Is XPS DR not as musical as XPS2?

Hi-Fi Corner
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Or this is just my illusion?

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My opinion too.

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I found the DR version more musical on my CDS3…

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Thanks for reply!

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Thanks!

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I tend to find people use ‘musical’ when they wish to justify a preference for a more modest - on paper - component or system. Perhaps it is a cipher for ‘less ruthlessly revealing’?

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I tend to use more musical when something less musical is less engaging and lacks connection to the music in an attempt to sound more detailed. Justification of owning something less expensive is of no consequence, and i just say it how i hear it. Having owned some of Naim’s most expensive units and some of their cheapest units, i can say with confidence that price is a poor indicator of enjoyment and engagement.

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Not what I found. I heard an immediate level of further engagement going DR, resulting in a more musical experience. This was on a CDS3 at the time, now happily on a NDX2, though I lost the ability to do the comparison some years ago.

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It can be imo, what I found with a buddy’s system was you really do need a complete dr setup for it to shine. In saying that I still prefer the olives or classic over DR.

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That would not be what I meant if I used the term ‘musical’, I would mean that I was simply enjoying the music more overall, without reference to any specific area such as bass control, imagine, or whatever.

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I think its all system, room and person specific. There is no problem enjoying an XPS more than the DR one. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong. Its just a preference. When I changed from. XPS to XPS DR it was into a full DR system with a full loom of SL. It made a positive musical difference to me. It was the last piece of the DR jigsaw but then I can also believe that in a system with less DR components and without SL cables the difference would be less. I feel with Naim that balance is absolutely key and also synergy is very important to get the most rewarding musical experience.

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Bought a HC new, way back 2012 ‘ish, the manufacturer had a window whereby it could be DR’d at a preferential price which I did. Had I not would have now been saying “HCDR not as musical as HC ?” In the case of the HC/HCDR for me it was a step change so find it hard to believe the XPS DR (just bought one) can have any negatives compared with the previous version

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I don’t have an XPS, however I do have a 555PS DR; and that’s definitely not musical at all. I think it’s been reasonably well established that the power supply boxes can’t remember the words, so the wisest of them stay silent where as a few (like mine) hum gently to themselves - and that’s definitely not musical.

However, on the other hand, attaching my 555PS to my 272 makes the latter a lot more musical!

The serious point here is that the added musicality in the system from adding a PSU comes from the unit being powered; and hence the degree of added musicality will depend on the box being powered as well as the PSU in use.

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@Xanthe has a very good point! @Desmond what are you powering with XPS or XPS DR?

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I’m powering with CDX2

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