I mentioned the bass issue to Dan at Canjam versus my HD800 off the Liquid Crimson. He said he thought the Ether bass sound more 'lifelike'. We go to different concert venues it seems. Or he's better at marketing than I am.

Interesting comment. The sales guy (there was only one that didn't hover even near me and let me do my thing and only joined me for a talk after I asked him) was quite experienced and in his 40ies.
I asked him to listen to the 'one note bass' but instantly started about Pat Barber which was playing at that moment and how he didn't like it and ranted about sheffield labs and other recordings that were 'better'.
I mentioned it was about the bass which he said wasn't as good as people said.
Said that I agreed but asked him about the one note thing again and he listened again.
I chose that track because the bass notes are already NOT that well separated BUT you can still make them out on the other headphones.
He didn't hear what I said (had one on order and his father is the official importer in Europe/Netherlands) and perceived it more as a real 'room'.
Some rooms indeed do that... make bass one note-ish...
So to him the ETHER was perfect (and said he ordered one for himself).
Tried to explain what to listen for and used other music to make my point.
Could be he didn't perceive it as me, could be he heard it but liked the headphone too much, could be he wanted a 'sale' ... dunno.... don't care it's my ears and wallet and my gear anyway.
he kept going on about the 'lifelike-ness'/realism of the bass of speakers in a room and how well it sounded to him.

I then tried to 'imagine' this room in the hope I could catch on to what he was on about and do the purchase as I really liked the other aspects (aside from the shrink tubing) but really couldn't ... I wanted to though.
The bass SUCKS .... period.