A method of encoding audio data includes determining an energy level of a first subband of frequency domain audio data, determining a bit allocation for a coarse quantization process and a fine quantization process, determining that the energy level of the first subband of frequency domain audio data is outside a predetermined range of energy levels for the coarse quantization process, reallocating bits assigned to the fine quantization process to an extended-range coarse quantization process, the extended-range coarse quantization process using an extended range of energy levels, wherein the extended range of energy levels is larger than the predetermined range of energy levels for the coarse quantization process, and quantizing the energy level of the first subband of frequency domain audio data using the extended-range coarse quantization process to produce a quantized extended-range coarse energy level.