It’s always the work in matching components. So one can decide on that the amp is what stays and do the final adjustments with speakers or the opposite keep the speakers and fine tune with different amp/pre etc. In a best scenario one would have 5 speakers, 5 amps etc at home at the same time but then the reseller business revenue would go down since more of us would find the suitable setup quicker 
Isn’t your amplification well ahead of your source without a PS on the 272, or have I missed something? Why did you add the 300 before a PS on the 272?
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Well, I tend to believe that there is a sound signature trend going on at Naim.
Supernait 2 vs 3 was same problem for me. SN2 more warm, more power in the lower regions. SN3 more neutral, detailed and gentle. From memory SN3 is more like 300DR and SN2 more like 250. When I read about the older 300 vs 300DR same things are mentioned. Same with 250.2 to 250DR and on it goes. The warmer and more powerful signature seems to be washed out by Naim moving towards a more neutral, laidback, detailed HIFI sound today. If that is because adding PSUs adds the last bits of the low end selling more products I don’t know.
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We can keep saying the same thing over and over and over if you like. The 272/300 is massively out of balance. If you want to keep the 300 you should add a 555 to the 272. Alternatively sell the 272 and get NDX2, 282 etc. It’s all really very simple. Mullets don’t sound good.
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And then comes the stronger more powerful bass and more PRAT then?
With the 555 it’s just simply much better. I don’t worry about hifi nonsense like bass, treble, mids, prat and so on. What I focus on is whether the music sounds more like real music. Whether it stirs my soul. That’s what the 555 brings to the 272. It turns the 272 into an entirely different thing, and importantly here a thing that actually matches with the 300. As you have worked out, if you want to keep the 272 it’s a case of adding a 555 (not an XPS, which gives far less of an improvement) or getting a less good amplifier. That’s more or less what we were all saying four days ago if you revisit the posts.
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Then we have different focus and that’s fine too of course but that can also explain that we talk about different things in what great audio means
If you focus on whether it sounds like real, natural music, music that you can listen to for hours on end, everything else falls into place. Surprising to some perhaps but the sole purpose of a hifi is to make enjoyable and engaging music in the home. It’s not about providing bass that shakes the crowns off your teeth or treble that can knock birds out of the sky. It’s about portraying a piano like a real piano. It’s about sad songs making you cry. It’s about sitting spellbound when you hear an amazing performance. It’s in your heart, not your head. If you use these criteria you’ll end up with a great system. All in my humble opinion of course.
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I agree in that a 272 bare with a 300 hanging off the back of it is certainly a mullet.
I haven’t heard personally but believe from what I’ve been told, the SL2’s are a fairly lean sounding speaker. I think much of these factors is system and room dependent.
This aforementioned argument goes on time and time again with the 282/250 vs 252/300.
The former being great fun and involving, the later boring but detailed. The 552/500 being an amalgamation of the two.
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Absolutely! And that’s not an easy task , for both amplification and speakers.
I rapidly upgraded from SN2 to 252/300 simply because of that.
Controlled and realistic low end isn’t and shouldn’t be boomy, at all.
It even may sound lean and/or dry to those used to SN2/250 like amplification driving ported speakers.
It’s a matter of taste. Whether you like your low end being dry, precise and realistic or punchy and earth shaking.
Both are enjoyable and both have their public. And that’s why Naim produces both.
Apart from the ultimate Mullet! Sorry Nigel, I couldn’t resist! 
I’m not sure what point you are trying to make here, but if it makes you happy then carry on.
I never found a 252 or 552 even remotely boring.
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I thought the further up the range and price you travel, the better the sound.
I wouldn’t have thought naim purposefully colour the sound of the lower priced separates with extra punch and boomy bass.
Just a thought
“Treble that can knock birds out of the sky”. Thanks for a good laugh, HH
I see a t-shirt…
(And, by the way, not taking anything away from your post; totally agree.)
I use a ND555 with a 552 and a 250DR, attached to modest speakers, which is an extreme Monkish. So why does it sound so good?
Well, IMHO, my system is built on a firm foundation of great power supplies, particularly at the source. The PS555DR makes the ND555 sing, as it did with my NDS.
I used to disbelieve that posh power supplies made a difference in Naimword. That was until I replaced a cuddly toy PS with a pukka Naim PS (HiCap). I then chose to put a SuperCap DR on my 282, instead of a HiCap. And when I stuck a PS555DR on my NDS, well blimey!!
It took a while for me a accept that top notch Naim power supplies make a huge difference. I have never used a 272 but I would bet my house that a PS555DR will make all the difference, and would certainly allow the 300DR to do its thing.
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I have a strong feeling that you gentlemen don’t understand me. De-stressing cables is completely familiar to me. The point is that I indicate that it is nonsense about power cables. No audio signals pass through there. A snaic and a burdny with a supercap, 552ps, snaxo and superline audio signals pass through. A 300ps, 500ps, xps, 555ps will not pass audio signals. I don’t know what de-stressing will contribute to a dc current. the magnetic field around the cable continues to move in the same direction. You have nothing to do with changing fields or RC times. It is technically impossible in all respects for the stressing of cables to have any effect on the power supply to the various power supplies within the amplifier. I still don’t see anyone from Naim telling or explaining that you’re going to de-stress power cords.
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I think before you can say for certain that destressing a Burndy cable has no effect on D.C. only cables you need to understand what the mechanism is that destressing does to improve signal carrying cables. Until you fully understand that, you can’t say for sure why it won’t apply to DC cables.
Or, you can just listen and decide.
I have a 272 and a 555PS. If I massage the burndy, instal it so there is no stress on the connectors and ensure that it hangs free without touching anything, the sound is better than if it don’t do these things. I’ve always suspected it’s because of reducing air-borne vibrations but I don’t really know.
You can stamp you feet and shout ‘it cannot make a difference’ at the top of your voice, but I can hear a difference and I’m not a total idiot.
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