Who needs luck when you’ve got… SCIENCE! 
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Who needs SCIENCE, when you have DRUGS!
wait…
That not right…
Who needs SCIENCE, when you have CRIPPLING DEPRESSION!
No, that not it… God damit…
Fuck it…
Well who needs SCIENCE when you have more headphones?..
Ya that sounds right
And what headphones does a Scientist have…? HD800, probably. Utopia? HE1000SE?
I’d say staxs
Definitely HEKse
I second this. Monolith Liquid Platinum Amp + Soncoz LA-QXD1 DAC with a balanced set is a sublime combo under 1k
God, I hate Beyer… DT900 = still pretty sharp treb. x_x The rest of it sounds pretty good/decent/balanced, however. I recall the 300 R not having such sharpness, but probably more dryness.
Zeus: Nice spaciousness. Good comfort, for basic, round cups & pads. Definitely a more relaxed sound than 900. The upper sparkle/shimmer seems overdone, though. Lower treble feels a touch shouty. Bass seems good, but kinda boomy/loose/muddy… It certainly doesn’t sound as balanced as M40x. Coming from M40x, I would say Zeus goes the opposite direction I want to go - significantly less clarity, and worse balance. These sound quite “consumer-level” to me, honestly, a long way away from the clean, balanced “studio” sound of M40x. I probably like the spaciousness most, and after that nothing about the rest of sound stands out to me in a positive way. These sound kind of dark/scooped, like my Vokyl Erupt, but I definitely like those better, too.
So, K553 is probably the only one with a chance here… The odds seem to be on its side, too, from user feedback.
Do I need LCD-X here…? I’m lost at this point. Quality, enjoyable, clear “studio” sound, with great bass and some real soundstage.
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I think if you can you should try out Aeon RTs, it sounds like those are type of headphone you are looking for
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RT over 2?
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Aeon 2 Noire might hit the sweet spot for you.
Very good, constant sub-bass with nice balance. The treble isn’t sharp, but I don’t find it as rolled-off as the HD 6XX. That’s not a criticism of the 6XX, by the way: I love the relaxed, rolled-off treble. Nice for my severe tinnitus.
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I wouldnt call the Zeus "Consumer-level main due to its sound stage, 99% of consumer stuff is very closed and “intimate” but i did warn you that is warm and less detailed 
I have heard folks that change out the pads and get more from the Zeus’s drivers however i like my Zeus comfy warm and “dirty”.
The thing is i think your best shot overall is to find a headphone that you like 80-90% of the time and try pad swapping/modding (like you did with the m40X) to achive what you want. One of first “real” headphone was the Meze 99 Neo, i love it but it lacked detail and sounded very vailed, now it wasnt a deal breaker but i ended up getting other headphone to compliment it, but after reading a few posts i tried them with a set of brainwave pads and hybrid PU/Valor that brought back that detail while still keeping most of what i loved about them (also improved the comfort)
BTW another oddball recommendation might be trying out the Fostex line up, try the T60RP (if you can with Sheepskin), now they are a longshot but they are different from most of the stuff that we talked about so far
P.S im not talking about Argons just because it takes ages to get one, and its super expensive if you live outside the US
I don’t have an opinion on 2s, because I haven’t heard them. I own a pair of Open Xs. AFAIK 2s should be a upgrade over Xs, but I might be talking out of my ass. RTs don’t break the bank tho
Initial impressions…
DT 700: This is a much more palatable sound than 900. It’s ability to present subtle, clean bits of bass texture and kick is nice. But again, that weird dryness is there. I think M40x has more kick, but less kick & textural subtlety, without A/B’ing. There’s SOME treble spike still, but much reduced from 900. I think 880 and 300 R don’t have the spike issue, so those 2 are still the ones between these I actually think are ‘alright’. It’s almost like there’s no decay on Beyers… Some odd, unnaturalness for sure.
K553 MKII: Horrible cable and pleather pads. Nice build quality, otherwise. Barely any bass… Sad. Decently clean mids, but it sounds somewhat dark/muted. Cymbal splashes seem to fall apart and disintegrate. Treble is tamed and controlled quite well, but the “fully unveiled”/revealing nature of this treble is sometimes slightly fatiguing at higher KHz. Tonality seems pretty good. The core of vocals sound accurate, but there’s too much emphases on "s"es and such. These are a cooler, duller, less engaging, more treble fatiguing sound than M40x and M50x. K553 sounds like a cheap device. M40x actually sounds like MUSIC.
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