Please find the excuses for me not to buy Stax 009S headphone

009S with Carbon is a damn near perfect match. With tube/hybrid amps (BHSE, GroundedGrid, Megatron, T2) you can possibly make a better case for the original 009.

And that review you posted by Tyll is unfortunate in that he back-pedaled hard on 009 in the ensuing years. My take is that his initial rave-review was made with a borrowed Headamp BHSE amp (hybrid tube amp on the same quality level as your Carbon) - later on, he only used a very inferior KGSS amplifier (not even a 'hv' version), which surely had a substantial effect on his impressions. Amplifier quality is more important with Stax electrostatics than it is with dynamics. 

Anyways congrats - 009S with Carbon is an extremely fine system!

I’ve had 4 different Stax headphones from brand-new, (2x 009, 009S, L700), and have heard a used 009 and two used 007. Also I was able to compare a brand-new 009 to burned in 009 examples. Unlike dynamic headphones, I’ve never noticed any discernible amount of burn-in effect with Stax. They should sound exactly "right", right out of the box from hour #1. Any minor differences in sound are likely to be from differences in pad conditioning over time (or different sub-versions in the case of 007, but not 009).

Also I didn’t pay too much attention to burn-in of my new Carbon when I got it; sounded great right out of the box though I concede there may be some subtle improvements over 200 hours. My DIY T2 also sounded 99.9% there right out of the box. Many builders will usually do some amp burn-in as part of their final testing.

@geoffkait 
Yes, I have read Stax was claiming at least 150 hours of burn-in (SR-009 headphones) at the factory. This was said to be done not for sonic development, but for weeding out early-failure drivers, known by consumers as the infamous driver imbalance issue - which became problematic during early runs of the 009 several years ago. There was speculation the problem became worse with the new PEEK diaphragms used in the 009.

My original 009S (one of the very first) actually still developed the imbalance issue after several hours. It was immediately replaced by my dealer, and the 2nd pair has been perfect - it's possible they truncated the burn-in during the rush to fill pre-orders? I didn't have the issue with any other Stax headphone, but by the numbers the 009 production seems to have had the worst bout of it. 

@richopp’s experience reminds me of when I heard 009 from a Stax 727 amp - yuck.The 009S with Carbon, or 009 with BHSE or T2 will be in a completely different zone - highly engaging, never boring, and probably the least fatiguing headphone setups I’ve heard. Dynamic headphones like Utopia are far more fatiguing than a well-amped Stax Omega.

Stax have an exceptionally flat and linear response from top to bottom - free of the peaks, aberrations, and ringing of dynamic drivers with their metal coils getting whacked about. I believe these issues of dynamic headphones contribute to hearing damage at higher levels, compared to Stax. 

The Raal headphones really do look awesome. They remind me of a futuristic version of the AKG K1000, which I once owned. Sadly I’ve not heard the Raal’s yet. Glad you’ve got your forever speakers too! It’s not fun upgrading two systems at once...

Congrats shkong78! I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Not surprising with your top-notch sources. I wish I had such a setup for myself right now, as my T2 is down for repairs. Your love for the sound may grow even more with time. And I’ve previously owned two amps built by loligagger - a KGST and a 450V Sanyo KGSShv - he’s a good builder!