Now, we could compare the evolution during one year (between MP3, MPC and Vorbis only).
• Musepack Audio: From an evolution standpoint, MPC is the clear looser: it lost the quality crown, stolen by Vorbis. Last year MPC ends the test by getting an uncontestable first place; now the format is tied with Vorbis (which is better on average) and LAME (worse on average). On 18 samples MPC was ranked first 15 times in 2004; now it’s four times only! Musepack has also lost the efficiency trophy: with classical at least the bitrate is now superior to LAME and Vorbis. I remind that last year, MPC ends at first place with 10 kbps less than MEGAMIX and even 20 kbps less than LAME 3.97 alpha 3.
As a consequence of increased bitrate and stagnant quality, I would say that MPC is loosing its former attractiveness (for classical music). It’s not really surprising considering the low evolution of the format in a world of constant progress. Other format have simply catch up their lost time.
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• LAME 3.97: LAME vitality defies the common sense. The format is supposed to have reached maturity for years and therefore to stagnate. The tested preset is not only better but is also faster (thanks to –vbr-new) and more efficient (-11 kbps!). The progresses are important. To precisely check them I reencoded all reference files with alpha 3 –V2 and compared them to alpha 11 –V2 –vbr-new. Indeed obvious problems are solved: the audible ringing in orchestra (sample_18) has totally disappeard, the weird distortion on organ (sample_05) is truly lowered… 2005 seems to be an exceptional vintage for LAME, comparable I would say to the release of LAME 3.90 in December 2001.
if you go EAC >> EAC options >> Tools you'll see an option to start the external compressor in the background. check that and it'll start encoding the tracks in the background as it reads them from the cd instead of read,encode,read ect. It'll speed the process up somewhat
