Any idea which headphones I’d like?

@toddcowles I had the Focal Clear and while It did many things very well, I took a chance on the HiFiman Arya and sold the Clears. During ownership of the Arya, I auditioned at home, with the intention of buying, the Focal Stellia. After about 1 month of going back and forth, I returned the Stellia.
You say you want a headphone with soundstage and more midrange but don’t want analytical and to me the Arya fits that nicely.

I’m driving it with the Pass Labs HPA-1 with Silver Dragon headphone cable and I’m very, very pleased.

Something to consider is The Cable Company. They have a two-week rental period for headphones and amplifiers they have in stock at 5% of the retail price. You can rent multiple products from them and then I believe all of the money you spend on rentals will be put in a pot to be applied to a future purchase.

Not a bad deal.

If soundstage is important the Raal SR1a should be on your list, and pairing those with a nice Class A amp I’d think might be the ultimate given what you’re looking for. It’s also sold paired with a special version of the Schiit Jotunheim so that could be an excellent setup as well and likely much more economical.

“Lower” down the ladder I think you’re definitely on the right track with the Hifiman HE1000se (or Susvara) and the Pontus ll, but for an amp I think the Pass Labs HPA-1 or the Luxman P 750u might give you a little more of the warmth you like while not sacrificing detail. Frankly, I’d also be tempted to try the Singxer SA-1 amp as it may be all you need and save you $$$ you could put elsewhere. While also excellent I’d be a little concerned the Violectric might leave you a little cold and missing a little of that warmth, but that’s just a semi-educated guess so take that for what it’s worth.  Anyway, hope this helps in some way, and best of luck in building a very rewarding and satisfying headphone rig. 

I had a Meze Empy ($3K) + Benchmark HPA4 preamp/headphone amp. I then got a RAAL SR1a and sold the Meze because it was no contest. The RAAL are like 2 channel speakers on your ears. They do not sound like headphones to me. Read the Head-fi thread on the RAAL SR1a for user perspectives on these phones (mostly compared to other headphones).

I have had the RAAL SR1a headphone amp in the house for a few weeks. It is an easy way to get up and running to some sonic bliss. I think they are a combined $7K. They have a new tube based amp being introduced next month.

However, there are other ways to get to the promised land with these headphones. I have not read this whole thread so I do not know if the OP is a ROON user but if he/she is then this is what I recommend.

1) Get the CONVOLUTION filler for ROON (or JRiver) specify made for the RAAL SR1a by Accurate Sound’s Mitch Barnett. It costs $250. Mitch actually did the same for my Thiel CS3.7’s in a small room (my office). Genius level skills on this sound engineer. I spoke with RAAL management on this CONVOLUTION filter and they were very impressed by the description of how it was created. That is the measurements taken and used.

2) I found out that the associated gear is less important after the CONVOLUTION filter was used. However, before the filter I found that the excellent and warmish Gustard X26 Pro ($1500) was the very best DAC I had used with the RAAL SR1a. The SR1a is bright.

3) I owned and tried the following amps with the SR1a
- KRELL K300i integrated amp
- CODA CSiB integrated amp
- CODA #8 amp
- Benchmark AHB2 stereo and mono amp
- D-Sonic M3a 800s stereo amp ($1500)

4) I also bought the CODA 07x preamp which has 2 sets of XLR outputs. I use 1 for my 2 channel and the other to an amp to drive the SR1a. This preamp is magic with the SR1a. Better than the Benchmark HPA4 and the other 2 integrated amps listed above.

The KRELL was the best without the CONVOLUTION filter. I have not heard it with the filter but will do so in 2 or 3 weeks. The AHB2 was the worst without the filter, but with the filter I liked it the best. I even used Audience FrontRow speaker cable with the AHB2 and could hear the improvement over the Audience Conducter SE and Benchmark speaker cable.

I currently use the D-Sonic with the filter and either the Benchmark DAC3B or the Gustard X28 Pro DAC. Most importantly all connected to the CODA 07x preamp. This is almost as good as the other amps and the CONVOLUTION makes this even closer.

If you use the filter you can save some money to get extraordinary sound from the SR1a. A place to learn more on this is AudiophileStyle.com website where the site owner is gaga over the SR1a (like me).

Another place is to come to CanJam in Los Angeles in Sept 2021 to hear the SR1a and compare it to the other competition. They will have the CONVOLUTION filter available to demo.

BTW - I also use the silver headphone cable from RAAL. I found it was better than the good stock cable. I am surprised I like silver on these headphones.

OP, 

Regarding the Focal Clear MG Professional. 

The driver units feature magnesium (hence the MG in the name) These are highly accurate headphones for serious work, but they are bit slow compared to my Pioneer MJ591, Focal Utopia, and Sony MDR-M1ST (Studio Monitor headphone) latest iteration. I don't own the MG...yet! 

There are about 10 more headphones that I might add to my collection. Each of which purport to be studio-quality or audiophile grade/accurate for these tasks.

@mastering92  you're seriously considering adding another 10 headphones to your collection? 
Ten?...

Why on Earth would you need 10 additional headphones?