I think the best hardtail I've ever owned personally is my Zaskar Carbon 4X.
It was a custom carbon 4X frame, built for and raced by Dave Wardell. I bought it off him and it came kitted out with a full compliment of Hope Team Green kit (Pro 3 SP-AM hubs, Tech X2 brakes, QRs) and a nice helping of SRAM X0, Easton Carbon and DT bits..
Someone else obviously thought it was a nice bike too, because it got stolen
I've had three...my large one was genuinely versatile. It seemed happy doing long XC rides, pissing around in the locals woods on jumps and DH runs. I really wish I'd not sold that bike...Pike air forks, king headset, bulbs hubs, saint brakes, X9 running gear etc.
My knackered old Dialled Prince Albert = pub bike, jump bike, XC bike, winter bike & with added rack mount braze on's even does off road touring. Would look a bit out of place in an xc race & would definitely fail in any bling category