I have the same issue. Listening mostly to streaming I have considered adding a second interconnect, attenuated, from ND5 directly to the preamp, to use with low volume listening. For normal levels I can them simply switch back to the input from nDac.
Does any of you with more technical insight than myself see any problems with this ??
(except for maybe a minor drop in SQ at low volume listening via the attenuated ic which is not important)
Claus
if you check the end stops of the balance pot are they symetrical? If not it’s just gone on a spine off where it should be, not unknown to happen.
I had the same issue with the alps pot, it was way off till about 7’oclock, I returned it to my dealer and got a new one which is much better, balance is now out below listening levels.
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I got my 252 second hand late last year. I don’t seem to have the balance variation at different gain; however, I have noticed the balance knob itself is physically off center. It turns farther clockwise than counter-clockwise. I have carefully pulled it off and spun it about to the next spline on the pot shaft, but now it’s the opposite problem and turns farther the other way. What that all means is that balanced is when the light is not centered. That rather bothers me for a $12k component.
I didn’t want to muck around with it too much for fear of separating the lamp cable, but is there another way to fine tune the position? For example, is the knob itself one solid piece, or can the female receiver of the pot shaft be turned slightly? 
Do you think the speaker cable can influence position of the pot for listening ? I read that people go over 9 but in my case I can’t go over 8 and in general stay at 7 with my 300dr and B&w 802N. I have french speaker cable MPC that always gave me better result than naca 5 and tellurium black when comparing at home. But I wonder if keeping level so low doesn’t hold system capacity.
Hi JDP,
The splines on the pot shaft & inside the knob do not allow for the knob to have equidistant travel, due to the position the pot is mounted at.
The actual electrical centre position of the pot (not the knob) will never be dead centre. During the test sequence, the operator is required to set the pot at centre according to the signal output & fit the knob centred at that position. So the splines being slightly offset allows the knob to be at 12 o’clock & the pot a couples of minutes fore or aft as required.
You’ll find the volume knob is the same, but nobody notices that one!
Hope that makes sense.
Regards
Neil.
I’m not sure I understand 100%. So dead center for balance (according to signal) is then not necesarily dead center visually? Or is it that the light sitting at 12 o’clock is the measured center balance?
Yes, the knob LED at the 12 o’clock position should be almost spot on signal centre when the unit leaves the factory.
Sorry to confuse with pot/knob relationships!
Regards
Neil.
Thank you for clearing that up. I’ll scratch that off my list of life’s concerns. 
You can actually pull the knob off the spindle and re-insert it, so that the diode is in the middle, when balance is as needed 
Had to do it to my 252 when I bought it.
Right, but see Neil’s explanation. That is counter to factory calibration. You gotta do what suits you, but I prefer to leave the 12 o’clock position as signal balance per factory.
I think that Adam is saying that you can centre the knob LED at 12 o’clock even if you need the balance set at 2 o’clock (for example) to suit your room, by refitting the knob at that position.
Some may have a compulsion to have the preamp look “correct” by having the knob at TDC so to speak.
Regards
Neil.
That makes sense as a cosmetic preference. I don’t think it’s something I need to do. I restored my control to factory setting.
I am curious of the technique for fitting the knob at 12o clock with the perfect signal balance at the factory. I have an sn3 and the signal center was off 2 oclock. Is this normal ? can it be harmfull with the time ?
But that just wouldn’t look right unless both knobs had the LEDs in the same position…and to think that some people only crank the volume up to 11…
That is indeed what I was trying to say / write
