Dianne Reeves, Steely Dan, and Robben Ford are wonderful artists worth checking out (HD 800 or not). Slower genres like jazz, vocals, acoustic, ambient/lofi, orchestral, and big band/live performances are such a pleasure with them.

What output on the A70 are you plugging your Zeus Elites into? If it’s the unbalanced, there’s a chance the A70 wouldn’t be optimized with it in mind (as a fully balanced design) and may change the sound. Because it’s fully balanced, connecting the Element III to it via RCA (instead of XLR) may further change the sound.

I am only speculating though, so take this with a grain of salt. For all I know, as long as there’s no audible distortion, the inputs and outputs may not change anything besides volume.

I found the SRH1540 headband to almost immediately create a hotspot on my head, quicker than other headbands. Those alcantara earpads were really plush and comfy though.