What headphones are you using? It's not impossible to get the same sense of space in a pair of headphones that you do with speakers. A lot of open headphones do that pretty successfully. you say "somewhat affordable," which is subjective obviously so i'm not sure what you consider to be beyond affordable. It's also interesting that you mention low end presence... I'd argue that headphones accomplish good bass marginally easier than speakers do. An 8 inch driver will push more air of course, but a smaller one right next to your ear can deliver some pretty serious oomph.

I do like listening to speakers. Especially for professional releases, it's important to know how the instruments in a track fit in a physical room. In general though i find headphones to offer more detail and immersion, and that's what i prefer. Both headphones and speakers is probably ideal. But man, the ones i'm listening to right now have a soundstage on their own that is pretty damn impressive. I wish i could somehow send an aural sensation to you in a hubski comment.