I use Windows Media Player (WinXP Pro) for comparison!
The DVD sound is as loud as the MP3 file created by GraphEdit (CBR 128k), but not as loud as the the way I encode with DVD2AVI, Azid and LAME as follows... Why?
1. DVD2AVI 1.86 decoding - I select the appropriate audio track from the list, then I go to the Dolby Digital submenu and select Demux. -> AC3-file
2. Using Azid 1.8 with the following parameters -z1 -b1 -c normal -L -3db -> WAV-file
3. And then using Lame 3.92 with the parameters --alt-preset128 -> MP3-file