I've gotta agree with you about the Ultegra hubs.
And the sound of them is as good as the look. I could just sit in my garage all day with the bike in the stand listening to the rear wheel spin.
I'm also quite taken with the Ultegra SL rear derailleur:
On the MTB side, I like the XT crankset and rear derailleur:
Of course, these things aren't in the same class as those Vanillas.