flac dev - Jan 2014 - Why Rice order in "--best" switch is limited to 6?

The "--best" switch currently synonymous with "-8" that
synonymous
with "--compression-level-8" that synonymous with "-l 12 -b 4096
-m -e
-r 6".

Why value of "-r" switch in "--best" is limited to 6?

The maximum Rice order is 8 (not 6) for the stream to be Subset compatible.

"-r 8" ("-l 12 -b 4096 -m -e -r 8") produces better results
than "-r
6" ("-l 12 -b 4096 -m -e -r 6") and and also Subset compatible.

???? ?????? wrote:
> Why value of "-r" switch in "--best" is limited to 6?
>
> The maximum Rice order is 8 (not 6) for the stream to be Subset compatible.
Because -r 8 is noticeable slower? The size difference is 0,0003%,
the speed difference is 30...40%.

BTW, you can also use -A=... options to increase compression ratio.