What is the best audio equipment brand?

I guess I can separate this into equipment and price tiers.

See, it all depends on the tier. There is no ‘best’, there could be better sounding *at the same price point* but once you get up higher in price, my belief is there is no ‘best’ or ‘better’ at the higher end, just different depending on what type of sound you like.

Headphones/IEMs

Affordable Tier

Audio-Technica

V-Moda

Beats

FiiO

AKG

Koss

Etymotic

Mid-range Tier

Sony (they are in every tier but I like their mid range the best)

Sennheiser (they are in every tier but I like their mid range the best)

Denon

Grado

Master&Dynamic

Bowers&Wilkins

Bang&Olufsen

Shure

High end Tier

Meze Audio

Audeze

Hifiman

64Audio

Empire Ears

Vision Ears

Campfire Audio

JH Audio

Noble Audio

Stax

Focal

Abyss

 

Speakers

Affordable Tier

Emotiva

SVS

Edifier

Nakamichi

Yamaha

Pioneer

LG

Samsung

Onkyo

JBL

Audioengine

Fluance

Kanto

Philips

JAMO

Mid-range Tier

Polk Audio

Def Tech

Klipsch

Sony

Bose

Sonos

Q Acoustics

Triangle

Totem

Genelec

Harman Kardon

High end Tier

Neat Acoustics

PMC

Quad

ATC

Spendor

Harbeth

Monitor Audio

KEF

Bowers&Wilkins

KLH

Revel

Wilson

GoldenEar

Paradigm

Buchardt

Dali

Dynaudio

Focal

Acoustic Energy

Sonus Faber

Devialet

MartinLogan

Magnepan

Tekton

 

Amplifiers/DACs

Affordable Tier

Denon

Onkyo

Schiit

Topping

Chord

Mid-range Tier

NAD

Peachtree Audio

Cambridge Audio

Marantz

High end Tier

Technics

Accuphase

Luxman

McIntosh

PS Audio

Naim

Linn

Rega

Roksan

Cyrus

Arcam

Simaudio

Anthem

Lyngdorf

Burmester

Mark Levinson

Parasound

Meridian

dCS

Hegel

Pass

Bryston

Creek

Krell

Musical Fidelity