Here are my favourite samples I use to test Vorbis at q4 and q5. They represent Vorbis's long known problem with sharp noise and feature some nifty pre-echo on top of that.
The samples were taken from the following tracks:
Autechre — [Gantz Graf EP #01] Gantz Graf [3:58];
Abfahrt Hinwil — [VA — Everything Is Green #02] Everything Is Green [4:25];
Nine Inch Nails — [Quake OST #01] Quake Theme [5:08].
foo_abx v1.2 report
foobar2000 v0.8.3
2006/10/26 01:01:52
File A: file://C:\Files\test samples\ae_gg.wav
File B: file://C:\Files\test samples\ae_gg.ogg
01:01:52 : Test started.
01:02:18 : 01/01 50.0%
01:03:00 : 02/02 25.0%
01:03:22 : 03/03 12.5%
01:05:29 : 04/04 6.3%
01:06:26 : 05/05 3.1%
01:08:01 : 06/06 1.6%
01:09:23 : 07/07 0.8%
01:09:56 : 08/08 0.4%
01:10:10 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 8/8 (0.4%)
That was rather easy. Vorbis just smeared the granular synthesis.
foo_abx v1.2 report
foobar2000 v0.8.3
2006/10/26 14:42:34
File A: file://C:\Files\test samples\eig.wav
File B: file://C:\Files\test samples\eig.ogg
14:42:34 : Test started.
14:43:13 : 01/01 50.0%
14:43:24 : 02/02 25.0%
14:43:45 : 03/03 12.5%
14:43:55 : 04/04 6.3%
14:44:06 : 05/05 3.1%
14:44:18 : 06/06 1.6%
14:44:31 : 07/07 0.8%
14:44:49 : 08/08 0.4%
14:44:51 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 8/8 (0.4%)
Easy, again. On the other hand, LAME -b 320 fails on this sample completely, even worse than aoTuV at q5 despite twice the bit rate.
BTW, this is my favourite pre-echo sample, the attacks are sharp but not very disturbing, and the background is very clean. The track itself is very nice as well.
foo_abx v1.2 report
foobar2000 v0.8.3
2006/10/26 14:46:39
File A: file://C:\Files\test samples\nin_quake.wav
File B: file://C:\Files\test samples\nin_quake.ogg
14:46:39 : Test started.
14:47:14 : 01/01 50.0%
14:47:30 : 02/02 25.0%
14:47:45 : 02/03 50.0%
14:48:20 : 03/04 31.3%
14:50:09 : 04/05 18.8%
14:53:24 : 04/06 34.4%
14:53:27 : Trial reset.
14:54:10 : 01/01 50.0%
14:54:33 : 02/02 25.0%
14:54:57 : 03/03 12.5%
14:55:22 : 04/04 6.3%
14:57:37 : 05/05 3.1%
14:58:23 : 06/06 1.6%
14:59:18 : 07/07 0.8%
14:59:48 : 08/08 0.4%
14:59:49 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 12/14 (0.6%)
That was much harder. The difference is very subtle, almost nonexistant background noise. At my first attempt, I was confident at the beginning, but shortly after started to fail and decided to take a short break. After that, I once again understood the difference to concentrate on, and passed the test without any further mistakes.
Enjoy.
EDIT: Oh, completely forgot to post my testing "equipment".
Soundcard: Creative SB Live! 5.1.
Headphones: Sharp HP-MD33-S.