4K headphone + headphone amp/dac system recommendations please

I totally understand you have experience with tube gear with guitar amps and inexpensive tube gear back in the day.  However, the sonic characteristics you seek would seem to possibly be best served with some sort of tube in your chain.  Whether that's tube in the preamp, part of the DAC stage, or amplifier.  And there's a big difference in tube gear when you go up price tiers.  Just food for thought do what you think is best.

Best advice for headphones would be to try is Meze Empyrean and Audeze, whichever you think suits you (LCD-X probably my favorite headphones because of the very realistic and natural sounding mid range).  They just have a musicality to them with great bass extension.  Otherwise some sennheiser 6xx with some super good front end gear (probably with a tube somewhere in there) would fit your preferences.  As long as you also have the ability to EQ them (this is probably the most important thing I have said in this rant) - this goes for any pair of headphones.  Can take your rig from ok to outstanding.  Best of luck in your journey

I noticed criticism on the Sennheiser headphones... I think most of the observations are the result of the electronics used to fee them, more than the headphones themselves. 

I was surprised when I finally feed my flagship Denon, Beyerdynamic, Ultrasound, Sennheiser, and Focal how much of the unique differences went away. 

@soix 

I’m unfamiliar with that site. Thanks for the pointer. 

@jrareform 

And there’s a big difference in tube gear when you go up price tiers. 

I don’t doubt it. But I worry about availability, expense and the gradual degradation of tubes over time that somehow brings to mind the metaphor of a frog obviously being boiled to death over a period of incremental temperature changes. 

Thanks for your suggestions of Meze Empyrean and Audeze. I would not call myself a bass head; I don’t prefer music in which bass plays an outsized role. However, poor bass extension, like fatiguing highs, is something I cannot put up with for long. I’m not sure the Sennheisers would be adequate in this regard, so the Audeze might well be worth a listen. On the other hand, the Jotunheim in single-ended mode has excellent bass, which might work with the Senn HD600 series.  

RE: EQ, I noticed many of the reviews on headphones.com mention EQ. It would seem it’s assumed that EQ is an expected component in headphone systems, these days. I’ve had a Lokius in my main system before. I’m not very techie, so I’d actually prefer twisting knobs to using ap on a phone to control a digital interface. 

@ghdprentice 

Can you say more about/be more specific, regarding what factors are at play when utilizing the sort of electronics you favor ?  

@stuartk If you are close to Los Angeles there are a few great options to hear some great phones.

BTW - I should have mentioned Stax as a brand I like. At the Denver meetup in January a Stax rep had the entire lineup for me to hear. I think the entire Meze lineup was also there, except for the 109 which I ended up buying. You need to buy one of their amps to drive them but some of those amps are not expensive. I preferred the Stax to Meze but got Meze to save money on something I use infrequently.

Check out the excellent offerings from Ferrum!