Is mp3 better than flac on Poweramp?

[Bencherished]

I just got my first flac audio today (Rihanna's album, Anti) although I have the mp3 format before now, I was so curious to hear the difference in sound considering all I've heard about flac, I was disappointed when I played it with Poweramp, flac is louder but mp3 has better feel of 3D surround sound playing with Hi Res, why is it so? 

I must  add that Poweramp is the only music player that is able to play each single track separately from the flac album (Rihanna's album Anti) other music players displayed the full album as a single track. 

Edited March 27, 2017 by Bencherished

[TimvH]

The MP3 file you have might be from a different master, the best way to test the difference in audio quality is to convert the .flac files to .mp3 yourself. And then use ABX or just compare them from your phone

[andrewilley]

Also make sure ReplayGain isn't causing any changes in volume between the two test files.

Andre

[Maddog510]

7 hours ago, Bencherished said:

I just got my first flac audio today (Rihanna's album, Anti) although I have the mp3 format before now, I was so curious to hear the difference in sound considering all I've heard about flac, I was disappointed when I played it with Poweramp, flac is louder but mp3 has better feel of 3D surround sound playing with Hi Res, why is it so? 

I must  add that Poweramp is the only music player that is able to play each single track separately from the flac album (Rihanna's album Anti) other music players displayed the full album as a single track. 

Was it downloaded or ripped from a CD?

[Bencherished]

The flac was downloaded 

[andrewilley]

I would try converting the new FLAC to MP3 using something like foobar2000, otherwise you are not comparing the same source material. Also try ripping something from one of your own CDs to both FLAC and MP3 and see if they differ. 

Andre

[w3wilkes]

For all you audiophiles here's an interesting article on FLAC vs high bitrate MP3. This person created a fairly in-depth test and issued a public challenge where people would evaluate the provided test material.

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2013/02/high-bitrate-mp3-internet-blind-test.html

[lantian]

On 3/28/2017 at 0:24 PM, andrewilley said:

I would try converting the new FLAC to MP3 using something like foobar2000, otherwise you are not comparing the same source material. Also try ripping something from one of your own CDs to both FLAC and MP3 and see if they differ. 

Andre

Agree, have to say in my experience if the flac is sold as cd rip in most cases it is not and in fact a mp3 file converted to flac. The last time was when I bough John Lennon Stand By Me cd flac direct download and it sounded like shit, after buying a cd i was certain that downloaded file was not what they advertised it to be, sq difference was night and day. unless you go for 24bit flacs, buying and ripping cd's yourself is best way to go.