As for your first paragraph, I don't know. Being one that " crossed over" believe me we, the pilots of UCH, spend a lot of energy complaining about what is different between the two sub airlines. Believe it or not there is a lot that is the same. The further away from the merger we get, the more we cross over the better off we will all be.
I heard an interesting analogy explaining our merger. Airline A brought a Porsche to the merger. Airline B brought a top of the line Land Rover to the merger. Our idiots management team thought " hey I like that car but the tires on that land rover are better...let's put them on the Porsche. ( best from both airlines right??.). Obviously it didn't work.
Yes I am using the DC Pro X. They sell them at the stop over store in IAH. They are $637. I am quite happy with them. The battery pack takes two AA batteries and lasts for about a month. I have flown with a few that had the telex headset which has no battery pack but in my opinion they are not as quiet or comfortable. Also they have the foam over the mike so the folks chiming in on this thread are happy with me.