I do find the 1540 has fit issues for me-the seal isn't good out of the box, open behind my ears, poor contact there. I did some of the bending described earlier, helped some, not completely. I did purchase the Mad Dog pads as a replacement, at first didn't like them (the included 1540 pads are SO comfortable), but have gotten used to them, and I find the seal is better, leading to better bass, mids, more open, they sound like I had expected them to sound from what I had read now (this is variable, depending on head size/shape, imo. In face, I think most disagreements between listeners on iems and over ears are due to variations in head/ear shape, fit/seal...it explains why one hears something like the Martin Logan Micros 90 as having the best bass ever, someone else wants to find out how to improve it, sounds bass deficient to them). Anyway, thanks for that tip, rescued these headphones for me!!