I am going to offer a slightly different perspective here as there have been several mentions of the Safir in this thread. I own a Safir and combine it with a Koetsu Blue Lace, a Koetsu SUT and a CS Port turntable. I have progressed through five different analog combinations over the past 5 or 6 years, ultimately arriving at my current setup. I had previously run an Audio Oragami arm on a Palmer turntable and so the change created by the Safir was truly material.
I understand the potential for multiple types of bias in evaluating the impact of a new component and unfortunately the audiophile game doesn't lend itself to blind studies and controlled A/B testing (cartridge buying, for example, is often a leap of faith as what dealer will "lend" you a cartridge to try?) We can read reviews and look at the measurements and test data, but in the end it comes down to the actual sound. I recently read a review of some new Dan D'Agostino equipment and Dan was quoted as follows:
"In the end, I'm only interested in how good a component sounds. I'm never going to make something that sounds impolite, buzzes, hums, or only works with a certain speaker. But I do not care about the measurements when I look at my Audio Precision or HP stuff. When it shows me a reasonable output and indicates that it's doing a good job, that's all I care about."
For me, the Safir brought a new level of presence to the music I love (Bill Evans, Art Pepper, Steely Dan, James Taylor, etc) and I heard detail previously lost. And more importantly to me, there was nothing "tiring" in the reproduction and so I can listen for hours and enjoy. And when I then moved to the CS Port and added the new Koetsu pieces, I again heard and experienced a similar improvement.
I will leave it to others to debate that on paper (or in specs) there are "better" choices, because in the end it really should come down to how the music sounds.