Great write up there.
My challenge to your review is simply you may have different tastes. There is the Abyss club, the Audeze, the Hifi-Man clubs. Stats are not for everyone.
IMO the 009 is VERY fast and digs out maybe too much micro detail for some, or some systems. I also believe after owning the 009 for 3 years and trying it with various amps and DAC sources, it needs a warm slanting amp or DAC, otherwise it can sound synthetic. Actually I also find many 'high end' DACs sound synthetic with revealing fast speakers. But IMO if you have the right front end and an amp that is not too bright, the 009 is heavenly. I really can't see myself straying away from it. I haven't heard the Utopia, but I have heard the HD800s, the Abyss, the LCD3 and 4.
Back on subject, if the MSB Select plus the Stat amp didn't sound amazing, then it would be rather stupid at over 100K USD. The HE-1 is 50K and I would wonder if that was better? But not having heard either I will not say anything, just watch from a distance.
Of course.
I kept the Abyss because sonically it sings to the tune my brain most enjoys. I don't think it's the most resolving transducer or the most neutral/accurate. The plankton rendering king probably still goes to HD800 but the peaks make it unlistenable to my ears. Even from kilobuck rigs.
As I said, my opinion is that the sr009 is not good at resolving what we call plankton, it has good detail/clarity but I think it is a fallacy that it digs deeper than good dynamics. IMO YMMV etc,etc.
Isquirrel's system was the best I have heard from the 009, like you said though, I just might not be a stax man.
I am taking great interest in this successor to the 009 and the T2.
Also I know there is a major flaw in my amp review. Which is that I am not familiar with the MSB select II Dac + Isquirrels upgrades. I wish we had some time to hear it on his other systems, I have a feeling this DAC is very musical, engaging and organic in tuning, however I needed more time and more of my own reference gear to work out what I was enjoying most about his 009 than usual.