I have read and accept as fact that the V settings are tested and represent the optimal settings LAME can offer.

My question is: is CBR similarly tuned and tested? Not in comparison to the V switches, I UNDERSTAND that VBR is better than CBR at a comparable bit rate. I mean, are all the proper and optimal switches set with the -CBR 256 setting? The Wiki revals little data about the CBR setting with LAME. It has been fairly ignored as everyone has concentrated on the V settings.

Of course, someone will reply, "dude, just use -Vx and forget about it". Well, I do. I use -V0. But the emerging MP3 stores for on-line music sale all use CBR. If a store selects LAME for the encoder, I would like to know I am buying an optimally tuned file - at least as far as CBR goes.