C speed of comparison: Equals "==" vs Bitwise and "&"

Suppose I have an integer that is a power of 2, eg. 1024:

int a = 1 << 10; //works with any power of 2 no.

Now I want to check whether another integer b is the same as a. Which is faster/better (especially on weak embedded systems):

if (b == a) {}

or

if (b & a) {}

?

Sorry if this is a noob question, but couldn't find an answer using the search.