Yep, the idea is to expend a lot of bits - even 320kbps on complex stuff (ie sounds even better - if you can hear the difference - than straight 256kbps), and less when not needed (ie where 192 or 256kbps would be "wasteful").

I typically use --alt-preset standard with LAME with means VBR that typically works out somewhere around 200-210kbps on average, for what I listen to. Probably quite close to what VBR/192kbps would give you.

IIRC the --alt-preset stuff has changed in the latest LAME releases - I haven't had much stuff to encode lately, so haven't looked closely at the latest releases of LAME.

/Michael