In its quest to produce the world’s best phono cartridges, Hana adds a new benchmark to its Umami series with the Black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A creator of moving coil (MC) cartridges only, the Japanese brand Hana added an Umami range in 2020 with the Red model (test VU#36<\/em>). Since then, the range has been expanded with the Blue (test VU#50<\/em>), positioned below the Red as a synthesis between the Red and the ML, and is now topped by the Black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With much higher aspirations than the Red, particularly given its price tag, which is three times higher, the Black is intended to be the most innovative cartridge from Excel Sound and its director, Masao Okada-San. To achieve this, it incorporates a Nude MicroLine stylus directly onto a diamond cantilever, making it even more rigid and sensitive than boron. Its integrated pole and rear yoke moving coil generator uses an inverted U-shaped yoke to optimize signal transfer from the cantilever. A neodymium-boron-iron (NdFeB) magnet improves energy transfer to further increase dynamics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hybrid armature, composed of 78% carbon-impregnated nickel-iron (permalloy), incorporates a hand-wound moving coil around ultra-lightweight 4N OFC pure copper wire. Its output level is only 0.3 mV under 5 ohms. The finish is a vapor-deposited coating of traditional Japanese urushi lacquer, in this case black, on the aluminum body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Designed for use at very low levels with the best phono preamps on the market, the Hana Umami Black recommends a conventional tracking force of approximately 2.0 g, for a load impedance of only 50 ohms. As announced, its price is in line with the product’s claims, at \u20ac10,000 in Europe and $11,500 in the United States, with these cartridges still not available for sale in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ll tell you more in a month’s time, when it’s officially unveiled!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 02\/09\/2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In its quest to produce the world’s best phono cartridges, Hana adds a new benchmark to its Umami series with the Black. A creator of moving coil (MC) cartridges only, the Japanese brand Hana added an Umami range in 2020 with the Red model (test VU#36). Since then, the range has been expanded with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":4439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4440,"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4438\/revisions\/4440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vumetre.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}