Big thumbs Up for DR upgrade to the XPS

Posted by: MangoMonkey on 14 May 2013

The XPS-2 just got back today from it's DR upgrade. Money well spent. Clear upgrade on the NDX.

Posted on: 14 May 2013 by AD Spicer

Please share about the sound difference once it's warmed up. I'm very curious  

Posted on: 14 May 2013 by MangoMonkey
Final comments in a few weeks once its broken in, but right from the outset, more micro details, more weight, more air - a lot more HiFi sure, but its even more musical too. It took me a good few weeks of running with the xps - 2 to be convinced it was a good upgrade on the ndx, with the xpsdr you know it's a great upgrade from the very first notes.
Posted on: 14 May 2013 by MangoMonkey
Also a lot more peppy and bouncy - before this the nd5xs was more musical than the Ndx - not anymore.
Posted on: 14 May 2013 by AD Spicer

Excellent to hear. In fact the NDX is what I would use it with also. Appreciate it!

Posted on: 14 May 2013 by MangoMonkey
If I had auditioned the xps2 prior to purchase with the Ndx I doubt I would have bought it. With xps - dr its a viable upgrade.
Posted on: 15 May 2013 by Felix H

Thanks Shivoham for useful info. Not much has been written about XPS DR on here, it's been more about 555PS DR.

Posted on: 15 May 2013 by Timbo

I just got mine back from Manu at Plurison Canada. Just connected it last night and hopefully will do some serious listening over the next day or two. Mine is connected to my NDac, It was weird as I really didn't appreciate the XPS until I ran the Dac on it's own, now we have a DR version I'm hoping for a big improvement.

 

Also got a Z plug thing for my Superline and am hoping that will make a big improvement as well.

 

Big thanks to Manu who turned the upgrade around really quickly so it was ready for me to collect on my return from England.

 

Tim

Posted on: 15 May 2013 by mikapoh

So does it mean it is not viable to get XPS-2 version without the DR?

 

 

Posted on: 15 May 2013 by MangoMonkey

For the nDac yes, for the NDX maybe. It really also depends on system balance so tread carefully:

 

a) With the Supernait amp, the XPS-2 was way too smooth - I preferred the NDX bare with that amp

b) The NDX/XPS-2/202/NaitXSPowerAmp into my speakers was really nice.

c) The NDX/XPS-DR/202 etc. is still running in. It's better, but I feel the 202 has become the bottleneck..

 

Also, I'll let the system run in for atleast a month or so before trying to make any judgement calls.

 

Ideally you'd audition both the XPS-2 and the XPS-DR -> You might prefer one over the other.

 

This forum is worthless. :-)

Posted on: 15 May 2013 by mikapoh

I recalled Simon's comment on how he prefers 555ps over 555ps DR on NDS so may echo what you have found in the various matching of the system.

 

 

Posted on: 16 May 2013 by Claus-Thoegersen

My xps2 is with Naim for a recap and the dr upgrade. I have not compared the non dr against the dr version, but it it makes little sense to get the recap without the dr.

 

Having used the xps on my ndac for about 2 years, I was not really sure how much better the nndac is with xps2 but over the last weeks I am getting more and more convinced that the xps brings a lot to the dac, something you cannot really hear with a short compareson with and without the xps on the dac. Of course when I get the xps back I will not know wich improvements is caused by recap and what is caused by the dr upgrade.

Claus 

 

Posted on: 16 May 2013 by -goat-

I'd be interested to hear what you think once it has settled in a bit Shivo... I tried an XPS2 non DR on my NDX but wasn't convinced. It was a while ago now but I remember it sounding different, but not conclusively better. It makes me wonder if the NDX was designed with the DR supplies in mind as there seems to be little dispute of the benefits an XPS2 makes to a CDX2

Posted on: 21 May 2013 by MangoMonkey

It's way better after a week - it's downright surprising. More slam, more speed, more attack - but nothing ever too much.