[HBen]

hmm 7k max. leaves quite a bit of room for lots of different chains/combinations - At least about 30 headphones, 20 Amps and 10 DACs come to my mind. I could list them but hey how about you do the research yourself Start in the summit-fi forum.

At that level I'd definitely not buy anything based on recommendations on a forum. It's all way too subjective. If I were you I'd go to some headphone meets and some proper headphone shops, test as many headphones, amps and DACs as possible and buy what combo you like best (as long as it is in your budget anyway).
Even though it is easy to assume and every company tries to put that into your brain through marketing, price and perceived performance doesn't correlate much after once you go over around 1k per headphone/amp/dac. It's mostly just different sound signatures.

I personally especially like the HD800 (SDR) - SPL Phonitor (mini) - Gungnir Multibit combination (which goes for around 3k) even though I have and have heard much more expensive stuff but considering your music preference that's probably not exactly what you are looking for.

Well that's my 2 cents. Good luck on finding your perfect headphone setup.

 

[Me x3]

It really depends on what you're looking for.

HD800 will provide an expansive soundstage but it's also too clinical for some/most of the genres you've listed.
Same for HD800S to a lesser extent in both regards.
Tesla T1.1 and T1.2 are less technical and more fun, better all rounders some would say, but also slightly fuller and less resolving in the midrange next to a very clean HD800.
Audezes are heavy and cohesive sounding, with meaty bass and relatively sweet balance.
Among the Focals you can have the more bassy Elear or the leaner, pricier and more resolving Utopia. Both relatively compact in terms of soundstage.
K812 is not that far from HD800, a tad warmer and more immediate, extremely capable headphone in some regards, but still tool-like sounding, at least with neutral gear.
The lists goes on an on... You'll find trade offs everywhere, and these are all top class headphones. Same would apply to Stax, Hifiman, ...

If you are not very picky you might enjoy them all, each of them has something nice that you might not find in other headphone.
At the end of the day recording matching is key. Some things sound great through HD800, some things don't. You know...

I would say find the headphone first, then think about a matching DAC/Amp in your budget.

 

[buke9]

I didn't know they were going to call it the LCD2Pro at CanJam they just called it the LCD Pro. So much lighter than the others in the LCD line not sure about more bass but it did sound very good they are for sure not as dark as the LCD2's.

 

[buke9]

OK - good rec. So you would say replacing this into my current setup would provide the biggest step up in quality and then upgrading the amp and headphones later would provide smaller step ups in quality comparatively?

If you are going to build a $5 to 7k setup then maybe yes. I think you would hear an improvement but lesser than different headphones. I still would pic the Yggy over the Hugo2 I didn't have a chance to A/B them but still think the Yggy would win out. I didn't care for the Beyer T1's as I found them overly bright and I like a brighter sound signature. I think I like a pair of modded HD-800's a bit more than the HD-800S but that is me and didn't hear them on the same setup to be honest. Focal picked a good name for the Utopias for sure as they are one of the best out there. The Utopia's out of a Cavalli Liquid Tungsten and Chord Dave was the second best thing I heard at CanJam the HE-1 Orpheus is in a class all their own. I have to throw in the Ether Flows as I'm still debating whether to turn my Ether-C's into open Flows but I just love my C's too much to do it right now. As for the WA8 I would pic my Amps and Sound Kenzie over it for sure as the first time I heard the Utopia's was out of a Kenzie and it was very nice.

 

[drbobbybones]

Nice.

For me, portability isn't necessary. Would you get better value for money with a stationary setup or are the WA8 and Hugo2 still on par in terms of performance with an equally priced stationary setup?

What DAC/AMP upgrades would you make down the line if you went for one of these options initially?

The WA8 and Hugo2 are both desktop level sound that just happen to be portable. The reason I suggest them is because they combine a DAC and an amp and it stays within your budget. And I'd put the sound of both of those against anything in this price range.

If I wanted to separate the DAC and the amp and wanted to spend a bit more, I'd go with a Holo Audio Spring Level 3 Kitsune Edition DAC ($2500) with a tube amplifier like the WA22 ($2500), or a solid state unit like the Violectric V281($2200 or so, more with the DAC added).

But like others have suggested, this is very subjective. You'll have to test this out yourself before pulling the trigger as my ears (and everyone else's here) are different than yours.

 

[willybravo]

Thanks heaps guys.

Unfortunately New Zealand has limited suppliers / importers of high-end audio components so it is a little difficult to shop around and test stuff out. I definitely agree that trailing gear is the way to go at this end of the spectrum but still good to get an idea of what people think will suit my preferences so I can hunt them out!

Still open to more suggestions!

 

[Whazzzup]

Hugo TT plus hd800S or th900, add an amp maybe later if you go for lcd4 or susvara