Difference powersupplies XPS and XPS2?

Sorry, excuse me for my ignorance, but what’s the main technical/audible difference between an XPS and an XPS2 power unit? (to possibly be used as an additional PS for an NDX2 streamer/DAC?
TIA

The original Olive XPS cannot be used to power Streamers.

Thx. Does this also imply that an XPS has the original olive case and an XPS2 the latter aluminium annodised grey case?

That is correct Mike.
XPS is olive. XPS2 is in the newer black.
The XPS2 also has a larger transformer: 500VA versus 400VA or 430VA in the olive XPS.
The XPS2 can be upgraded to the current DR spec too. The XPS cannot.

Hope this helps, BF

1 Like

Just curious…

Do we know why?

I had heard it would overheat the regulators if used with a streamer.

The official statement used to read “Olive Series XPS power supplies should never be paired with an NDX network player as this has the potential to cause the Olive XPS to overheat, damaging the product.”
What the difference was in the circuits I never knew.

Hi guys, thanks a lot … this really helps! So at least I need to go for a (pre-owned) XPS2, preferably with DR specs, to drive the NDX2 to higher levels. (By the way: already love today’s sound, even without external PS!)

1 Like

Interesting…I currently have an Olive XPS that I swap between nDAC & CDX as needed. I should probably buy myself a black XPS2 and do a comparison of the circuits (but another XPS would make the b****** mountain even higher :grin: :grin: :grin:)

I wouldn’t put it at the bottom, as fires go up :thinking:

2 Likes

Don’t panic Captain Mainwaring. ”The old Olive XPS is compatible with CDX and CDS model CD players, the HDX hard disk player and the DAC digital to analogue converter.”
Some of the dealers still have the old wording on their site luckily. I remember checking when I ran an NDX as I would have liked an olive PSU to match the amps. (I ended up with a 555PS which I got DRed so it wasn’t relevant in the end.)

Yeah, I’d already checked the point with Richard D.

My interest in comparing the two circuits is purely academic (once an elect. eng., always an elect. eng., etc etc)

OTOH, using my Olive XPS for the CDX and getting a black XPS2 for the nDAC does result in a certain symmetry… :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

1 Like

Sorry, misread/misunderstood your previous post. I wouldn’t worry about the height of the stack, stage Mana users would think you’re just an amateur. :grinning:

2 Likes

An excellent point sir, and from looking on t’internet at some of the “(in)famous mana stacks” - I have a long way to go :grin: :grin:

But I would like to I get the Sondek a bit lower!

1 Like

Is there much difference in sound quality coming from the NDX2 between using XPS2 and using XPS DR?

@mickdale, I can’t answer directly but it made a big enough difference on my CDS3 when I changed to make me consider it one of the better upgrades I have done. The DR Power Supplies were developed around the same time as the NDX so I would guess they were developed with those units in mind.

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.