Mid-range tone issue (Nait XS to N272+250DR)

Male vocal moving further back in the soundstage is a positive as far as I'm concerned.  Perhaps less so with some recordings.

 Put on some ZZ Top, turn up the volume and feel relieved that your not being scratched by the beards being up and personal.

I agree, I believe what you're experiencing is a more relaxed sound stage which surely is what your after?

Moving to the N272+N250 DR is a clear upgrade by far so it's no wonder it sounds different/better to you

I followed a v. similar UG path which also realised the extra synergy with these two components

Upgrade now and you won't look back, it won't just be the stage that improves either!!

I've recently moved to an XS-2/ND5 from a Uniti 2. The XS seems to have a mid bass bump compared to the U2. I personally like that. I have a 272/250 coming in a week or 2. Looking forward to hearing if the difference. 

In my opinion the sound-stage of the 272 with a 250DR or the 300DR is better than the ND 5XS & XS 2 that I had previously.
Overall, it's neither more forward nor set back, rather it's more even and just more consistent; I think this may be what you're hearing on some disks.

Thank you for your responses guys.  I guess the previous one has just too strong of a vocal presence.  

FreeProt,

It's not a matter of presence, it's a matter of the presentation being forward, neutral or recessed in the sound-stage; presence is a different effect.

I had a similar epiphany when I swapped out my aged domestic wall plug sockets for the mains plugs, with silver plated audiophile unstitched ones.    Straight away I could hear the soundstage take a few feet away from the plane of speakers from before.

I wasn't sure wether this was what I was expecting. Or what i really thought was available to expect. Further listening confirmed for me that it brought out another small but still important aspect of listening differentiation.