Finally 192 kbit/s listening test finished with the following results (see 192 kbit/s page for details):

• Ogg Vorbis, AAC+, AAC LC and WMA 9.1 showed the best audio quality
• MP3 and MPC are second
• AAC LC from iTunes is last due to the bug

Considering additional aspects of the coders usage SoundExpert recommends compressing music @192 kbit/s with these coders (best are first):

• Nero AAC LC encoder has the best consistency of audio quality (short gap between min and max values) and the highest min value; good compatibility with software and hardware players
• Ogg Vorbis has lower support from hardware manufacturers and slightly lower quality consistency
• WMA 9.1 has good combination of audio quality and support
• MP3(Lame 3.97) has the best support but lower audio quality

High bitrate AAC decoders (AAC+) are computationally demanding and still not wide-spread. So AAC+ encoder, which has comparable audio quality in the winners group, is definitely more effective at higher bitrates.

SoundExpert says “thank you” for participation and “sorry” for such long period of testing which was necessary for experiments with reliability parameter of ratings. Next tests will be substantially shorter. Once again - Thank you!