Vorbis - Jun 2002 - Channel Coupling and Quality (-q 5 vs -q 4.99)

Thought I'd throw another log on to the quality debate to liven things up a
bit.  Does anyone have any evidence anecdotal or otherwise on the difference
between -q 5 and -q 4.99?

Now, I know that the difference between them is ONLY that a lossy channel
coupling is used at 4.99 and that lossless channel coupling is used at 5.
So my question is: How good is the channel coupling in 4.99?  Can you tell
the difference?  We all know that JS in mp3 sucked royally, but can anyone
give testimony on the quality of channel coupling in Ogg Vorbis?

Is the difference between 4.99 and 5 so slight that pop/rock music doesn't
suffer at all?   Can you tell the difference between 4.99 and 5 for
classical sources?  Does one particular genre not fair so well at 4.99?

Inquiring minds want to know *G*.

--James

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vorbis@papaya.altamente.com wrote:
> bit.  Does anyone have any evidence anecdotal or otherwise on the
difference
> between -q 5 and -q 4.99?
I hear a difference on some few of my own tunes (I know them best). It's
*very* subtle, at least to me. Afaik, one of the things that happen in
lossy stereo mode is that low volume noise gets played centered, which
makes it noteiceable to other people than me. I really don't think that
this is a major issue for most music produced for CDs, I could imagine
that Vinyl rips cause some, though.

One of my tunes contains low volume noise, clicks and pops on purpose. I
heard that below -q 5 something was wrong... people not knowing my tune
that well usually don't notice that anyways, though.

It all sums up to "choose the quality level you need" plus some little
headroom, maybe. I use -q 5 because -q 4 is transparent for me in most
cases.

<p>Moritz

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