Let me apologize for adding yet another one of these threads to the boards. Unfortunately, after days of scouring the boards I have not been able to come to a decision on my next headphone purchase. I've been a member of this board for about 3 years, but haven't been involved in the community for most of that time. Before I found this community I was listening to music through Sony V500s. I came here looking for advice and ended up purchasing the Sony V6s and AKG181DJ. THe V6 has been my "go to" headphone at home and the office. I found the AKG to be uncomfortable and bass heavy. I guess the clamping force was a little much and I'd prefer for the cups to completely surround my ears.

Anyways, I'm looking for an upgrade from my beloved V6s. I would mainly be listening to music out of headphones when I'm at work or traveling. The music would be sourced from my ipod photo, iphone, or laptop. I'm not opposed to buying an amp, but portability is a must when considering one. Most of my music is flac or 320 mp3s. My musical taste is very eclectic, but I find myself mostly listening to rock, indie, post-rock, and instrumental these days. I tend to have an affinity for treble over bass.

I've researched several different headphones based on other posts, but I'm wondering if there are any I missed. Please help a noob with some killer headphone/amp combos for my needs or something that could easily be driven by the sources listed above. My budget for amp/headphones is around $800.

I've researched the following so far:

ATH-M50s
Ultrasone hfi-780
ESW9a
Maestro GMP 8.35 D Monitor
Sennheiser hd25

Thanks in advance for the help.

I don't think the ESW9 is circumaural (completely surrounds ears).