re: the cable jacket twisting between the Y-connector and the ear cup.
this is typical for the cloth jacket type cabling. the D7000 and other denons suffered with this problem. as do the audio technicas (possibly worse).
some people may have never experienced this, others have.
it has to do with usage patterns and the handling of the headphones on the way to and from your head...
the reason (and potential fix) is this: somehow the entire headphone cable has accidentally been "passed through" the opening created above the y-connector.
this is easier to do than you think. if you coil up the headphone and set it down somewhere, the next time you pick it up, the coiled up cable may be "on the other side" of the y-connector from where it started...
so, just experiment with coiling up the headphone cable (below the y-connector), then passing this coiled-up cable through, and seeing if the kinked pieces leading up the ear cup straighten out.
if it gets worse, pass it through in the opposite direction...
hope that helps. (it works for me...)