etymotic mk5 is pretty solid. dynamic, $50-60 depending on sales, thin enough barrel to allow deep insertion. I picked them up on recommendation of tomscy when I was looking for an inexpensive, isolating iem for exercise and yardwork. I have liked them a lot.

I hope they don't sound like the compressed, boring and lifeless MC5.

...it made me re-re-purchase the er4, and I now mow the lawn in those 

One of my summer jobs was grounds and maintenance (mowing the massive lawns mostly) at the Ben & Jerry's factory in VT. I convinced the safety guy that the ER4s was adequate hearing protection. I'd walk around all day with a Bithead and my Etys and then eat an entire pint of ice cream. Good times.

Howdy! Kicking the tires and considering getting a tube amp to pair with the Fostex TH-600, Sennheiser HD650, and/or the JVC HP-DX1000 (I'm probably selling these, so I care more about the Fostex and Sennheiser). I'm trying to keep it under $500 if possible.

The frontrunners from what I've seen would probably be the Project Ember II and Lyr 2, but you guys know better than I do. Also, what's the opinion here on the ALO Pan Am, both as a DAC and Amp? I might be able to get into a used one of those for close to my price point (particularly if I sell one of my headphones).

I'm a bit of a basshead. My main criticism of my Fostex cans is the ~5500Hz peak that I would love to clean up a bit with tubes if possible.

I'd also be interested in looking at better DACs if there's anything similarly affordable other than the ODAC revB that I have. I've tried the Meridian Explorer 2 and didn't terribly like it as well as the Dragonfly 1.2 and Sound Blaster E5.

Use for both will be desktop.

Thanks!

(wish I knew enough tube amps to answer Luckbad's question).

So, what's everyone's go to source for finding what's the best version of a recording? I've discovered Paul Simon's Graceland 1986 CD version and it's amazing and better in every way than the one found on a streaming service. (Thanks LFF. What an amazing record)

Personally, I use a combination of the Dynamic Range Database and Steve Hoffman forums. Both linked on the front page.

If anyone else has more than that, chime in! I'd personally like more tools than just these two and my ears.

I'm considering getting the UERM due to the recent drop on MD.  However the Noble 4C also interests me due to its neutral signature and presence on the leaderboard.  I would really appreciate some advice on which to pick.  Which one is more detailed, neutral, and better for everday listening?  Which scales up more?  I listen to mostly non-vocal jazz and other acoustic music as well as some pop/new wave/post punk.  I've read tomscy2000's excellent comparison of these 2 products and I'm slightly concerned if the UERM might be too fatiguing for everyday listening though it seems like UERM performs a bit better in technical ability. 

Chickened out of that UERM drop and bought the Noble 4S instead...