I think you would be surprised how close the Panasonic Arc5 is. I was blown away by it compared to any Norelco I've used (and I have 30+ years on them).

Another vote for Arc 5, or Lamdash ES-LV9C in Asian Market.

I really wish I had know this earlier. I tried Phillips Norelco ( Not the new 9000 yet, which I have heard was completely different to all previous model ) and the circular head just didn't work for me. And because of all the marketing I thought Braun was the brand to look at for Electric Shavers. I knew there was Arc 4 ( Arc 5 wasn't out yet ) but Panasonic? Not a brand name you would look at for shaving. So I bought the Braun Series 7 10+ years go, it was good, and years later the new Series 9 ( awfully expensive ), it was good but wasn't really any improvement compared to S7.

Then my friend went to Japan and brought a Lamdash / Arc 5, he is liking it a lot and he has a lot stiffer facial hair then I do. I was curious and since buying it in Japan is quite a bit cheaper, I decide to get one.

And after using the Arc 5 the first time the only thought I had was I have wasted 10+ years of my life on Braun. Braun felt like an electric shaver, good but it is still an electric shaver. Arc 5 felt more like manual shaving. It still isn't as close as manual, but for the time it took, results, and not cutting myself from time to time, I was extremely happy. And you could do wet shave to get ever better results, which the Braun didn't get.