A performance comparison is developed between a chaotic communication system and a spread spectrum system with similar features in terms of bandwidth and transceiver structure but based on more conventional Gold sequences. Comparison is made in the presence of noise and multipath contributions which degrade the channel quality. It is shown that, because of its more favourable correlation properties, the chaotic scheme exhibits lower error rates, at a parity of the bandwidth expansion factor. The same favourable correlation properties are also used to explain and show, through a numerical example, the benefits of chaotic segments in a multi-user environment.