Is Mark Levinson still considered up there with the best of the best?

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/warning-for-revel-lovers?highlight=revel%2Bcancel

John Curl designed a number of early Levinson products.

John also has some really interesting stories concerning that area of his audio design life....

it has never been considered even close to the best , very good within the under $15k group , in Audio $100 k for a amplifier is very. Possible and exceptional .

unless you have a $$Million + to spend the best is out of reach for most of us .

My Lexus LS has a Levinson system and I 5hink it's great for a car.

My Lexus has a Mark Levinson system as well. Much better than an after market system. But it is also very much in line with the sound I associate with ML. My 4Runer has a JBL system… completely different, not at all accurate… very exaggerated, brassy, but kind of fun to listen to. 
 

Noisy environments are very different than quiet environments. High end sound in noisy environments sounds really flat.