OnlySoMany
1000+ Head-Fier
The Caldera and Atrium Closed are the best 2 headphones I have ever heard. Both are over $3k. I've owned almost every single high-end and low/mid headphone set at some point (Hifiman/Focal/DCA/Audeze/Sennheiser, etc), and these are my go-to for enjoyable reference listening. I have not listened to my Susvara, Utopia, HE1000, etc in months for more than an hour.I were surprised by how much difference I could hear, going from the Ananda to the HE1000 Stealth, I did not expect that. However, the Arya is quite close to the HEKS, so if there where a big difference in price, I would have selected the Arya. So this is the sweetspot for me, with the gear I've heard so far. I haven't heard 3K+ sets, but I would be very surprised if I would think the sweetspot would be in that range.
Also, Susvara is very different than HE1000 or Ananda. Holographic presentation, with incredible clarity. I sold the Ananda a while back. It was good, but not great. Reminded me of a more open HD650.
I'm not trying to be arrogant or tell you to spend more money. I am speaking from experience as someone who moved from the very low end of headphone gear to higher up the chain over time. If you want a killer mid-fi setup, then I'd look at spending around $3-3.5k total, accounting for used prices.