The Best Audiophile Earphones headphones and Amp

Keep in mind that the price you will pay for the 02MK1 and the BHSE will put you right around the price you would pay for the HD800 and RSA B52. With an electrodynamic amp (B52), you have the ability to try a bunch of different phones including the Audeze and Hifiman electrostatic phones that can be used through an electrodynamic amp. With the Stax amp you are limited to exactly that. There is a point on any audiophile journey where you find the quest to get the best sound is infringing on the ability to listen to music. When you get to that point, take the best of what you have heard ACCORDING TO YOUR PERSONAL TASTE and enjoy some music. The best way to start this journey is to go to headfi.org and look for the next CanJam date. At this meeting you will meet the major headphone and headphone amp manufacturers; as well as, be able to listen to people's personal set ups. This may require a plane ticket and a hotel room, but that is a small price to pay for the money you will likely save by making the right choice based on your listening to the equipment and not trusting someone else's assessment. Bring discs that you know so that you can pick out what equipment you like with the recordings you know.

Agree in general about the AVERAGE head-fi poster who is likely to value specific design or parts choices rather than overall implementation, BUT there are several veterans who you can pick out by reading their posts. Comfort is even more important than SQ, cause if they make your head hurt due to the band pressure, or if they make your ears sweat (Stax Pro Lamdas did that to me) it does not matter how good they sound. OTOH, if they are comfortable to you and you don't need sealed cans, a pair of AKG K1000s hooked up to a good 8-10 wpc integrated amp is, IMO, pretty darn hard to beat. As long as you have a thick skin and don't mind being mocked by your entire family... they are VERY odd looking. But they sound fantastic and actually have a soundstage.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but as time goes by, I'm leaning more and more towards headphone listening. I have a full fledged 2 channel system, but I have to admit that for less money, the enjoyment I get from being immersed in the sound from my headphones surpasses my main system. Of course, the source is still critical (in my case Luxman D-06)...Anyway, I'm enjoying Beyerdynamic flagships which I find quite musical, as opposed to Sennheiser 800 which sounded unnatural, thin, more analytical, but probably more impressive at the same time.

I should also add that you really need to try on the headphones for the fit. How heavy are they? Do they bind or crush your ears? Do you get too hot? The sound from my Stax Omega II and 007II was incredible but I didn't like the fit at all. I currently use Ultrasone Edition 8 headphones. I find I like closed headphones and the sound limiting feature of the design gives me peace of mind regarding damaging my hearing (I also am careful with the volume control on my amp).

I have thought about trying Tesla T1s and the new Ultrasone Edition 10.

For what it's worth, I look for headphone use to isolate myself from the environment and sometimes act as a white noise provider. You may find you are more or less critical of the sonics compared to how you listen to your loudspeaker based system.

If you are still looking at options and not looking at electrostats, I recommend the Ray Samuels Audio B-52 amp with the Sony MDR-R10 headphones. The R10s are arguable the best non-stat phones that were made, but they're only available now on the used market. Ray Samuels voiced the B-52 with Sony R10s.