X-Series Headstages
Headstages that digitize at the head and send data over one micro-HDMI cable, keeping mass between 0.9 and 1.5 g while carrying a 3-axis accelerometer and a moisture- and chemical-resistant housing.
Why the cable is the design
An analog headstage sends one wire per channel. At 64 channels that is a tether stiff enough to change how an animal moves, and long enough to pick up whatever the room is radiating. Digitizing at the head replaces the bundle with a single serial link: one micro-HDMI cable, whatever the channel count.
Everything else about the X-Series follows from that. Mass drops to 0.9–1.5 g (X6R 128 is the lightest at 0.9 g). The analog path is millimetres rather than metres, so line noise has almost nothing to couple into.
Motion on the same clock
Every X-Series headstage carries a 3-axis accelerometer. Head motion is therefore sampled by the same system, on the same clock, as the neural data — not reconstructed afterwards from video and aligned by hand. For any experiment where movement is a variable rather than a nuisance, that alignment is the difference between a correlation you can defend and one you have to argue for.
Record, or record and stimulate
| model | channels | mass | amplifier | modality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XeR 32 / 64 | 32 / 64 | 1.37 g | Intan RHD2132 | record |
| X3R 32 / 64 | 32 / 64 | 1.1 g | Intan RHD2132 / RHD2164 | record |
| X6R 128 | 128 | 0.9 g | Intan RHD2164 | record |
| XeSR 16 / 32 | 16 / 32 | 1.18 g | Intan RHS2116 | record + current stim |
| X3SR 32 / 64 | 32 / 64 | 1.1 / 1.5 g | Intan RHS2116 | record + current stim |
The stim-record models deliver current stimulation on the same array they record from, which is what makes a closed-loop protocol possible without a second device on the head.
What it costs
The probe side is HDMI. A package terminating in Omnetics, ZIF or Samtec needs an adapter in the path — one more connection to seat, and one more thing to check before the animal is on the rig. The SmartLink line takes those connectors directly and weighs more.
Environment
Chemical- and moisture-resistant, and dimensioned at 14.58 × 11.3 × 6.7 mm for the X3 series (10 × 10 mm for X6R) — sized for chronic cage work rather than a bench session.