Generally, I'm with rsaavedra on this one. If I were to look only at Telarc vs. Chesky though I had to admit that I never quite could figure out what the Chesky hype was all about. Own about 6 Chesky albums - all jazz or acoustic guitar and wasn't overwhelmed. Rather diffuse, sound-wise to my ears. So for jazz, Telarc would win hands down to my ears. As far as classical (orchestral) goes, I remember quite some (older) Telarc recordings that somehow did not sound that natural to me. Others are excellent though (Mahler with the Philharmonia and Zander for example). But then again there's so many other labels doing a great recording job: Deutsche Grammophon, Hyperion, Chandos, Collins (when they still did exist...), Harmonia Mundi, Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm, ECM, Tacet, Astrée na¡ve, EMI, Philips, Decca, L'oiseau lyre...