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[johnnyboy]

Hiya,
Just encoded some mp3's using this setting wanting to get ultimate quality pretty much and have just noticed that it uses Joint Stereo instead of Stereo. Am I wrong or does this loose a lot of the individual sound thats designed to go to each speaker individually?

If so, it doesn't seem that extreme quality to me ? ?

[Alex B]

Am I wrong or does this loose a lot of the individual sound thats designed to go to each speaker individually?

You are wrong. MC's LAME MP3 encoder uses lossless stereo coupling in the Joint Stereo mode. This mode switches automatically between the L/R and Mid/Side stereo coding depending on the audio content. The encoder tries to select the most efficient mode for each MP3 frame. Also many lossless encoders use a similar system.

Some encoders use the lossy intensity stereo coupling at low bitrates (typically at below 128 kbps). Intensity stereo allows reduced stereo separation when the encoder tries to keep the audio quality otherwise acceptable. This mode is not used in LAME's Joint Stereo.

More info about LAME:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME  (The recommended -V 0 setting is exactly the same as MC's Extreme. According to the current knowledge the "fast" mode (AKA --vbr-new) does not reduce quality so you may want to enable the "fast" switch too.)

More info about Joint Stereo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_stereo
http://harmsy.freeuk.com/mostync/

EDIT

I have requested revised MP3 encoding options and explained various LAME settings in this thread:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=36445.0

I hope that the encoding options and encoder version upgrades are on JRiver's "to do" list.