When it went to press just recently, Switch v1.23 used (and still does in the current version 1.24) Lame version 3.82a which, in my opinion, is an excellent MP3 encoder. This version of Lame has a Variable Bit Rate (VBR) option, which permits the user to set both the lower and upper bitrates of the encoding process separately, along with a mysterious "quality" setting which is described only in the vaguest terms. I am currently using VBR in Switch with a lower bitrate of 224kbs and an upper bitrate of 360kbs, along with a quality value of 0 (the highest quality possible). This combination of settings gives me an excellent sound quality, virtually indistinguishable from that of a CD (I find the reference to a constant bitrate of 128kbs as "CD quality" to be deplorable; it is a lie), with a compression ratio of about 6:1. That is, the compressed file size is about one-sixth of the original .wav file when extracted from the CD.
The current version of the Lame encoder is 3.97. It also has VBR, but it has been "updated" (I guess that this is what is claimed for it), apparently to compete with Microsoft's WMA. This updating is a serious departure from the VBR encoding used in Lame 3.82a. Whereas in v3.82a could set the upper and lower bitrates and quality value as I describe above, the new and "improved" version has been "dumbed-down" (at least in appearance, if not in performance) to avoid confronting the unsophisticated (a PC word) user with those bewildering upper and lower bitrate settings. Now, there is simply a slider with which the audio "quality" may be set. No need to exercise any brain power in making those awful VBR adjustments! Just the way that Microsoft does it with their WMA.
HOWEVER, whereas (as confirmed by _my_ ear; I don't know about the ear of anyone else) WMA does a superb encoding job (in terms of the output quality versus the encoded file size), the new Lame v3.97 is inferior to WMA, in that there is no slider quality position which gives an output quality which matches that of Microsoft's highest quality. What I get using the best that Lame v3.97 (which I have used independently of NCH software) has to offer does not live up to the best that Microsoft has to offer. While this is understandable (not everyone would agree with this), I believe that it is time for Lame to go back to the drawing board and redo its VBR encoding. In my opinion, they have taken an MP3-encoding quality step backward, while stepping forward in the version number!
This leads to my (burning) question for NCH. Why is Switch continuing (a decision with which I agree) to use the older Lame v3.82a, in preference to using the newer Lame v3.97? Is this just accidental (inertia), does it have something to do with license fees paid to the Lame patent holder (yes, Lame is open-source but is _not_ license-free), or? And secondly, does the newest Switch version 1.24 perhaps contain an "upgrade" (not _my_ word!) of the Lame encoder?
Alright, NCH, its your turn.....
Musikone
