Upgrade choice - XP5 XS or Supercap?

I would consider an NDX before adding any power supplies. 

The 282/250 really warrants an NDX/XPSDR front end. That's what I'd be aiming for, as well as DRing the Hicap and 250. 

Thanks Chrissu - is that because the DAC in the NDX is better than the ND5? 

Thanks HH, the hi cap is DR and the 250 is scheduled-in. Why is the NDX going to be a better performer than the ND5?

eagle3333 posted:

Thanks Chrissu - is that because the DAC in the NDX is better than the ND5? 

I can't give you a technical reason why it sounds better, but to my ears, it certainly does. Given the price difference, it would be a bit weird if it didn't. 

I don't know why, but it just is. I guess it has better bits inside. 

Fair enough and yes, I guess it is to be expected at the price. I'd better go find a demo. I'd like to hear the difference with a SC, though since, if it's substantial, it'll work for my vinyl, too. Thx for the suggestion.  

Just a thought. Andrew Everard in his original review of the ND5 wrote that adding the XP5 lifted it above a bare NDX. That does open up another potential pathway as you could then later change the ND5 to NDX. I have not heard any of these combinations though.

Regards, Mike

Mike1960 posted:

Just a thought. Andrew Everard in his original review of the ND5 wrote that adding the XP5 lifted it above a bare NDX. That does open up another potential pathway as you could then later change the ND5 to NDX. I have not heard any of these combinations though.

Regards, Mike

In my experience the XP5 ND5XS didn't match the NDX.

G

eagle3333 posted:

Fair enough and yes, I guess it is to be expected at the price. I'd better go find a demo. I'd like to hear the difference with a SC, though since, if it's substantial, it'll work for my vinyl, too. Thx for the suggestion.  

It makes sense to spend money on upgrades that benefit more than one source - but is your turntable up to it? Also, there are those who think the Supercap is 'too much' for a 282, and prefer to stick with the Hicap, so listen carefully for yourself before you go down that road.

ChrisSU posted:

eagle3333 posted:

Fair enough and yes, I guess it is to be expected at the price. I'd better go find a demo. I'd like to hear the difference with a SC, though since, if it's substantial, it'll work for my vinyl, too. Thx for the suggestion.  

It makes sense to spend money on upgrades that benefit more than one source - but is your turntable up to it? Also, there are those who think the Supercap is 'too much' for a 282, and prefer to stick with the Hicap, so listen carefully for yourself before you go down that road.

I would agree with the advice here about listening carefully yourself and would add that in my experience a SuperCap on a 282 is massively better than a HiCap. 

That said, I'm also a fan of the XP5XS and when I tried it against a XPS2DR on my nDAC I thought the XP5 gave about 80% of the XPS's performance, but at only half the cost. For me it took a 555PS to oust the XP5.

Mike 

Source first. Always! Once the informations is lost at the source even the best amp and speakers will not get it back. 

This would be my upgrade path

1. Change to NDX (I've run extensive demos of both NDX and ND5XS bare and into nDAC). NDX is simply better at reproducing music

2. XPS for your NDX

3. HighCap DR or SuperCap for the 282

4. Once you have your SuperCap, you can easily swap 282 for 252

eagle3333 posted:

Thanks for the thoughts, all. The WT Simplex runs a DV-XX2MKII MC Cartridge through a DV P75 mklll phono stage. It may not be the top end of analogue but I think it's well enough up to the job. Wonder what does 'too much' translate to? Yep, all down to personal listening at the end of the day. Good to get a headstart though  

I believe one cannot have too good a source - currently listening to an old vinyl on my LP12 with Radikal and Urika into a SuperNait2...

You should demo the variants. At home, in your room, with your system.

Any other demo would be a waste of your time.

Yep

I would go for the NDX to ballnce your system first. ND5XS is the weakest link here.

how old is your 250?

I would go for the NDX first (unless vinyl is a higher priority.)

Approx 7 years old; not quite in service territory? 

Not yet. Enjoy and don't mess with it 

One more thing:

Ask your dealer form an extensive home demo of DIN Naim HiLine and DIN TelluriumQ Black Diamond.

They are not exactly cheap, but make for a worthwile and good upgrade. Perhaps a trade-in money from your ND5XS plus the funds you have, may cover the NDX and a good interconnect.

Thanks a lot Adam. Will do. Hope this thread helps others in my sort of situation, too.

And.... Enjoy the music

I'm slightly surprised your dealer recommended a DR upgrade over the NDX, but they're both worthwhile upgrades, and if you intend to do both eventually, I'm not sure it matters that much which comes first. Presumably you could get your dealer to let you listen and decide for yourself. On a purely practical level, if you leave the DR upgrade until later, you could combine it with a service so you only have to send it away once. 

It's codswallop to say that an NDX won't sound at its best without DRing the 250. It sounded perfectly fine for years, before the DR amps were introduced! Why not get a used NDX for £2,000 and get the 250 DRed - best of both worlds. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

It's codswallop .........................   

Talking about the neighbours again HH ..............