I encoded a song using FLAC and Lame (APX). When played back in winamp with the eq off I could barely notice a volume difference in the two. But when i turned on my fav EQ setting the mp3 file was noticeably louder and reacted more to eq adjustments. When adjusting the preamp slider, the FLAC file just doesnt get as loud as the mp3 does with the same adjustment.

Or maybe the FLAC file was just encoded "quieter" in the first place and I couldnt hear the differenc until the eq was turned on. argh.

To me this, in the end makes the mp3 sound much better and almost like FLAC is not worth it. I have replaygain disabled in the FLAC decoder options also.

Obviously this must mean that FLAC is crap and shouldnt be used. Thanks for sharing with the community.
EDIT: Sarcasm

I'd blame Winamp for not applying the same EQ settings to MP3 files and FLAC files. This is (was?) a well-known problem that hasn't (hadn't?) been solved for ages.

Disable the Fast EQ in winamp's mp3 decoder.

Ok thanks guys. Guess that means time to finally make the switch to Fooooobar. Will they ever come out with a nice GUI for foobar?

As for markanini, well id be an angry little man too if my name was markanini.
EDIT: No, really

for what it's worth, I use winamp for mp3 and flac with no issues in loudness varience (besides tracks original mastering issues)

Custom EQ settings aren't correctly applied to WavPack files either with Winamp 5.12 as far as I'm concerned.

Take a look in --Here--

cheers,
h

the problem is the nullsoft mpeg decoder (in_mp3.dll)
by default it handles the EQ differently for mp3, while every single other thing does it the other way

to fix it, use linear EQ and disable fast layer3 EQ

or better yet, use this (in_mpg123)
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=18530