I am still catching on to the jargon, but I understand about people who have a desire for perfection when it comes to sound.  I wonder if perhaps a looser fitting ear flange may seem strange, but I've found that I get a better sound wave when I'm just shy of air tight...hmmmmm

Not sure if you've purchased or not, but you can get a new acoustic guitar with a solid top in your budget.  A solid top is made from a solid piece of wood as opposed to a laminated top which is "wood stuff pressed together"  you can find both very cheap and very expensive.  A solid top acoustic...

I have a telefunken m80 gold, which I LOVE - but it is a $395 vocal performance microphone for serious pro's or serious dreamers.  I had an Audix OM7 ($229 retail) , but I sold it to buy the telefunken- in the interim, I went back to my old mic, a Sennheiser E835- I think I paid $35 for it in...

I don't have any info about the Merkur Model you mentioned, I do however have a Merkur (can't remember the model- it seems to always be out of stock - very popular).  I modestly suggest you use a best badger hair brush they are pricey (start at around $35-40, and go into the $$$$) I bought one a...

I own the SURE SE215 Clear IEM's - they were $99 or so- I rather like them.  I've been shopping around, and for the money, the SE215's give a lot of bang for the buck.  I'm still a noob on this site, but I hope I have helped.