Of those I own or have owned (based on their overall performance/ease of use and my own preference):

1. Stax SR-009: the god of details, love the airiness and precision, although can get a bit fatiguing for longer listening
2. LCD-2F: smooth and damn pleasant to listen to every time I put them on, slightly forward in the mids but it never feels grating
3. Koss ESP950: pretty much do nothing wrong, although sometimes feel lacking in extensions in both ends
4. Audio Technica ATH-W5000: what I reach for for acoustic, jazz, jpop, etc; they are not hard to drive but more picky with amp synergy than most
5. AKG-K400: these surprise me every time I take them for a spin against more expensive cans, very natural sound, super nice soundstage. Slapped a pair of K601 pads on them and I can listen for hours with no fatigue
6. Beyer T1 gen 1: these are great out of an OTL tube amp, balanced sound with a slight coloration in the upper mids
7. Ultrasone Signature Pro: fit can be a bit finicky sometimes and affect the soundstage, surprisingly I like them quite a lot for classical and ambient
8. Senn HD650: nice tonality, clamping force is a little high but very comfy otherwise
9. Senn HD800: great once eq’d but I am lukewarm about the tonality
10. Grado RS2: maybe the best grado I’ve tried, feel more balanced than the RS1 to me, very energetic and fun

Thank you for the info. I really dig the faceplate and overall clean design. Their product also seems to be sanely priced. I just found out they used to make some phono amps too, may be worth a look when I get around to upgrading my TT setup.

Very clean setup. The amp looks interesting to me. Did a quick search but I didn't find a lot of info on it. Curious how it fares against other more popular amps and which headphones you found the best synergy with it (apart from the LCD-X)?

I am driving these SR009 with Stax SRM-717. I have no personal experience with other Stax amps though I’ve heard the 353X is no slouch for these (and they are much easier to find used than 717). I heard these from a Chord Dave > BHSE when I auditioned them recently. Do my rig do them justice? I think so, as I don’t remember the sound being so vastly different with my audition. The SR007 I read is much harder to drive though. What I mean is if you know the sound is what you want, there are used Stax amps that won’t break the bank so don’t let that hold you back :)

I had a similar experience years ago. I first tried them at a show back when I had much less exposure to good quality audio and thought they sounded meh. Fast forward to a couple months ago, tried them again also at a show and I was floored. I don’t think they sound like any planars I’ve heard driven from the BHSE (MAYBE the Susvara but the timbre is quite different). These required a longer audition time and the right environment for me to be able to appreciate them (superior transient and tone naturalness to the Susvara I heard at the same show, and though I love my LCD2F, I don’t think the LCD-5 are on the same playing field with the Sus and SR009 in technical abilities).

No I sold all of them after these arrived.

Jokes aside, I have the HD800 stock, LCD2F, Koss ESP950 and have heard a few other TOTLs though only at shows. I’m not great with technical terms but I’m going to try comparing them with the HD800. With eq the HD800 can sound great and are relatively up there with Stax in details retrieval but they don’t come close to the magic of the SR009 (ie how they present the details), at least to my ears. There is something special about how the SR009 render strings and kick drums that I don’t hear on the HD800, could be due to better separation. The most apparent difference for me when I first put the Stax on is the sense of air, blacker background, and greater instrument separation (although they have a narrower soundstage compared to HD800).