XPS v XPS DR

Hi Naim fans,
I have a NDX2, SN2 +HiCap through B&W 702 speakers.
Thinking of adding an XPS (second hand c£1,600-1,800) or XPSDR (north of £3.5k second hand); my question is the New DR worth it, or, should I start with an XPS and have the upgrade later.
In time, I do want to add pre / power combo in placement of the SN2 and then of course, a speaker upgrade after that.
Thank you.
Mark

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Xpsdr. And find one for closer to £2600. I did, they do exist. Yes, it will be 2 years old and ex dem., but its a saving.

Any original non dr xps will need a service. Factor in £400? For that. The answer should become quite clear.

There always people selling the xpsdr for 555psus also.

I believe your prices are quite off. I have seen the occasional good non-DR XPSes for 800 euros and DR for around 2000, both older and with service needed. non-DR with recent service/recapping (costs ~500 eur) should be around 1300-1500 eur, and you can get freshly serviced DR for ~3500 eur at most.

A new XPS DR is 5000 eur. A DR upgrade for XPS is 1400 eur. The DR upgrade includes full service.

So if you can get an XPS2 for 800 and add 1400 DR upgrade, you end up at 2200

The NDX2 was designed around the DR tech so that’s the one you want. I’m using mine with a 555PS and a Supernait 3 and it’s a very nice listen. You may well find that a 555 with your SN2 is more rewarding than an XPS and a pre/power. You may well not, of course, but it’s worth considering.

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800 euros is around £714 - I’ve never seen an XPS2 on eBay for that price - this price is what you might expect to pay for an Olive XPS in my opinion.

Most un-serviced XPS2s that I’ve seen on eBay have sold for around £1100 to £1400

I considered buying a non-DR XPS2 during 2020 and found more than one at 800 euros (older and in need for service, but just add 500). Also I didn’t say “on ebay”.

But whatever the precise price is, it is not important for the OP. Just do the math for the non-DR price you get, add the DR-ing cost and compare with the price of a serviced DR that you get

I spoke to a very well regarded UK dealer on this very topic just two days ago.

His advice was to go for an XPS-DR based on sound quality / enhancement experiences on the NDX2, and on the earlier models from when the DR’s first became available.

There seem to be many plain XPS’ available in the UK (£1500-£1800 asking) and only a few XPS-DR (£2400-£2600 asking for older / upgraded models).

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thank you. the DR models are rarer beasts, but logic does suggest go for a DR…

A service on an XPS/XPS2 is less than £200, in the UK… This is just a re-cap - not conversion to DR spec.

Thank you, do you know what a DR conversion costs by chance ?

Thats good then. There are only 6 caps in the smoothing psu anyway.
That must be the cheapest naim service at £200. I thought most prices start at £330.

I asked Naim in August 2020 and was quoted “Moving to the XPS, the cost of a service is also £330 inc VAT. The DR process does include recapping of sorts. Quite literally all of the internal components of the XPS are changed, and the cost for this is currently £1021.28”

Had my XPS2 serviced (non-DR) in December, it was done by MusicLine (German distributor) and I paid 550 euros. Not sure why the difference. (As mentioned, German DR-ing cost is 1400 euros)

Naim themselves have told me that an XPSDR, is superior to a non DR 555 so I would definitely be looking at DR whatever happens.

I was quite specific - a Service ( so, just re-capping) on an XPS is less than £200 in the UK. Mine was - in Oct’18. It went North, not South… Yes, its one of the cheapest Naim items to have re-capped.

Sorry, @Hallyboy, I do not know how much a DR conversion is. AFAIK, that must be done at Naim, if you are in the UK. I do not dispute Naim’s quoted prices, for this, from @Suedkiez . I believe its a very significant process.

Yeah, as they wrote, it’s basically a new PS in the old casing. That’s also why it does not matter if you get a very old and cheap XPS2 if you are going to DR it anyway, as long as the casing is in good shape.

As for the non-DR recapping/service, you were clearly lucky in '18 as Naim quoted me significantly more in August

thanks to everyone who has replied, very helpful indeed ! thank you

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No Luck involved. Class A.

I see! We’re not so blessed here

You might have been OK, before Brexit… :blush:

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The price was even still before Brexit, the normal EUR rules still applied through 2020. (And we don’t have first class dealers like Class A to my knowledge, it’s Naim/distributor or nothing). But yes, the pandemic and Brexit were the main reasons for getting P10, Aria, NDX2, 555, 252, SCDR, and 300 DR sorted all during the latter half of 2020 :slight_smile: I can’t complain, probably.