FLACs are better than CD quality. CDs in a player always have errors. The errors are covered up by a couple of stages of error correction. One is a transparent

FLACs are better than CD quality. CDs in a player always have errors. The errors are covered up by a couple of stages of error correction. One is a transparent CRC, the other drops the effective bit depth down to 12 or so bits. The Block Error Rate (BLER) on CDs can be surprisingly high. So a CD in a player is always slightly compromised. When you rip a CD with a good ripper the drive does multiple passes over problem areas until the results are consistent. The final file is bit perfect, except on very damaged CDs.