I have no idea what is best. I do know that I am very happy with my Rowland Continuum 500. It has the blackest background and is really easy to listen to. I've compared it to a few other pricey integrated amps and it easily won out for me. I wish I could hear half of the amps mentioned in this thread as I bet they are killer. One of these days, I'd like go pick up a tube integrated for my bedroom system. I should mention that the Continuum replaced a VTL pre/power.
