I think Ive come across this somewhere before but can't find it. Has anyone compared the normal, fast, and slow settings on dbpoweramp 12 for lame mp3 conversion? Is it just like fast = vbr new? or does it really mean what it says... slow = better quality

Those are the noise shaping LAME options (-q). If using vbr-new they are meaningless. In other modes high=q2, fast=q7. Normal might be q5 or just default q3 - i'm not sure. If in doubt use 'high'.

So is dbpoweramp12 using vbr new? If it is, whats the use for this option then?

DBP still uses v3.97 which defaults to the old vbr.

Is there any way to use the -vbr new setting on it?

You will need the DB CLI encoder and lame.exe. You can also wait until 3.98 is final or use 3.97 with the high quality option.

I wouldn't have really complained if I didn't notice some lag in the sound compared to the files encoded with eac and lame 3.97 with the preset fast extreme option

edit: this is probably placebo but for some reason I feel that even preset standard is better than preset extreme when the high quality setting on it is on and the extreme is set to normal. Extreme is more extended though so for music with a good amount of high frequency information like some coltrane, the standard setting shows its limitations compared to preset extreme

The mp3 encoder in dbpoweramp uses --vbr-new by default, LAME 3.97 itself might not, but Spoon is smart enough to make --vbr-new the default since it's recommended here on HA

I'm getting confused here. Who should I believe? rudefyet or shadowking?
Rudefyet, so all the settings for quality whether you say slow, fast, or normal are using -vbr new???

I did mention that 3.97 defaults to old method but I am not sure what is implemented in DBP. You can encode a file once with DBP and lame.exe then do a bit comparison just to be 100 %.

ah ok, so assuming DBP defaults to vbr new, what would the quality settings do then if you say the q settings don't affect vbr new.

Anyway placebo or my gut reaction tells me that the slow setting is better than normal. I haven't done enough tests but so far I feel that the slow setting has faster transient response, thats less of that pre-echo i guess?

Placebo. The new vbr ignores -q settings. Those settings aren't needed for post v3.90 LAME as everything is mapped to the presets and -q2 / 3 which is what 'high' is on many mp3 frontends.

anyone else agree that there is no difference between the quality settings in dbpoweramps lame settings??? Whats the point of the settings being there then when it was designed with the lame 3.97 encoder in mind?

Generally most people including program devs don't really know what those options do or if they are even required.

ok since no one else has replied, i'll take what you've said as the gospel truth for now but still leave the high quality setting on to feed my audiophilia nervosa syndrome since I still feel that I hear a difference :-)

You can use foobar Utils>bit-compare for the truth. Ok I just tested things:

For vbr-new -q0~4 is meaningless. So looks like DB 'normal' and 'fast' options will affect quality so leave at high.

"high quality" meaning the slow setting right? I'm just confirming this so that there is no more confusion. thanks, seems like my instincts were right

Yes high=q2, little slower than default q3.. BUT if using new vbr q0~4 all give same output.

Are there any dbpoweramp developers on this forum to explain this? and how do we change the encoder to 3.98? will it be fine to do so?

To use 3.98 you would have to use the CLI Encoder and lame.exe

We only supply stable releases, not alphas and very rare betas (if there is a good reason to).

spoon, what can you say about the quality settings of lame in dbpoweramp? Does the slow setting improve quality in lame 3.97 vbr new? are you using vbr new for dbpoweramp 12?

VBR new is used in R12, the Slow / Fast / Normal encoding does effect the file output.

So, what is this option passing to the command line for each setting? Is there a way to just turn it off so that I can use the command line that the slider chooses without anything additional?

The slider is just a visual representation of the command line. -V 2 on the slider means that dbpoweramp is using the command of -V 2 --vbr-new and nothing else. As previously stated, the Encoding "quality" settings such as slow, fast, and normal mean nothing now that dbpoweramp uses the --vbr-new command by default.

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I thought so too but spoon himself stated above, after all of that, that VBR new is used in R12, [and] the Slow / Fast / Normal encoding does effect the file output.

I recall testing this by encoding a file with dbpoweramp (12.4 reference) using V2 and doing it both ways (slow and normal) and ended up with two different size mp3 files. This tells me that these settings actually do something. Given that, I've been setting at "slow" (what dbpoweramp notes is higher quality) when I do lame -v2 encodes.

it looks like this question has already been adressed on this topic.