[Turrican2]

Resonessence Invicta. At $5000 it takes care of your amp, dac and throws in some DSD capabilities. Not sure how you feel about iems but this combined with the akg k3003 is extremely satisfying.

 

[JMcMasterJ]

OP, seeing you're in Texas, they do have some meets, both formal and informal there on a regular basis.  Austin, Houston, Dallas... might be worth it to find out what the hobby is like at this point.

For $7500, here are the tracks I'd look at:

Stat - Nad M51 (or any decent DAC) (~$1600) -> Used Electra ($3000-$3400) -> 007 MK1 ($1500-1700) (Alt - Stax amp -> 009)
Planar - PWD2 ($2000) (or any decent DAC) -> Cavalli Liquid Glass ($2950 until summer) -> LCD-3 ($2000) (Alt 2A3MKIV - > LCD-3)
Dynamic - Nad M51 (or any decent DAC) (~$1600) -> 2A3MKIV ($3800) -> HP1000 (?) or HD800 ($1350)
In Ears - Insert-your-dap-here ($30-2499) -> JH13FP ($1100)

This. Personally I'd chose the Stax or HD800 setup.

 

[DrForBin]

hello,
 
the suggestion to try making it to the So-Cal meet is dead on. however, meets can be real noisy which makes it hard to audition open cans.
 
my lifestyle (two eating machines, i.e. adolescents in the house) make me a mid-fi kinda guy. having said that if i had your budget i would consider:
 
SPL Phonitor 2, currently $1,899.00
 
http://www.spl-usa.com/Phonitor_2_p/1280.htm
 
Benchmark DAC2 L, currently $1,795.00
 
http://benchmarkmedia.com/collections/home-page-featured/products/benchmark-dac2-l-digital-to-analog-audio-converter
 
 
Open cans:
 
Sennheiser HD 800, currently $1,499.95
 
http://en-us.sennheiser.com/dynamic-headphones-high-end-around-ear-hd-800
 
or
 
Audeze LCD=3, currently $1,945.00
 
http://www.audeze.com/products/headphones/lcd-3
 
Closed cans:
 
Fostex TH-900, currently $1,499.00 at TTVJ
 
http://www.ttvjaudio.com/Fostex_TH900_p/fos0000003.htm
 
http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/TH-900.shtml
 
or
 
Paradox Slants, listed at $700.00
 
http://referencesounds.com/products.html#!/~/product/category=3559791&id=26216815
 
or
 
Audeze LCD-XC, currently $1,799.00
 
http://www.audeze.com/products/headphones/lcd-xc
 
this is based on listening to stuff at meets.
 
having said that, one transcendent few minutes for me was listening to Miceblue's entry level STAX playing an Apple loss-less file of "Rivera Paradise" from a stock 6th gen IPod Classic running a $15.00 30 pin to RCA cable. i would sell one of my kids to have STAX. alas, there is no market for beings that keep changing shoe sizes every 90 days.

 

[TwoEars]

   
the suggestion to try making it to the So-Cal meet is dead on. however, meets can be real noisy which makes it hard to audition open cans.

 
That's pretty much how I've always felt as well.
 
Always at expos and meets you tend be impressed by the big heavy hitters with lots of bass and colored sound, that humble little HD600 fed by a trafomatic head one and vinyl over there in the corner seldom gets the love it deserves.

 

[sonorsnoopy]

Go to the meet man - there is no better way to have fun and really save some money !

 

[drez]

I would +1 to project86's advice - if OP liked his 007 system that's a pretty good place to start.  Anything else will not be exactly the same and will probably send OP on a wild goose chase.

 

[The Monkey]

This one is really easy.  You already know what you like.  Get the O2 mk1 (not the mk2) and the BHSE.  Spend around $2k AT MOST on a DAC--there are many good ones out there.  Done.
 

plus ça change...

 

[DefQon]

I second Monkey's suggestion. 

 

[TwoEars]

  Spend around $2k AT MOST on a DAC--there are many good ones out there.  Done.
 

plus ça change...

 
That's kind of how I feel. I'd love to drop 3-4k on a dac but the tech is simply moving too fast! The resale value on high-end headphones and amps is normally pretty good but DACs get obsolete fast. I bet in 5 years everything on the market will be asynchronous, DSD and ultra-high res with special filters to adjust how the DAC sounds in each rig.
 
Look at the matrix x-sabre. It's 1.1k new from amazon. I think that's pretty much the sweetspot right now.

 

[DefQon]

   
DACs get obsolete fast. 

 
Not really. Large 4 to 5 digit costing DAC's out there still employ NOS dac chips that some consider inferior to the ESS Sabre stuff.
 
As long as it sounds good, tech is not going anywhere. High-end will always remain high-end, no matter the year you made the purchase. Don't even get me started on collectors driving up the value of obsolete stuff.

 

[jibzilla]

   
Not really. Large 4 to 5 digit costing DAC's out there still employ NOS dac chips that some consider inferior to the ESS Sabre stuff.
 
As long as it sounds good, tech is not going anywhere. High-end will always remain high-end, no matter the year you made the purchase. Don't even get me started on collectors driving up the value of obsolete stuff.

 

[DefQon]

Do you listen to Spice 1? Good oldschool rap is good. 

 
Well nobody really cares for basic or entry level stuff unless it can be modded, corrected to compete with the big boys. This is the summit-fi forum so....go figure....

 

[En_R]

   
Not really. Large 4 to 5 digit costing DAC's out there still employ NOS dac chips that some consider inferior to the ESS Sabre stuff.
 
As long as it sounds good, tech is not going anywhere. High-end will always remain high-end, no matter the year you made the purchase. Don't even get me started on collectors driving up the value of obsolete stuff.

 
DAC technology is definitely moving faster than CD/SACD players or turntables.
 
Yes, high end will remain high end, but the secondhand price of DACs reflects this. 90% of sources (DAC. CD. Turntables) degrade in value, but DACs do so at a much faster rate- just look at MSB.
 
@OP: Do you have a set total budget yet?

 

[DefQon]

Yes it is moving faster but there are then "high end" DAC's out there that still command for quite a large lump of money considering how dated it is.

 

[jibzilla]

  Do you listen to Spice 1? Good oldschool rap is good. 

 
Well nobody really cares for basic or entry level stuff unless it can be modded, corrected to compete with the big boys. This is the summit-fi forum so....go figure....