i usually encode with CDex) the bitrate does not change that much, it's very constant. I get the feeling that the MP3 files in wich the bitrate changes a lot are better, but am i wrong? And how do i encode files with that fast VBR bitrate?

How do you setup your CDex encoding parameters? Maybe we can get you on track.

Try and look at the files using Mr QuestionMan. Should give you should information about the files. My guess is that the one made by CDex is ABR, therefore the degree to which the bitrate can change, is lessened.

no, the files i encode are VBR not ABR...

my CDex parameters are basically:

LAME 3.97
VBR between 128 or 160kbps and 320 kbps;
quality high
VBR -new
VBR 2 or 3
on the fly encoding

I can objectively say that the CDex lame configuration page is very poor and misleading. Specifically, I was trying to configure it as a simple, straightforward encoder for my wife with Lame -V 4 (preset medium), only to find that when preset medium is selected, the minimum bitrate switch (i.e. -b 128) is still applied. We were thus getting "VBR" files that very rarely strayed from 128 kbps.

The workaround for this is to simply set the minimum bitrate to 32, however it's still frustrating that a supposedly simple to use ripper/encoder like CDex can't just apply one of the standard presets. Ultimately I ended up configuring CDex to use lame.exe from the command line instead.

thx for the reply Remedial Sound! It does seem that setting the minimum bitrate very low works... but it is frustrating that one of the most popular programs to encode MP3 files has that "glitch", if one could call it that... because i may be wrong but MP3 files encoded with this type of very fast VBR conversion produces very good results with a lot of bits saved

The problem isn't really with the Lame mp3 encoder as there are many, many warnings not to use the -b switch as the overall bitrate of a file will be drawn to whatever the -b value is. The problem is with CDex putting that in there. The program itself is adding the -b switch without the user knowing thus crippling the Lame mp3 encoder. Neither EAC or dbpoweramp do this.

huh... sorry for my ignorance but... what is the "-b switch" and therefore how do i turn it off?

As I mentioned earlier, I worked around this problem with CDex by changing the encoder to "External Encoder" and using lame.exe.

1. Download the lame bundle at rarewares (3.97 or 3.98 beta, whichever you prefer):

http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php

2. Extract lame.exe to the Program Files/CDex directory:

3. Change the CDex encoder settings to "External Encoder", click on the file icon to select the location of lame.exe.

Change the command line to:



Use whatever VBR preset (4 in the above example) you want.

Ignore the bitrate pulldown.

Check the "Hide DOS Window" checkbox, leave everything else unchecked.

You should be good to go with Lame VBR files as they were meant to be - and it should be faster too!

When you select External Encoder with CDex can you still get on the fly encoding or is that not possible?

besides the speed of vbr bitrate change, i notice that for lame encoded mp3 (3.97) and ogg vorbis (aoTuVb5) the bit rate change has similar "rhythm", that is when mp3 bitrate goes up from 5s to 10s, ogg vorbis goes similar way, but nero aac encoded file does not do that, sometimes actually goes in opposite direction. is this showing mp3 & ogg have similar psychoacoustics model? (bitrate read from foobar2000 0.9.4.3)