Best upgrade path $1000. Options included.

Hello everyone!

My birthday is coming up soon, so I'm choosing my next path for upgrading. I'll keep this as short as possible. I listen to mainly Indie/Rock/Post-Rock/Ambient/Metal/Folk. I currently own the Auzentech Forte 7.1 soundcard and ATH-AD900 cans and looking for a great upgrade path. So, here are some choices I have come up with, feel free to mention any other suggestions "COST" is NOT including the original price of the current soundcard and headphones I have. For options with the HD650 I have added +100 as it's roughly the cost after selling the ATH-AD900 and buying the HD650. I have also added +50 US to each option as I live in Australia and would have to pay shipping costs. The Woo Audio 3 has been priced at roughly $400 as I would look for a second hand one.

Foobar [FLAC] > Sound Card (Auzentech Forte, which would be used as DAC) > Woo Audio 3 (upgraded tubes) > HD650:

COST = $600

OR

Foobar [FLAC] > Audio-GD FUN (Used as DAC and Amp + Earth Upgrade) > ATH-AD900:

COST = $400

OR

Foobar [FLAC] > NuForce Icon HDP (Used as DAC and Amp) > ATH-AD900:

COST = $500

Thanks for reading guys! Help get me closer to the holy grail Feel free to add to/chop/cut any of the options if you have better ones. Price range is around $900 max including the cost of the phones (my AD900s were around $270 US). Basically I want the whole setup to cost no more than 1k if possible!

Thanks for the reply Eric! I have heard amazing things about the synergy between the Sennheisers and the Wa3 which is what is making me lean down that path. The only thing that turns me off is the apparent lack of mids in the 650s. I am a guitarist so the mids are important to me. That being said, apparently a proper, high quality amp such as the WA3 with these upgraded tubes fixes this and really makes the 650s sound incredible in all ranges of the frequency spectrum.

^

Bedtime bump. Hope to see some more replies in the morning!