Did someone mention ‘Flash?’
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Listened to a few albums now and conscious that the 552 will settle over the next few weeks Iver but my observations thus far:
Scale - A much larger ‘free of the speakers’ presentation. Listening to ‘Workingman’s Dead’ just now and it feels like the full scale of the band is in-front of me. Width/depth/height of the soundstage is vastly increased.
Instruments in their own space - As a result of the above the separation of instruments is much more apparent but, crucially, they all still play together and are presented in a balanced and coherent way. @Simon-in-Suffolk talks about the ‘Mandelbrot effect’ where your mind can tune into individual strands in an almost infinite way. The 552 (with ND555) allows this. It’s hypnotic!
The bass is an instrument! - Beautiful propulsive musical bass.
Timbres - Properly differentiated to give, say, a pair of guitars, their own distinctive character in a mix.
3D Tactility - You feel you could reach out and touch the instruments in-front of you! A ‘hear-through’ into the recording studio quality.
Head-nodding, feet-tapping, grin-inducing…
Will that do?
G
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I find words difficult to convey the emotion, the it grabs you moment……well done👍
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WOOF!
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And all that with a ‘mere’ 250DR and Tab Sigs.
I bet you are impressed with what the 250DR driving the Tabs can deliver in that high-end company.
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In my experience front end improvements are always the most meaningful Nigel.
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It might have been G but he is dead right. A great source and pre into a 250 and Sigs would be much better than same source into 252 and 300 or even 500 imho.
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“Also, IME I’ve always found a change of power amplifier impacts the quality of replay the least compared to source, pre or ‘speakers.
Hail the 250DR!”
We all agree I think…
G
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Bottleneckers of the world unite!
Verily they shall smite the Pedestrians.
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And yet …
The 552 came first, and, together with my 300DR and NDS, I could immediately see what it brought to the party.
Swapped the NDS for the ND555, and that was something of a game changer too.
But … introduce the 500DR … and whoosh … that’s what I’ve been searching for.
So maybe it’s not possible to quantify the impact of any single piece of kit, rather the coming together of various boxes and the sum of the parts, etc. etc. 
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Couldn’t agree more Dave, or as a good friend and ex-forumer always says: ‘ It’s amazing how much you have to pay for something doing nothing’. 
Best Peter
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I tend to agree Dave. I went from ND5XS/152XS/155XS up to NDS/252/300 changing one item at a time with the power amp being the last item replace. Jaws dropped when the 300 went into place. I don’t believe the 300 was the best upgrade. It was more that it was showing how the rest of the upgrades had previously been held back by the 155.
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There can’t be many who would decry a 252 as not ‘great’ when it is better than 99% of pre-amps out there. 
Admittedly the 250DR will likely do a great job driving Tab Sigs in a modest sized room, however in a larger room with more full-ranged speakers I’d venture to suggest that the 252/500 system would sound better.
In other words - as in most things ‘it depends…’
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True Svetty, it depends. I have been resisting buying a 552 ever since I bought the 252 in 2003. My current preamp must be doing something right…
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So you like it then 
Oh yes!
G
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Having been both a 252DR and 552DR owner do be careful… the 252 and 552 are different evolution paths… and they are quite different…
The 552 is a hugely refined version of the 282 in style, where as the 252 is a hugely refined 202… different styles and sonic signatures. The 552 is a more forward Naim’esque presentation, where as the 252 is more laid back. Both uncover huge amounts of detail, but in my opinion the 552 does stereo imaging the best by quite a margin, and ultimately the 552 feels the more detailed… certainly initially.
With DSP I have simulated to some extent the sound character of the 252 and 552 to my ears… and a fair amount is to specific parts of the eq curve, but by only a few dB… it was a fascinating bit of fun.
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Interesting perspective Simon. I had an 82 before the 252 so I have an idea of what you are getting at. Having lived with the 252 for nearly two decades I am obviously a fan. Of course the 552 will be better and may well have more ‘drive’ for want of a better term. The 202 I have heard but have not made the pair connection that you have.
Yes the 202 with a HiCapDR is what I was thinking of… and owned for a while.
But Naim ultimately seem to have two house sounds… forward and laid back… to suit punters… assuming deliberate probably a good ploy.
One thing I would say with the 252 it can be a PITA to set up on equipment racking… more so than the 552.
I felt this was also replicated with NDS and Naim DAC, as well as the CDS3 and CD555