I would also agree. I’m one of those that thought the jump from a 52 to 552 was okay but nothing much to write home about. I thought It was just more refined version of what the 52 did so well. Now the jump from 135’s to a 500DR was truly amazing - especially as I think I had a particularly sweet sounding pair of amps!
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Conversely, I thought the step from my late NAC52 to a NAC252 was worthwhile, but the next step to a NAC552 was even bigger than I expected.
Certainly I felt the jumps between pre-amps were of a much greater magnitude musically than those between the power amps, this of course all driving various Naim speakers from Allae up to DBL.
I went from a 282 / SuperCap (non-DR) to a 552 and, while it certainly was a worthwhile improvement, I wasn’t blown away by it. That said, I didn’t expect to be.
I’ve found that source and speaker upgrades usually contribute the most obvious, attention-getting improvements. On the other hand, I think of preamps as sonic scaffolding: a good one contributes a solid, consistent, unflappable framework that gets out of the way and allows the music to come through.
For me, the 552 is all about the long term: it’s likely to be the last pre I own. Mine continues to grow on me every time I sit down to listen to it.
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Thanks for that info, I just watched a YouTube video about this. I know I had the album as a teen in the seventies, and bought it again last year when I briefly got back into vinyl. Now I am curious if I had the Ludwig version or not. Thankfully I know where both copies are, I sold them to a friend, so might do some digging out of curiosity.
Edit, I just found a photo I have of the album I picked up last year, and according to the number, it looks like I had the Ludwig version
SD 8236 is clearly on the front of my copy.
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I have both the 2015 250DR and a pair of 1987 CB 135s. Having A/B’d both into ATC SCM40s recently I’ll say that they really sounded remarkably close. If I was being fussy I’d say that extreme high frequency detail is ever so slightly fuzzy on the 135s, with maybe a very tiny amount of additional mid bass lift. If I was being realistic I’d say you’d struggle to put a cigarette paper between them.
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