1. A method for calculating a perceptual distance between a data signal and a first representation of said data signal, comprising the steps of: partitioning a time ordered representation of said data signal using a windowing processor; decomposing said partitioned data into multiple channels using a filter bank, each channel representing partitioned data components of respective frequency bands; quantizing said decomposed data in a quantization engine; reconstructing said decomposed data from said quantized data using a decoder; determining an energy difference between said quantized data and said reconstructed data in a difference energy processor; and adjusting said quantization engine based upon a comparison between a predetermined threshold and said energy difference.