Skype 3.2 beta greatly enhances sound quality with new audio codecs

In my previous post about the Skype 3.2 beta out today, I said this:

I'm sure there will be some other things found in the release, too,

but I had no idea how right that statement was... Jim Courtney over at Skype Journal just posted this "Skype 3.2 Sets New Standard for Sound Quality" and he's not kidding. I just called Jim using Skype 3.2 and spoke to him first using just my laptop mic and speakers and then with my normal mic/headphone setup. In both cases he said the audio quality was excellent (obviously even better with the mic/headphone setup I have). He spoke to me with the setup he describes in his article... sitting back away from his computer a bit and with his microphone situated between speakers. I do have to say that the sound quality was impressive given that Jim is trying to create echoes (I heard none).  Definitely an interesting move on Skype's part... obviously only of use between 3.2 beta users, but it will be interesting as this rolls out into their production software.

In the meantime, if you are a 3.2 beta user and want to give me a call to test it out... I'm certainly interested in listening to the audio quality under different circumstances.  (Skype ID = danyork).