Lame.exe "Freeformat" preset

[redshifter]

if you have lame.exe 3.90.3 and a player that supports 321+kbps .mp3 files, i wrote this argument for lame.exe. it is a little less than 2x the size of an "--alt-preset extreme" file, and the .flac is more than 3x the ape setting. this is supposed to be an in-between for ape & flac:

--freeformat -b 440 -m s -q2 --nspsytune

if you get a chance let me know what you think.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshifter if you have lame.exe 3.90.3 and a player that supports 321+kbps .mp3 files, i wrote this argument for lame.exe. it is a little less than 2x the size of an "--alt-preset extreme" file, and the .flac is more than 3x the ape setting. this is supposed to be an in-between for ape & flac: --freeformat -b 440 -m s -q2 --nspsytune if you get a chance let me know what you think.

i should explain further what i'm doing. in this argument, '--freeformat -b 440" means a bitrate of 440 kbps cbr mp3. i chose this variable because the largest increase in sound quality comes from bitrate increase.

"-m s" means true stereo.

"-q2 --nspsytune" are psychoacoustic tuning for lame. they work very well at this ultra-high bitrate, with true stereo.

i came up with this lame preset when i started encoding my classcial cd's. lame ape and even lame api were too grainy for classical. flac uncompressed was best but the filesizes were too large. for a detail freak like me this freeformat preset is perfect--none of the bass smearing of lame ape, warmer than flac and smaller file sizes.

 

[rauer]

I personally see little point in even 320 kbps not to mention 440 kbps lossy bitrates. If you want more than LAME -APS or 256 kbps level, why on earth not go lossless and have all the signal?

No offence.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rauer I personally see little point in even 320 kbps not to mention 440 kbps lossy bitrates. If you want more than LAME -APS or 256 kbps level, why on earth not go lossless and have all the signal? No offence.

none taken. i wanted a file size between ape and flac. and i found that ape was making all my cd's sound the same. also, ape was grainy and too boosted in the bass and treble for classical. at 440 kbps the file sizes are much smaller and i like the tunings applied. of course this is for me--someone who can hear obvious differences between 320, apr with nspsytune applied and not, cbr 440 with nspsytune, and flac.

if your gear is good enough to tell why not try it before you knock it?

 

[rauer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshifter if your gear is good enough to tell why not try it before you knock it?

It's the principal I'm talking about. With my ears and gear I can't tell 128 CBR apart from PCM(!).

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rauer It's the principal I'm talking about. With my ears and gear I can't tell 128 CBR apart from PCM(!).

fair enough, but it is not a principle you're dealing with, but a bottleneck. the point is i get flac-like quality at about half the filesize in an mp3 with my preset.

i was inviting others to try it and give feedback. i think it sounds very nice.

 

[Quad]

What player are you using to play the file. Windows media player barfed on the floor when I tried to play the file.

 

[blessingx]

Are there any portables that support this?

 

[redshifter]

i've just been testing on my dap: iaudio m3. it will play it but does not display the bitrate. i do not know which software players support it.

 

[crazychimp132]

Maybe I should be keeping this to Hydrogenaudio, but can you provide ABX test results? Otherwise noone can be sure it's not placebo. I tried testing this, but I can't find anything that plays it.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazychimp132 Maybe I should be keeping this to Hydrogenaudio, but can you provide ABX test results? Otherwise noone can be sure it's not placebo. I tried testing this, but I can't find anything that plays it.

i had 4 files, lame ape, lame freeformat, ogg vorbis q5, and flac. i put them in a playlist folder on random. the music was mozart piano concerto, on a decent 1980's ddd recording, so it wasn't perfect.

i would listen, make notes, skip to the next track, notes, next, etc. then i could go back in the history and see which ones i was listening to. so i guess close to abx.

 

[Sinbios]

i remember seeing this, but as it doesn't work with vbr, it didn't had much appeal for me.

 

[redshifter]

yeah, i was originally trying for a --freeformat --abr 400 -b 128 -B 600 kind of preset, but right now lame doesn't support the two together.

i'm unconvinced the acoustic profile for vbr works with all kinds of music.

 

[redshifter]

the MAD plugin for winamp 2 can decode freeformat files:
http://www.mars.org/home/rob/proj/mpeg/mad-plugin/

you can get winamp 2 here:
http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=winamp

 

[Head Creep]

I'm gonna try this with my Zen Xtra. I put the uncompressed WAV's of one album (Weather Report's "Heavy Weather") on the Xtra instead of MP3's because it sounded noticably worst when compressed. Maybe this'll help, assuming freeformat MP3's are supported.