Analog Gear News

Hana is helping to kick off the month of March in the exact right way by announcing their new Umami Blue cartridge, which follows in the fine moving-coil footsteps (so to speak) of their vaunted Umami cartridge series.

The Hana Umami Blue high-end moving-coil (MC) cartridge comes from Excel Sound’s master cartridge designer, Maseo Okada. According to Hana, the Umami Blue “combines the essential ingredients of the Hana Umami Red with the Alnico-based generator of the Hana ML.” The Umami Blue also incorporates the Auricle body design that’s exclusive to the Umami series.

The Umami Blue’s body features a white POM inlay on its front facia to provide damping properties, and it’s said to act in homage to the aforementioned Hana ML, the company’s first cartridge to use a POM body. Tapped and threaded mounting holes in the Auricle body are further said to “assure secure attachment to the tonearm.”

A special Melamine Thermosetting Process (MTP) is used to enamel the Umami Blue’s body — which is CNC-machined from Duraluminum — with a brilliant blue glossy finish. The Umami Blue also shares other key Umami Red elements, including a precision-cut Microline Nude diamond stylus, Boron cantilever, and high-purity copper wires.

Finally, the Hana Umami Blue MC cartridge has an SRP of $2,500.

For more about Hana cartridges, go here.
To find a Hana dealer near you, go here.

HANA UMAMI BLUE CARTRIDGE
($2,500)

Features & Specs
Frequency response: 15 to 50,000Hz
Output balance: 0.5dB/1kHz
Channel separation: 30dB/1kHz
Coil impedance: 8Ω with 0.4mV output
Load impedance: >80 Ω
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
Output pins: 24k gold-plated
Weight: 10.8g