Maybe "alpha-killer" depends on how picky you are, or your criteria. Personally, a pair of binoculars that give 90% of the "view" of alphas (however you define "view"), for 25-50% of the cost are "alpha-killers" for me.
I made it back to Cabela's a few weeks ago and spent some time with the Conquest, Cabelas (Meopta) Euros and the McKinleys (all HD) (and compared them against a Swarovision EL 10x42). Only looked at 10x (I did leave my drivers license and take them outside). W all know that such tests are not like using the binoculars for a couple of weeks in familiar territory, but to my eyes the McKinley's were probably within 10% of the Meoptas and Swaros, optically (brightness, sweet spot size/sharpness and color, although you'll have to give me a little latitude on the last one since it was already afternoon and the light was yellow). The McKinleys seemed as good or better than the Conquests, optically. This was after the Cabela's sale, so the Leupolds were around $600. I found them online for $150 less and ordered them, but when they arrived one eyepiece was very loose. Not broken. It just hadn't been screwed down all the way. I was worried that moist air might have replaced the nitrogen, so I returned them. The others were more user-friendly.
The one big criticism I had with them is that despite the nice big eyepieces, long ER and decent FOV (for 10xs), they were fiddly in terms of eye position and getting a great view. I wear glasses and I had to be precise about getting the IPD and my head position correct. I can't say whether that would have been something I would have adapted to or whether it would have continued to bother me. There was also some rolling ball effect when scanning, which I don't like (bothers me far more than a little CA).
One last note on "alpha-killers": Since I bought my 7x42 Hawthornes in October I have been able to compare them to a couple of 8x "alphas" (again at Cabelas) and I couldn't be happier. I've used them for game-spotting at over a mile and bird ID in dark shady woods and they are a joy. I'm not implying there is anything wrong with searching for bins with the best "view" for you, but I like the standard that I've seen expressed by a few posters here: "There's nothing I could see with [binocular A] that I couldn't see with [binocular B]."