X-Series Probe Packages
X-Series packages are the smallest, lightest connector assemblies in the range and mate directly to X-Series headstages. The trade, when it pays, how to order.
4 min read
Updated October 12, 2026
X-Series is a packaging line, not a probe geometry. It is a compact, low-mass connector assembly for chronic implants where head weight is the binding constraint, and it mates directly to X-Series headstages without an adapter in the path. The family is explained once in X-Series Package ↗.
Research use only. NeuroNexus products and the procedures described here are for non-clinical research use, and must not be used in human or veterinary medical procedures.
What the catalog contains#
| package | channels | connector |
|---|---|---|
| X3-16, X3-32, X3-64 | 16, 32, 64 | X-Series 16/32/64 |
| X3-H16, X3-H32, X3-H64 | 16, 32, 64 | X-Series 16/32/64 |
| X6-128, X6-128L, X6-H128 | 128 | Panasonic 96 |
All carry a UV-epoxy protective covering. Which silicon designs are available in each package is catalog data.
The trade the line forces#
Mass is reduced by shrinking the connector footprint, and that is also what caps the channel count a single assembly carries. A 128-channel X-Series package moves to a different connector family (Panasonic 96) to fit the channels at all. So the line is not "compact and high-channel" — it is compact, and the channel count you can have follows from how small the connector can be.
It pays off where head weight binds. In a mouse, in a long chronic implant, or wherever a tether has to be carried for weeks, the connector is a meaningful fraction of what the animal wears. Where head weight does not bind, a conventional package costs nothing and gives more connector choice.
What it mates to#
X-Series packages mate to X-Series headstages directly. Headstage selection — weight, channel count, whether stimulation is needed, whether an accelerometer is present — is in NeuroNexus Data Acquisition Systems: Platform Overview.
Which experiments X-Series packaging is for#
The line is chosen when the animal, not the target, is the binding constraint: a chronic implant in a mouse, a long freely-moving study in a rat where the tether is worn for weeks, or any preparation where every gram on the head changes the behavior being recorded. In those cases the package is a larger fraction of what the animal wears than the probe is, and the smallest connector with a headstage that mates to it directly — nothing to plug through, nothing to strain-relieve twice — is the difference between an implant the animal tolerates and one it does not. The silicon design inside is unchanged: any catalog probe of compatible channel count, 1 to 16 shanks and 2 to 60 mm, can be ordered in an X-Series package, so the geometry is still chosen against the target with Choosing an Electrode for Your Experiment.
It is not the choice where head weight does not bind — an acute recording, a large animal, a head-fixed preparation — because a conventional package there costs nothing and gives more connector and headstage choice, including third-party systems the X-Series connector does not mate to.
How an X-Series package is ordered and set up#
Nine catalog builds from 16 to 128 channels: X3-16, X3-32 and X3-64 are cable-less acute forms, the X3-H builds add a 10 to 30 mm flexible cable for a chronic implant, and the X6-128 builds move to a Panasonic 96 connector to fit 128 channels. Choose the channel count from the probe's site count, the H form for anything chronic, and the matching X-Series headstage — record-only or stimulation-capable, with or without an accelerometer — from the recording chain ↗. At setup, the headstage mates to the package directly, so the channel map is the headstage's; support the package while mating, because the mating force on a small connector is still more than a shank tolerates through a lever arm, and follow the setup and care procedure as for any silicon probe. The package decision in full is in Choosing a Probe Package.