4K headphone + headphone amp/dac system recommendations please

Focal Clears are super harsh imo.  Way overpriced.  Can see by the amount of used ones.  I bought them thinking they were end game.  Returned and got a pair of senn hd6xx from Drop and they crushed the clears top to bottom for $189 lol.  Audeze LCD X 3 are sick but aren't comfortable for long sessions imo bc of weight primarily.  But those are the best I found for vocal content.

I also agree with others.  You have to try before buying.  Headphones.com had a free trial not sure if they still do but I returned my clears after a few months bc I just couldn't love them and for over a grand, you'd better love your headphones.  Don't think if you buy 4k headphones they will automatically be better than $200 headphones for YOU.  Everyone is different.  I'd recommend looking at frequency response graphs to get an idea of the response you like.  Then try different headphones that are in your budget. 

Listening to random people and pulling the trigger on a $4k headphones setup is akin to buying an extremely expensive meal only to take one bite and spit it out.  Don't do this.  If you can afford it, you could buy 2 or 3 pairs of headphones and then keep the ones you like most.  THEN once you've decided on the cans, look at your front end upgrades.  Especially since you're not interested in tubes.  The headphones will have way more to do with the sound you enjoy than the choice of solid state amp and DAC.  Although they also significantly alter the sound, the headphones are the biggest factor.  Also not sure why you're not willing to try tubes.  It may be the only way you get the nice smooth highs if you're super picky in that frequency range.  Best of luck to you!!

Oh and also, make sure your DAC or front end has a full parametric EQ.  EQ is the only way some headphones sound good.  My beyer dt 880s have an annoying spike in treble but when I reduce the problematic frequencies they sound as good or better than my senn 6xx

I’d recommend looking at Sennheiser headphones and Woo headphone amps. I’ve had a top of the line headphone system for decades following the improving technology. Woo offers outstanding sounding tube based amps so you can get the power and warmth of the real thing. Ive used at least a dozen other amps. 

The key is the electronics you back them up with. You can see my system under my USerID. It is by far the best system I have ever hears. All the electronics mater. As an initial step I would put $1K into headphones and $3K into the amp... consider used. For instance if you were able to get a used WA5 and then some good 300B tubes you will overcome any lack of warmth from your DAC. Then sometime down the road you can invest in a different DAC and Streamer. 

It is just as difficult to put together a great headphone system as it is a main system. I think my ratio of headphone cost to electronics supporting them is 1 to 8. So eight times more cost in the electronics than the headphones. 

One of the draws to Violectric is they are very high current amps. I have one... that is good. Many headphones amps do not have the current to drive all headphones. Current from solid state amps is similar to main systems... the more the better. Violectric  dones not have a warm fleshed out midrange... which is really where a lot of the power and realism comes from. On the other hand... it is a system and every component counts.

@mulveling 

I hate their newer HD800 and derivatives. Such unnatural sound

I was most unimpressed with Sennheiser headphones I heard a couple of years ago, but I just put it down to me.  Can you elaborate a bit more, please?

@ghdprentice 

"Just as difficult"... yes; that's becoming clearer as I read through all these comments.

It does seem like Sennheiser would be worth exploring as a starting point but more importantly, comments seem to suggest that my disinclination to go with tubes renders the entire enterprise a non-starter.