Congrats. I think you'd be extremely surprised to find that not even $500 cans will be an appreciable step up from the Tenore. The thing about the Tenore is it hardly has any weaknesses aside from being a bit dynamically compressed, and that some pairs have more bass than others due to spotty QC. I've owned a lot of phones that cost far, far, far, far more than the Tenore, that don't get as much right as the Tenore does.
Yes, there are phones that will beat it out in any number of areas, but it's almost always at the expense of something else. The Tenore is about tone and refinement, it's a phone that's flexible across all genres, and is detailed and engaging without being fatiguing in the highs/lows. You'll appreciate that when you discover that you can happily listen for hours on end instead of feeling like you wanna rip em out of your ears within 30 minutes to an hour like some other phones
Every time I waltz into the Tenore thread on HF and see people writing it off, I just look at their phones and realize they've never had the opportunity to own/listen to hi end phones, so their expectations for hi end sound are unrealistic. Either that or they mistake hyped/peaky treble/bass for increased "detail". Again, you will appreciate that you can listen to the Tenore wth just about anything and not feel discomfort from jagged treble and booming bass being pumped into your ears
I actually got a pair of UERMs in yesterday and the Tenore actually sounds very similar to it (tonally), and I'm not exactly hearing much in the way of increased "detail" from the UERM even when connected to a HUGO DAC. So far, the main improvement to me with the UERM is even better tonal balance across the frequencies (quicker/leaner bass especially) improved imaging (extremely good depth and placement), a larger more open sounding stage, and improved scaling with different gear due to the UERMs transparency.
With that said, I can easily transfer back to the Tenore coming from the UERM and not find myself left wanting for all that much. It's not like the SQ automatically becomes shit, and in some cases I'd probably even prefer the weightier/meatier bass from the Tenore to the UERM's flatter tuning since the Tenore's elevated sub bass does add some more realism to drums for instance. So in a sense, if you've managed to score a "reference" Tenore it's not all that far off from a $1000 pair of custom in ears designed by Capitol Records engineers for the purpose of mastering albums. I'm not even sure that your average listener would pick the UERM over the Tenore to be honest, and that's pretty fuckin nuts!
Finally, do play around with tips, insertion depth, and maybe check out James' front vent mod to see whether the SQ improves for you
http://www.head-fi.org/t/703874/jvc-ha-fx850-iem-woody/105#post_10347472
