Hi Analogmusic,
I’m glad your 250 is serving you well
Yes, the new 250 can now be used very easily in studios. The new balanced implementation is a considerable step up from the previous studio 250.
The mains flex works well especially for the Naim pre-amps. It’s relatively low capacitance per meter due to the thick insulation. This allows the feedback of the pre-amp’s output stage to behave well in the MHz region. There’s a lot of small factors in cable design and the interaction of what is feeding it and what it’s plugged into.
There’s socket microphonics, contact galvanic effects of dissimilar metals, capacitance, inductance, dielectric absorption, triboelectric effects, RF screening etc
The NSC 222’s output stage is the new headphone amp (dual function). It can drive 1.7W into 16 ohms. Therefore it can drive interconnect cables extremely well, being a mini power amp. This helps making cables more agnostic in terms capacitive loading. It can’t address external factors.
The new 250 has zero feedback, single ended class A input buffers between the input XLR socket and the power amp. I’m sure this helps with interactions between the pre and power.
Overall the new 222 and 250 are going to be slightly more agnostic. However microphonic, dielectric absorption, galvanic differences are all external factors.
I do like now being able to use industry standard leads.
The DAVE should be able to drive the 250 direct without problems…but I’ve not tried it. In 2023 I’m still preferring analogue volume controls - huge subject; more another year.
Impedance matching shouldn’t be a dominant factor for audio as it is relatively low frequency. Best to have a low impedance driving and a high impedance receiving. This is unlike RF systems where reflections can happen and power can come back. However the RF behaviour of a cable can influence the perceived SQ…anything RF and non-linear demodulates to the audio band.
Hope that helps
Best
Steve