MD vs MP3 sound quality

[SEAWOLF97]

So I'm a big minidisc fan , apparently the only one on the forum. I do off air recording and LP to MD recording and to my ears it sounds about like 7.5 ips R2R.

Bought a new (2me) MD deck and have been listening to tunes dubbed from CD ....I usually use my iPod nano...
SO ..I put the same CD to mp3 with itunes and listened and then the same CD to minidisc and listened ...SAME IEM's ...

RESULTS ?

the sound was fuller, more dynamic range , better top end with the MD , despite the often maligned ATRAC..

http://www.minidisc.org/aes_atrac.html

So is ATRAC a better coding system ? OR is there something else at play here ?