Eth is the largest altcoin and has a very high level of popularity. For me etherum is a coin that is ranked 2 after bitcoin. Look at market and volume of transactions owned by etherum, for me it is very fantastic if Compared with other altcoin. As you mentioned that in fact I'm not sure etherum can beat bitcoin, because for me etherum and bitcoin are different. As we call usd dollars and pounds sterling we can not compare them in the same aspect.