FLAC vs Apple Lossless file sizes

I've been looking into moving up to lossless audio files. From what I've been able to discover, FLAC and Apple Lossless should be roughly the same file size, but I downloaded a 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC from the Bowers & Wilkins site (about half-way down the page - search for Portico) which is 35MB. I transcoded it to Apple Lossless using Max and the resulting file is 62MB - 77% larger!!
Does this seem right? Is the compression level variable for FLAC and/or Apple Lossless (as there is for ZIP for example)? There's no such option in Max.

Hmm, interesting. MediaInfo reports the following:
Apple Lossless:
Audio
ID : 1
Format : ALAC
Codec ID : alac
Codec ID/Info : Apple Lossless Audio Codec
Duration : 5mn 34s
Duration_LastFrame : -49ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 484 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Stream size : 59.1 MiB (100%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2037-05-12 23:52:44
Tagged date : UTC 2037-05-12 23:52:44
FLAC
Audio
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Duration : 5mn 34s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 840 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Stream size : 33.4 MiB (100%)
Writing library : libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
So, same bit depth and sampling rate, but the bit-rate for the Apple Lossless is much higher than the FLAC.
In XLD I have "same as original" for bit-rate and sample frequency.
I've found some more free FLAC download samples at NaimLabel (panel on the right about half way down) and when I transcode these to Apple Lossless the files are the same size as the FLACs, give or take, so I guess these aren't as compressed?

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