No, just their regular eighth to quarter inch http://www.etymotic.com/consumer/accessories/er4/er38-85-1-8-to-1-4-stereo-adapter.html. My Ety resistor is fine . . . so far. I'm just wondering what went wrong and what's better.

Sadly, the 1/8->1/4 adaptor is one of those things that I've found to be generally unreliable. IMO, 2 years is quite good going if you're traveling with it. I've used them in the $2-7 range and they're all roughly the same in terms of randomly dying. I don't know how one of these will last (http://www.partsconnexion.com/77655.html) but it is $22 a pop so one would expect it to last quite a while, may be.

I am in the market for a new pair of headphones. My current consideration is for HD600 and Focal Spirit Pro. I'm leaning towards the FSP because an open headphone is less practical for my purposes, but I fully intend to own the HD600 at some point. I have tried the FSP and didn't have fit problems. Oddly, despite everything I've read, they fit me quite well. I could stand to have slightly larger earcups, but for all their fit issues, they one of the few pairs that I can get the headband long enough for the pads to sit comfortably around my ears as opposed to pulling up on the bottom of my lobes.

So, is there something besides the FSP that I should consider under $600 or so? I very much prefer a neutral response as opposed to something warmer, but also don't want anything bright. Something with larger ear cups and a more "luxurious" build would fit the bill.

Good point. I've considered the Paradox/Slant, but I've owned other T50RP mods and feel they are a bit on the bulky side. I should have specified that I'd like something relatively portable for taking back and forth to work. My only amp at the moment is a UHA-6S, but I'm considering something like the Cavalli Carbon for when I get the HD600.

I have the UERM, which fulfills all of my IEM needs and desires gloriously.

For closed under $600, seems like the Shure 1540 is worth considering.