Again another old chestnut from me I’m afraid and inspired a bit by the film Amadeus remark “There are simply too many notes (inputs), just remove a few and it will be perfect”
So i have been having a few doubful listening sessions to be honest and not without good reason.
I made a change to the “big” system where the 252 has quite a few connections. Room acoustics aside, the sound much “sweeter” but not in a boring way and a perception of the removal of a small level of distortion. Let’s just say all the right edges are there. I now try to run just one source at a time with the change. Using only the CD input. I.e. CDS3/Auralic Altair G1. Before I had the Lingo and Linto plugged into a separate power socket on the ring main and not on the same spur as the Naims and unless i put the arm earth lead on the 252, there are earthing issues. So removing that earth lead and the preouts to AV input of 252 and the linto and headline from aux2 (unpowered) and aux1 respectively results in a much less edgy sound. I remembered discussions with my forum friends that too much traffic through the preamps even 552 can have a big effect. The sound is less fatiguing and can go louder now which fills the room better.
I suspect the worst impact is the earthing post on the 252 being used but I’m not sure
It’s sounding much better like this.