Goodbye 282 - I shall remember you fondly. Hello 552.
Posted by: MDS on 16 April 2016
Regular readers might recall that I’ve twice tried a 252 in my system, expecting it to out-perform my 282. These were both long home demos but on each occasion, while the 252 dug out more detail, I found that on rock music the 252 just didn’t deliver the excitement I so liked about the 282 so the 282 stayed. A number of long-standing members on here said ‘try the 552’ . My dealer said the same. But the eye-watering price of the 552 caused me to wuss-out from even listening to it.
However in Feb curiosity finally got the better of me and I asked my dealer to set up an in-store demo. He duly obliged setting up a near-clone of my system, save for the wonderful Sopra 2s in place of my Electra1028be.
The afternoon’s in-store demo was easily enough to persuade me a home demo was justified and that followed immediately. Two things happened during the 2-week him demo.
1. There was so much more info reaching the speakers that on some material the bass was too much and the speakers needed repositioning to restore order;
2. Discounting for the Sopra’s over my 1028’s, I still felt that there was another difference from what I heard in the store and I suspected it might be that the store 555PS was the DR version and mine wasn’t. So the demo 555PSDR was duly installed into my system and, yes, that was instantly better. I hadn’t expected this as when I originally looked to upgrade the PSU on my nDAC I tried the 555PSDR at home and preferred the non-DR version of the 555PS which I went for. Searching for an explanation for this change of heart, my dealer and I concluded that the improvements I’ve made to my system since trying the 555PSDR v 555PS have changed the game. These improvements include Power-lines, full-loom SL, DR’ing the Supercap and replacing my 250.2 with a 300DR. Now my system seemed to cope with and appreciate the extra detail that the 555PSDR was delivering. [It would be appropriate for me to insert an acknowledgement here - yes, Naim, you were right]
So at the end of the demo I placed an order to get my 555PS DR’ed and serviced and, after a couple of weeks of careful deliberation and listening to my 282, I swallowed hard and ordered a 552.
Yesterday evening the new 552DR was installed. From cold and with the full run-in period ahead of it the jump in performance over the 282/SCDR was very, very obvious. I’m still awaiting the return from Salisbury of my 555PS so my CD player is currently native CDX2.2 to nDAC powered by XP5XS. Even so the 552 is impressing. I’ll avoid the usual superlatives, which I’m not sure do justice to describing the 552 anyway. The 552 seems to be revealing so much more, with cast-iron grip, and its presentation of the music seems bigger. I know I’ve got a lot of running in ahead of me and the 555PS, when it returns, will need running in too. But so far, so very good.
Finally, here’s a pic of the newly installed 552 on the top shelf of my ‘brain’ rack:
I always suspected that curiosity could be expensive. 
Mike
Congratulations, Mike. You should have listened to me in the first place when I told you to forget the 252 and go straight to the 552.
You're welcome! 
Tony2011 posted:Congratulations, Mike. You should have listened to me in the first place when I told you to forget the 252 and go straight to the 552.
You're welcome!
I remember the advice, Tony. I really wanted to like the 252 and needed two tries before concluding it wasn't for me. Still, I suppose starting off with a 282/Supercap and then going straight to a 552 rather than via one Hi-Cap, 2 HiCaps, SC then 252, means I've saved a bit of money on the journey.
Mike
Tony2011 posted:Congratulations, Mike. You should have listened to me in the first place when I told you to forget the 252 and go straight to the 552.
You're welcome!
Hi why forget the 252?
Never had the chance to listen to one at home. I have 282/HCDR and was thinking what next 252/SCDR or 552.
Or do nothing and stay happy at 282/HCDR level 
MDS congrats on 552, I am sure it will bring you many years of musical joy, but please kindly post your impressions of 552 vs 282 ...
This thread makes me curious too, and this may affect my bank balance...
Analog, if you like the Hugo.. I suspect you will love the 252.. But don't listen to one at home unless you are prepared to irritate that upgrade itch.. There is a feel to certain music and a musical naturalness that simply was not apparent until I got this pre... Not sure how it does it but it's infectious and seems to excel at everything that is thrown at it...even Adele... well actually not so sure on that one.. Might need a 552 to cope with that..
Sure the 552 is more accomplished, but so far for me not sufficiently more of an upgrade but many of us appear to hear things differently .. There is many an uber system I have heard where I have thought to myself.. You can't be serious.. this really isn't that great.. It might change as I get older I guess.. but treat with caution these night and day statements.. In my experience they are poppy cock.. end of.
Congratulations , going to be a very exciting time as your 552 beds in, many hours of happy listening ahead.
You must keep us updated, .......in the meantime enjoy