These recordings were originally sourced from mp3, which was then transcoded to FLAC and posted on the internet in the guise of lossless audio. I wish people weren't so stupid or deceitful, but what are you gonna do...
The mp3s were converted to .wav and remastered, then converted back to FLAC to reduce the filesize for reposting. It is not recommended that you reconvert these files to mp3, because they will sound EVEN WORSE!
Thank you.