Back on topic:
The second half of my listening session at work yesterday was spent with the bass boost enabled. It filled out the lower end of the cans nicely without getting sloppy, which was a nice surprise. Some of the boost-effect seemed to help with the lower mid issue that I continue to have which was also a bonus. It will be interesting to see if I can achieve the same result with the M3 which has the variable bass boost option. In the mean time I'm going to have a go listening to them out of my Dared knockoff to see what a little tube-drive goodness will do to them but other than that I think I'll shelve further impressions until I have something decent to drive them with.