Smartbud ear inspection tool. SWMBO thought I was needing the volume on the 252 much higher than her so Santa supplied this.
She was right. Not silly enough to dig in my own ears with this sort of thing but a camera down the ear canal faced with a wall of dark brown impacted wax was enough to make me book a professional ear cleanse via microsuction.
Took less than two minutes per ear to remove two decades of gunk.
Can now see the old eardrums again, and more to the point I do now need a few less presses on the volume 
I’ve also just had to slightly adjust balance and small details are definitely clearer.
That SuperLumina interconnect purchase can wait.