CHANDOS label...

While cruising through Primephonic, I just happened upon a Chandos recording of Victorian era British composer Dame Ethyl Smyth's cantata The Prison.  Needless to say, I'd never heard of Ethyl Smyth or her cantata.  Anyway, in a few words, damn, is this gorgeous!  Recording is full, rich and spacious.  The music is echt-romantic.  Played with pull-out-all-the-stops commitment.  A guilty pleasure?  Or a not so guilty pleasure? I don't care which.

Playing this as we speak. Darius Milhaud - Athena Ensemble ‎– Music For Wind Instruments (Chandos 1980)

Sounds clean and clear and well recorded. 

If I may, I want to insert another name...Ars Produktion for SACD...I find their recordings super crisp and clean sounding 

A lot of good recordings, agreed, and excellent repertoire. But overall are they better than, say, Hyperion?

Not in stereo but Hyperion stopped doing multichannel a long ways back and Chandos still feeds my need for it.

good label

I like Chandos records.  I only have a couple of them, but no complaints.  Fine fidelity.  Fine performances.

Certainly not better, but at least complimentary in their catalog. On average, SQ wise, Hyperion might be a tad better. In comparison between the two, I would say that Hyperion might be a bit more neutral and Chandos a bit more rich. Unfortunately that richness might just make some of their CD's less transparent and or reverberent. 

A lot of good recordings, agreed, and excellent repertoire.  But overall are they better than, say, Hyperion?

I think the Chandos' catalog is the best reason for their existence. They have recorded a lot of music that is overlooked by other major labels and is worth exploring. SQ and performances are good to excellent (like other most other labels).  

Agree, one of the better labels, and often Jarvi conducting.
There are other labels and exceptions in Chandos of course.

I would agree that I have some very nice recordings on that label.  Wish I could tell you specifically what accounts for this.  I can say I have some labels that have a higher percentage of what I consider excellent recordings when it comes to SQ.  But there are too many variables to generalize here.  The talent of the recording engineers, the venue, the mics and associated recording gear, the final mix all play into the final product.  Heck, I even have boxed sets with the same group in the same venue all recorded over a small span of time, and some of those recordings are reference quality, others very good.  Go figure.