Hana Umami Blue Moving Coil Cartridge

Description

Translated as “brilliant and gorgeous”, Hana features both high and low output moving coil cartridges noted worldwide for their sound and value.

Fall in Love with your Vinyl again 

With its special Japanese character and meaning, “華”, Hana brand moving coil cartridges manufactured by Excel Sound deliver the most “Brilliant and Gorgeous” performance for vinyl music lovers and audiophiles. This HANA sound comes from superb design, engineering excellence, and decades of experience by Masao Okada, the Excel Sound cartridge design Master and his team.

For over 50 years, Excel Sound and Okada-san have manufactured many famous phono cartridges for numerous respected audio companies around the world. Their own HANA brand, introduced in 2016, has achieved global recognition for world-class analog music reproduction and incredible value.

Excel Sound designs and manufactures all the major parts, producing affordable cartridges with an excellent sound quality. Specialized tooling improves the price/quality ratio, with manufactured parts designed for maximum performance and consistency. Excel’s experienced craftsmen skillfully hand assemble all the parts into an excellent finished product, producing the consistently “Brilliant and Gorgeous” HANA sound.

HANA features multiple series of moving coil phono cartridges including the Nude Diamond “Umami Red”, Microline “M”, Shibata “S”, and Elliptical “E” models. All hand-made in Yokohama, Japan.

“Extraordinary”– Geoff Husband, TNT France 
“Captivating” – Matthias Böde, Stereo Germany
“Exemplary” – audioFi.net Singapore  
“Remarkable” – Michael Fremer, Analog Planet
“Awesome-r”  – Paul Rigby, HiFi+ UK

The HANA-Umami Way

The HANA-Umami Blue high-end moving coil cartridge combines the vision of Master cartridge designer Okada-san with the history of unique materials, classic Japanese techniques, and modern audio engineering. The Auricle™ body design, unique and exclusive to our Umami series, is CNC machined from Duralumin. Sharing key Umami Red ingredients, including the precision-cut diamond stylus, Boron cantilever, and high-purity copper wires, then combining these with the Alnico magnet-based generator found in the famous Hana ML, creates the exceptionally musical Umami Blue.

This synergistic relationship in MC cartridge design between specific materials, unique body design, a sophisticated generator, and hand-built precision is critical for outstanding cartridge performance. This creates a memorable and emotional experience, reminiscent of a meal at a Michelin 3-star restaurant, with every element and detail working in concert.

All the major parts in a HANA-Umami Blue are manufactured in-house by Excel Sound with its rich history spanning over 50 years. Excel’s highly trained craftsmen skillfully hand assemble the HANA-Umami Blue ensuring an intensely musical experience furthering the HANA “Brilliant and Gorgeous” sound quality.

Umami Sound – Exceptional Musical Quality

SPECIFICATIONS

Body	Duralumin (A7075)
Finish	Melamine Thermosetting Process (MTP)
Cantilever	Boron
Stylus	Microline
Parts Material	Pure Iron*
Magnet	ALNICO
Output Pins	24K Gold Plated
Coil Impedance	8Ω
Output	0.4mV
Coil Wire Material	High Purity Copper
Load Impedance	>80Ω
Frequency Response	15-50,000Hz
Output Balance	0.5dB/1kHz
Channel Separation	30dB/1kHz
Tracking Force	2g
Trackability	70μm/2g
Dynamic Compliance	10 x 10(-6) cm/dyne (100Hz) Estimated at 17 x 10(-6)cm/dyne at 10Hz
Weight	10.8g
Height	15.8mm
Warranty	2 Years