Stax is definitely the way to go with headphones. In the past 2 years I've gone back and forth in my preference between my headphone and speaker rigs, while tweaking/upgrading both. Currently, speakers represent the better overall listening experience. To be fair, I use a fairly high end vinyl rig (Koetsu Coralstone, Graham, Clearaudio Innovation) on the speakers, which gives them a big leg up on the digital-only Stax rig (009, BHSE, Yggdrasil).
Speakers obviously can render music with a lifelike energy, soundstage, and visceral impact that no headphone can get close to replicating. But the Stax 009, properly amped, is cleaner and more accurate from top to bottom than speakers, and the intimate presentation also has its nice points.
Speakers obviously can render music with a lifelike energy, soundstage, and visceral impact that no headphone can get close to replicating. But the Stax 009, properly amped, is cleaner and more accurate from top to bottom than speakers, and the intimate presentation also has its nice points.