[Nepenthe]

Long time, no post. These days, I mostly listen to Bose QC2s at work ( http://www.amazon.com/review/R2DILGPAJWNDSN/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm ) and Denon D1000s or Senn HD497s at home, so my audiophile days are behind me for the moment. I do have a Cute Beyond headphone amp and quite a bit of my home listening is done using a Marantz CD5001.
 
What I find is that in the car, at home whether it's music or television, headphones or speakers, or at work, what I tend to do is de-emphasize the highs and lows and emphasize the midrange area. I guess you could call it rolled off.
 
I think it started several years ago when I heard the most musical sounding speaker setup. It was some vintage single driver model, and there were no piercing highs or pounding lows, but it just sounded incredibly engaging. It was "round" sounding, very dynamic, very friendly. Probably doesn't hurt that it was playing a high quality vinyl record and had a tube amp hooked up. But ever since then I've kind of gravitated toward that roundness of sound.
 
Anyway, I'd be interested in knowing what kind of headphone or headphone-amp combo for $400 (US) or under would be naturally (without EQ) possessed of this sort of sound. Any ideas?
 
Thank you!

 

[Trysaeder]

You'd be looking at the Audio Technica stuff, perhaps the W1000x if you're not opposed to close phones.
 
I gotta get a pair but I felt they were a little genre specific (eh who am I kidding, I only listen to emo girls).
 
Might be a little hard to find it under your budget, but I reckon it would suit you very well. In fact, I should put it on my 'to buy' list.