Five Boxes - one powerline...

250-2

You might try a Wireworld mains block and plug the Powerline into the feed, then plug all five boxes into the block.

Generally I found in past when a single "better" mains cable was used on the source it gave noticable detail improvement but became  tiresome after a while with some stridency. With the cable on the amp instead of the source gave better bass and midrange texture but seemed detached from the stage resolution. Lumpy balance that's tempered and more of a piece when you have powerlines on everything of course.    I'd think putting it on the Hicap would be of more gain with less omissions !

In my experience source first - so either the hicap or the ND5.

Thanks all - will try the "source first" approach first and see where i will get the most benefits without compromising the overall balance. The option to use it on a mains block will not be good (i guess) since its the EU/Schuko version, so i would Loose the grounding plugging it in to a wall socket (im located in denmark)

Source is good, but not exactly at home in your system.

i think You are somehow obliged to try there first, i know it s a bit of a pain but You should leave it for some time to realize wheter it ll result in good move in that context.

take all the time to evaluate.

I know I've said this on here before, so apologies to those who know this, but try it on the NAPSC on the 282.  That's where my first Powerline went. I was quite stunned at the improvement it made. 

You must try and decide of course.

But as you asked - when I got my first Powerline I had a similar set up but with a Supercap. Arguably the best improvement came from putting in on my Lingo, but I felt that there was a more coherent improvement on record and CD achieved by using it on the NAP250.2. That is where it stayed. 

MDS has been a strong and consistent advocate for the benefit it brought to his NAPSC but to my ears in my system that was my least preferred position  I have no doubt whatsoever that MDS's choice was the correct one for him though - so definitely worth experimenting. 

I would start upgrading this ND5XS... A bit out of its depth in this company...

Adam Zielinski posted:

I would start upgrading this ND5XS... A bit out of its depth in this company...

i understand that the ND5XS is not the best of partners for the rest - looking shortly to either audition NDX or Ndac - i have demoed a XP5XS on the ND5XS and did not find it brought much to warrant the price and extra box

Wunderbaum posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

I would start upgrading this ND5XS... A bit out of its depth in this company...

i understand that the ND5XS is not the best of partners for the rest - looking shortly to either audition NDX or Ndac - i have demoed a XP5XS on the ND5XS and did not find it brought much to warrant the price and extra box

Not surprised. In a revealing system like yours only best components can 'survive'. 

nDAC with ND5XS makes a lot of sense as you bypass the weakest part of ND5XS (it's DAC section). But you will have two boxes. 

NDX on the other hand has a far better digital section and can work well on it's own. It of course responds fabourably to a PSU upgrade - XPS DR being the best choice. 

Or you could upgrade ND5XS by using Chord Hugo in place of its DAC (I am far from alone in noting its merits - some people use it with NDX. Or go the whole hog and use a Mac Mini as music store (no NAS needed, and music not streamed across a network, however it can function as a NAS if wanted), together with Audurvana as rendering software, in optimised mode with a usb isolator (Gustard U12 is one that is receiving high praise) into Hugo: numbers of forum members have found that to be signifivantly better than ND5XS, at a total cost less than ND5XS and a decent NAS.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Or you could upgrade ND5XS by using Chord Hugo in place of its DAC (I am far from alone in noting its merits - some people use it with NDX. Or go the whole hog and use a Mac Mini as music store (no NAS needed, and music not streamed across a network, however it can function as a NAS if wanted), together with Audurvana as rendering software, in optimised mode with a usb isolator (Gustard U12 is one that is receiving high praise) into Hugo: numbers of forum members have found that to be signifivantly better than ND5XS, at a total cost less than ND5XS and a decent NAS.

Have followed the Chord Hugo discussions closely - several things though: i cannot find any stockists of the Hugo in Denmark and most UK sites do not ship overseas - and i DO have the NAS (2 in fact) and i DO have the ND5XS, so your suggestion - although good - would "force" me to purchase all the elements needed for the MM to Hugo chain - so if trying the hugo (or the 2Qute) it would be as a DAC for the ND5XS...and when i purchased the ND5XS i got a good deal, so it was only about 1400 GBP new and boxed some years ago - so either trying to augment the ND5XS with the Ndac (or hugo/2qute) or try a NDX would be the next option...

Finally got the time for some listening on the new PL - like it very much on the Hicap so far - a definitive "tightening up" all around. will have to do some A/B listening to decide best spot - thanks all for suggestions, now off to save for a NDX or Ndac;-)

Wunderbaum posted:

thanks all for suggestions, now off to save for a NDX or Ndac;-)

I have exactly that set up - if you drop me a line (email is in my profile) I will share with you some tips on the set up.