i've had the 1440s on repeat at home and did some listening last night, after making an initial assessment on my 801 and x-7, both of which drive them more than adequately.
I am liking them very much, and find them very open, dynamic, and full range, and more than resolving enough to distinguish between the x-7, 801, and my home rig which is substantially better than any portable. I need to spend more time listening to them, but so far I am enjoying them very much. They do timbres/tonal colors very well, and capture the reedy sound of saxes, and the brass 'blat' of trumpets/trombones.... with great honesty. Their dynamics are explosive, which i also value quite highly. Their bass has weight and extension, and is in balance with the rest of the frequency range. They are very coherent, which is also important to me.
They are very comfortable on my shaved head, which is above-average size, but not huge.
So far so good - I will follow up with more comments and let you know when my colleague and i perform the hostage exchange and I get the 1840s to listen to.