I have just encoded large audio file with ogg -q3. The ogg file size is 98.9Mb. I have to say, the quality is very good, but not transparent. Do any of the other lossy codecs offer better quality/transparency while reducing the file size?

What I am trying to say is, can any other codec to a better job then ogg -q3 with the same file size if not smaller?

Q3...
that would be approximately 112 kbps.

The answer is no.

All I can recommend is trying version GT3. Nothing beats Vorbis for those low bitrates though.

I'd agree that Ogg is the best choice, with one small caveat:

If you want your file to sound as good as possible, aac, mp3 or even (gasp) wma *might* be the best choice *for you*. These options might not get as close to transparent as Ogg (though I suspect aac gets close), but they might sound better *to you*.

Me, I'd stick with Ogg!

Using GT3 should have no effect at q3, since the tunings jsut affect -q5 and above.
Using one of the new Post-1.0 CVS versions from John33's site could have some positive effect though.
At the bitrate you want, AAC might be an interesting choice too.

dev0

Is it Fhg or Quicktime's implementation of AAC that uses intensity stereo? whichever it is, might be impressive at 112 kbps if total stereo transparency isn't a concern (and if you are using vorbis I'm guessing its not)