There isn't such a thing as the best mic. They don't work like human ears or capture the sound in the same way.
It all depends on the application, the sound you are after and the money your are willing to spend.
A mic that is yet to fail me is the AKG C414 but it is also about £500 new.
I've own Shure SM57, 58, Sennheiser E604, AKG C1000's amongst others and they all have their strong points but sometimes a mic is inheraitely more usefull and for me the C414 seems to work with everything i've tried it on. Wouldn't sound nice on some (male) voices though.
People say the Shure SM57 is highly versitile and this is true but there usually a better choice for most things, apart from maybe snare drum.
If it's for live on lead vocals. Based upon my experience I prefer Sennheiser E840 or E835 over the Shure SM58, as good as the 58 is I just prefer the sennheiser one and find I use less EQ.
Also, there are things just as important in the signal path as the microphone itself, such as the microphone pre amp and analog to digital converter (if you are recording or using a digital desk).
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