I just published my experience with this high-end and also very exigent headphone. I went to a listening session at one of the best high-end store in my city, and I took with me my Super-D6C I hope you like it: http://www.walkman-archive.com/wa/2017/02/testing-the-hd800-with-a-high-end-headamp/
I never upgraded to HD800 but my experience with HD650 with Silver Dragon cords is very similar. I also use Lehmann BCL and the combo is truly magical! A year or two ago I even sold my WooAudio 3 with a few sets of Siemens, Mullard tubes: Black Cube sounds more than satisfactory to my ears.
Interesting. The 650 are excellent but I prefer the 540 over them. They sound very close, but are much confortable for long sessions, and much cheaper. Even the golden reference version. The Woo 3 seems like true high end; I'm surprised you sold it over the BCL. I wouldn't mind to have that amp. I recently acquired the Focal Elear and I'm very impressed with them: http://stereo2go.org/forums/threads/focal-elear-new-generation-headphone.597/
Unlike All other h/p which I tried, HD-650 have a perfect fit for my head. HD-750 (and now HD-800) feel uncomfortably bulky even during short auditions. I never tried 540, but still have 580, 590, 600 and 120 somewhere in the drawers. My all-time favorites re. sound balance were ATH-W1000 but for the eyeglass-wearer like me they were a torture. WA3, with Mullard 6922 tubes sounded absolutely wonderful! It was my "office" system: Krell SACD Standard - WA3 - HD-600... When Krell died (as all those first SACD players from Krells and MF did) system just fell apart. My Naim CDX CD player and WA3 was not a good match, although Siemens tubes seriously pushed WA3 in Naim direction.
nice equipment. always wanted to hear the 800. i have a baby orpheus, i never use it. it takes 7-8 hours before the membranes are optimal.
I'd like to test all these models: 580, 590, 750, W1000... I love to listen with headphones. Baby orpheus? Which ones are those?
Baby Orpheus, the "affordable" brother of The Orpheus: the h/p system used by my all-time favorite artist Klaus Schulze for his listening/mastering sessions... Last year, when Sennheiser fans bought into Senn next $70k offering, one could get Orpheus for just $10-12k... I continue my subscription to Sterophile and maybe someday will convince myself that planars from Audeze or HiFi Man are as good as Stax or Orpheus. Until then it is HD650 for me ;-)
I still don't know which one is that, Klaus used for his listening... Do you have any photo, name or link of it?
Lucky you! It has been haunting me since 1991: sooo beautiful! If it wasnt for some personal $$ setbacks I would have grabbed it off eBay last year, the prices were lower than today: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sennheiser-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Quality photos of a new, 2015 Orpheus, is at Senn website: https://en-us.sennheiser.com/sennheiser-he-1
the orpheus are he/v90, baby is he/v 60. i've heard them both . the he90 are 1-2 class better. almost perfect, but lacks bass. and it also takes 8 hours to get warm. in all, i would choose mbl setup. the big problem with electrostats, it takes hours when the drivers are warm and smooth. 10 or 25k for the orpheus, which are great, but i would choose a good speaker setup. because it's the bass they lack. the rest is more than perfect. i've listened to several styles and i've laughed almost cried. underworld is fantastic with electostats, you hear everything. only live they are better=better and more expensive speaker setup. classic, let alone vocals are also fantastic, but miss body and bass. so, they prefer very fast music, the more fast the more they excel=electrostat. but i miss body, it's the last thing to make it perfect. ok, you need an 100k or more speaker-setup to better the orpheus. would love to have the mbl 101e mk2 series.
I bet they would fart on my system. no hedphone i have tried can handle it even on mute, it makes a mockery of my grado ps1000
it's the best headphone system i've heard. if you've got the money and you've already have a great speaker setup=mbl speakers forget the rest. well, buy the orpheus. butt. it takes at least 8 hours for the electrostatic membranes to have full potential. it's not for the quick snack. but when you want to get carried away. well, turn those headphones in the morning on, and when your done with work. or coming at home at night and want to relax. orpheus playing for 12hours and more, they really really shine. it's almost heavenly bliss. almost pure perfection, but it lacks bass. only an mbl setup will do better. compare the orpheus with mbl 101 mk2 speakers, its at this nivo. it's the best headphone system there is, but only 1 problem. it needs at least 8 hours continuous playing.