[nonns]

Apologies In advance for committing what I'm sure is a cardinal sin and posting incorrectly but after a lot of dithering I gave up trying to decide which forum to post in.
 
I currently Listen to a Krell KAV 300i with a Micromega Premium 18 and a set of Sonus Faber Concertos with Nordost Red Dawn Interconnects. My music tastes are quite wide: Rock, Prog Rock,Classical, Opera, Blues, Jazz, Soul, Funk, folk rock and folk. I have around 3000 CD's. I also have a set of Grado RS1i's
My portable listening rig consist of a Ipod Classic 160GB with a set of Shure SE530PTH's. I also have a set of Klipsch X10i as a back up. I prefer the Shures though the Klipsch aint bad.
 
For a variety of reasons (The principle one being that my family doesn't like listening to my music) I am switching to a Macbook Air 2012 as my source whilst at home and will get rid of the speakers, amp and CD player. I am ripping my CD's to FLAC (Scanning CD covers and being careful about getting all the meta data down pat). I store this stuff on a Synology DS 410J in RAID 10 configuration which is accessible over a wired Cat 6 network via a fast router. I convert all the music from FLAC to MP3 320kBps CBR for storage on the iPod.
 
1) Has anyone got any ideas as to how I could replicate the sound of the main hi fi with Mac + dac + headphone amp + IEM's or on or over ear headphones without spending a fortune.
2) Has anyone got any suggestions as to how I could improve my portable listening rig with say a headphone + IEM upgrade. I don't want to go the custom route as I haven't go the time.
 
Note auditioning headphones in my area is not easy and auditioning IEM's impossible.
 
I have tried. Monster Beats (cos they were there and I thought why not - Why does anyone buy these things they made the singers sound like they had a sock in their mouth). I tried Sennheiser 598's. A bit veiled also. Quite base heavy but veiled and vague.
 
What I liked about the main system above is the sheer transparency of it. I could pinpoint exactly where the instruments were. The base was pin sharp precise. The treble was absolutely nailed (but somehow sweet). The system sounded quite fun to me. The Grado's added more fun to the effect.
The Shure's on the other hand seem quite analytical to me. They give less of a sense of fun and they are less precise. Can they be improved on without going the custom route? 
 
I apologise for the lack of precision in my description. I listen to music. I am not that interested in graphs and the technical aspects of hi fi.

 

[TwinQY]

Sheer transparency on an IEM? ER4P. Might need a low impedance amp if you're planning to use these IEMs with a laptop (hiss gets pretty grating).
 
But it looks like you want a slightly larger soundstage. Don't know too much about them, but the MA-900s are worth looking into. Seems to be getting well received around here for exactly the things you're looking for.

 

[proton007]

First of all, I doubt your headphone or IEM can replicate the hi-fi sound. Speaker placement, size etc. are all different, and don't sound the same.
Secondly, I've always felt the Shure IEMs are not particularly well suited to rock, but they're liquid smooth for Jazz/blues/acoustic as they are always mid centric.
From what I've read at head-fi, grado seems to be suited for rock, and is 'fun' as you say.
 
You can take a look at Westone4 if you want transparent sound.

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

First of all, I doubt your headphone or IEM can replicate the hi-fi sound. Speaker placement, size etc. are all different, and don't sound the same.
Secondly, I've always felt the Shure IEMs are not particularly well suited to rock, but they're liquid smooth for Jazz/blues/acoustic as they are always mid centric.
From what I've read at head-fi, grado seems to be suited for rock, and is 'fun' as you say.
 
You can take a look at Westone4 if you want transparent sound.

Err, the W4s aren't exactly the most transparent on the block. The mids are a bit too warm and thick (not excessively) to be fully transparent. Maybe look into the 4.Ai instead?

 

[FullCircle]

If you are looking for transparency, accuracy at levels  that are just insane...  the Tzar 350 is the answer, but you will need a portable amp as the IEM is 350 Ohms
 

 

[nonns]

Wow thank you very much for the suggestions so far. Are there any particularly good portable amps to pair with the tzar 350/90 or other heir audio products. Does anyone know how the heir audio headphones would compare with akg 3003's?