It has been my consistent (anecdotal) experience with ESS 9018 9028 9038 & AKM 4490 4493 4497. If you want to show me a graph and laugh at me, fine, it is your opinion. I listen with my ears, not my eyes.
You did not state your player source so I assume you are using USB from a PC desktop/laptop and currently you don't care about balanced. I would advice you to go for a stack instead of all-in-one because it is easier to upgrade one part at a time (which you will, if your interest in audio...
I'm not as qualified as solderdude to answer but since I too, am searching for a pair of closed studio phones I may have some opinions:
There isn't an "ultimate" pair but all brands offer different flavours of what they think a pair of studio headphones should sound like.
At similar price...
@solderdude do you mind comparing AKG K371 vs NTH-100 (maybe also Shure 840A)? Since they are of the same price and are intended for studio usage. I am in the market searching for a closed back studio cans for amatuer YouTube production usage that can also be a part-time music enjoyment pair of...