I've run the last generation Michelin snows, original and new fibre-enhanced Bridgstone Blizzack, Yokahama Guardex, Pirelli directionale, and Haka 1.

Caveats: Snow and ice conditions vary dramatically throughout the US and Canada, so your experience will be different. My experience is from western Canada, and the US Rockies. I drive a mountain pass daily and have had AWD cars since 1988.

The best sources of unbiased opinion IMHO are: Gute Fahrt, Automobile Magazine, and Tire Rack (in that order). 

The Michelins worked fine dry and snowy, but they were terrible in the wet and ice. I actually slid backwards on wet ice, in spite of the directional tread. Still better than all-season tires.

The original Blizzack was a wonder. Fantastic traction for a non-studded tire. It also wore fast, unevenly, was loud under some conditions, wallowed, and was WORTHLESS when the compound wore out. 

The Guardex was a vast improvement over even the Blizzack. Much longer wearing, quiet, cheap. A little skittish when cornering on wet ice.

This new generation Blizzack is much better, very similar to the Guardex (even to the compounding). It still sucks when it is worn past the sponge compound.

Pirelli directionale is a mid-way snow tire: Soft, but not Blizzack soft; great tread, cheap. It was much better at high speed than the Blizzacks. But, still a little tentative on wet ice.

Now the Hakapellita (sp?) family of tires. This company has a huge, and largely unearned reputation. The NRW is just an all-season tire, a good one with a true snow rating. It is still really nothing like the snow tires (and they sell 4 real snows). The Haka Q is the new ubertire in the soft compound world-equal to the Goodyear super snow tire (now arguably the two best non-studded true snows). This tire can do anything.

I've switched, unwillingly, to studs recently. I want to drive the Q or the Goodyear for quiet and dry performance. Unfortunately, I have to put my life in my hands with some very bad rural drivers on mountain roads. The Gislaved studs win the eurotests, but are hard to find and
expensive. The second best tire is the Haka 2, unfortunately not sold in the US. The third best is the Haka 1: Loud, squirmy, spendy, corners and brakes really well on ice.

Word to the wise. The time you really want that last 10/10th on ice is the time you wish you had the world's best ice tire. NOBODY street drives to the limit of modern cars and summer tires consistently in the dry, but most drivers are at/above the limit in snow and ice. Buy some cheap rims and get the narrowest tire that will fit, your car or your life are well worth it.