I'll just in throw my caffeine driven retort:
tools are tools. Nothing more. There are no magic bullets that can overcome a bad song, iffy techniques at the front end, etc. Nic, you've got a gear list I would almost kill for, yet you don't seem content.
What are you looking for, and how will will you know when you've found it? Our shop has been cranking out indie rock gospel stuff, mega-church releases, rock EPs, etc, for years using production gear that you would likely refuse to look at, but we are working every day (too much, usually). Exactly all of our clients have had one comment during the production phase: can you make it sound a little less 70/80-ish?
Keeping in mind we use a console, SSL and Digi conversion, a lot of midgrade comps, M2000 and M3000 reverbs. More times than not, the twist is not in the gear but in the wrist of the operators, self inclusive.
Moral to this: Stop worrying about the tools - they are just that --- and worry about what is coming through the speakers, and how it fits into the song. The song does not care if you are using Apogees, Radar, or RME...the song does not care if you use Manley, API, Burl, or ADesigns. The song does not care if you process on the way in or the way out. The song just is, and it is (IMO) the reason for a group of people to gather at your place and undergo this process...The song is not an excercise in gear frustration.
Been there (not to your extent) and still paying for it, man...let it go, and you just might be a lot happier for it...(Sidebar, letting go of the booze wouldn't hurt you either...been THERE as well)
To test this theory - bring in another engineer/producer, and give them a few hours to work one of your more frustrating projects with your gear = hear what the end results are, and take some damn good notes. I've done this, and was stunned at how well other people can make my stuff sound. With your collection of uber hi end gear, you simple cannot blame the equipment any longer - its time to look elsewhere.
I offer this as a friendly and honest "been there done that, this is how it worked out for me" adage...take it for whatever its worth.