Audiomeca Enkianthus.X DAC...Anagram mkII

This is months later, but a fellow A-goner told me he purchased the mk II chip from Anagram Technologies himself for $425 and installed it. Iguess he called them, but they are in Switzerland.

Where can I get the chip for the upgrade and how much is it?
Anybody know?

Jazzdude,

As Gary said, the Enkianthus with the new chip is sounding more solid and dynamic (put the chip in myself in 20 minutes, no problem). But this change in sound became more obvious when I upgraded the transport to the X-version......

Regards, Peter

I have heard this commented on before and confess I did not appreciate it to a significant extent when I had the original version. In fact other gear which people thought was void of this issue seemed too much in my face, to me. I would add however that I felt it did not equal my vinyl rig in terms of dynamics and presence. After living with the mk II for several months I realized this was an issue which was much improved by the new chip. It was much more life like than the old chip. It is still not vinyl, but much closer and very lovely to listen to. There is a good review of this on tnt-audio which does capture the essence of the change. I hope this answers the question if not let me know and I will try to explain it better, the kids are attacking me

Gary

What about the supposed "softness" or reduced dynamics of the Enkianthus/Mephisto that gets remarked upon sometimes? Is this trait real? Is the issue resolved with the Anagram MKII? How much does it affect the character of the sound?

Lawrence

I did things in a slightly different fashion because of where I live. Drop me a note or I will write you.

Gary

Hi Gary,

Can you advise how much is the Anagram Mark II chip for end-user to do the upgrade?

Lawrence

Jazzdude

The new chip can be installed in old models, I know because I have done it. In fact if you look up on tnt-audio Geoff Husband describes doing exactly that in his review of the ekianthus. With regards to the new module, as I recall (but can't be positive) it is easy enough to tell the difference between the two, the problem is you have to gain access to the chip which is quite well hidden. If it is an X I believe it must have the new chip, since that was how they designated. M. lurne is generally quite good about answering but if you have questions the us distributor is I believe Aberdeen components and this should give you the link.

http://show.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/shm.pl?dgtlconv&1046233054&item&Chichiuno&4&5&6&http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fs_srch.plQQANYAAAApurlsrchAAEXYAAstAAAAAAaudiomeca

Drop me a note if you have questions and good luck

Gary

Jazzdude, I believe Peterb is correct. The Enkianthus DAC obtained it's "X" designation after incorporating the newer Anagram 24/192 MK II module. If memory serves, Audiomeca began shipping the newer "X" versions January of 2003. I don't know if they actually have serial number stop/start details. But it would be interesting if they did.

You can go straight to the horses mouth by emailing Audiomeca in France. Their email address is:

audio@audiomeca-hifi.com

Their web address is:

www.audiomeca-hifi.com

These are their actual web addresses in France. This is not the American distributor.

Hope this helps, Ed.

The new processor was the reason to launch the X-version.
All X-versions carry the Mk2 processor.