X-Series XDAQ System Overview
XDAQ acquisition: three systems whose channel capacity depends on which of three modes you run — record, stim-record or Neuropixels.
4 min read
Updated October 12, 2026
XDAQ is the acquisition hardware at the center of the X-Series platform. It is engineered and manufactured by Kontex and commercialized by NeuroNexus, as are the X-Series headstages; the platform around them — probes, packages, adapters, SmartLink headstages and Radiens — is NeuroNexus engineering. Allego provides instrument control for all three systems.
Specifications below are taken from Kontex's published documentation, which is the source of record for this hardware.
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.
🔑 Channel capacity depends on the mode, and the modes are not close#
Every XDAQ runs in three modes. The number usually quoted — the record-only figure — is the largest of the three by an order of magnitude. This is the specification most likely to be misread at purchase.
| XR — record only | XSR — stim-record | NP — Neuropixels | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CORE2 | 512 ch | 16 or 32 ch | up to 1,024+ ch |
| ONE+ | up to 1,024+ ch | up to 128 ch | up to 4 probes (384 ch each) |
| ALL-IN-ONE | 1,024+ ch | 128 ch | up to 1,024+ ch |
A CORE2 records 512 channels and stimulates across 16 or 32. If the protocol delivers current on the array it records from, the stim-record column is the one that sizes the system.
The rest of the differences#
| CORE2 | ONE+ | ALL-IN-ONE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | USB-C (20 V, 3 A) | External DC | DC, 200 W adapter |
| Weight | 900 g | 2,810 g | 3,050 g |
| Dimensions | 190 × 156.5 × 71.05 mm | see Kontex drawing | 226.5 × 160 × 93.71 mm |
| Host connection | 2 × Thunderbolt 3 | — | — |
| Synchronized video | — | — | ✅ |
| Optical stimulation outputs | — | — | 4 |
| Digital I/O onboard | 7 in / 7 out, BNC at 3.3 V or 5 V | 2 BNC pairs + 6 via DB25 | 8 ch, expandable to 32 |
| Analog I/O onboard | 1 in / 1 out | 2 × 16-bit ADC and DAC, ±10 V | 2 ch, expandable to 8 |
Sampling is 1–30 kHz configurable at 16-bit in XR mode; Neuropixels runs at a fixed 30 kHz.
CORE2 is the one that travels. It is the only XDAQ powered over USB-C and weighs roughly a third of the others — the practical choice for a crowded bench or a rig that moves between rooms.
ALL-IN-ONE is bought for what it synchronizes. It matches ONE+ on both record and stim-record capacity; what it adds is what neither other system has — synchronized video capture and four dedicated optical stimulation outputs. A protocol pairing recording with behavior video or optogenetics buys it for that, and removes a synchronization box from the rig.
Stimulation#
Constant-current, 10 nA to 2.55 mA, with 33 µs temporal resolution and compliance voltage selectable as ±7 V, −4 to +10 V, or −10 to +4 V. Biphasic and triphasic pulses.
Headstages and probes#
XDAQ drives X-Series headstages over micro-HDMI. Headstage selection — weight, channel count, whether stimulation is available, whether an accelerometer is present — is set out in NeuroNexus Data Acquisition Systems: Platform Overview, which also carries the SmartLink line and the SiNAPS acquisition path.
The record-only and stim-record headstage families force a choice worth knowing before purchase: the record-only models carry a 3-axis accelerometer and the stim-record models do not, so no single X-Series headstage gives both motion on the neural clock and stimulation through the recording array.
Software#
Radiens runs acquisition, live visualization and analysis across these systems, and data stays on the laboratory's own storage. See Welcome to Radiens.