Hana's new flagship: a diamond cantilever and a newly developed high-efficiency generator with a neodymium magnet, in an Urushi-lacquered duralumin body, hand-built by Masao Okada's team at Excel Sound.
The Umami Black marks Masao Okada's five decades of cartridge design, and Hana is clear that it is much more than an Umami Red with a diamond cantilever. The cantilever is diamond, a first for Hana, chosen for the most direct transfer of groove motion to the generator; it carries a nude Microline diamond with a 0.22 mm square profile. The generator is the new OKD design with an integrated pole piece and rear yoke and an inverted U-shaped front yoke that controls resonance, aligns the magnetic field and locates the cantilever. It uses a neodymium (NdFeB) magnet, unique in the Hana range, and a 2 mm square hybrid armature of 78 percent carbon-infused nickel-iron, hand-wound with 30-micron 4N copper for a 5 Ω coil and 0.3 mV output. The whole generator and the 24K gold-plated pins are deep-cryogenically treated. The Auricle open-air body is CNC-machined from A7075 duralumin with a black zirconia inlay and finished in Urushi lacquer applied through a 120 °C thermosetting process, with silver and gold powder detailing in the Makie tradition.
Hana describes the Umami sound as harmonic richness, delicate texture, pinpoint imaging, sweet highs, solid bass and a you-are-there presence, and the Black is meant as the fullest expression of it. It is a low-output design, so plan on an MC phono stage with about 60 to 66 dB of gain or a step-up transformer. The 5 Ω coil also makes it a natural match for current-mode (transimpedance) phono stages. Hana suggests a load of 50 Ω or higher; 100 Ω is a sensible starting point for voltage-mode stages. At 11.3 g with a compliance of 10 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne at 100 Hz (about 17 at 10 Hz) it is a medium-compliance cartridge for medium-mass and heavier arms, and the tapped mounting holes couple it rigidly to the headshell. A diamond cantilever and Microline tip deserve precise setup; please let us install and align it for you.
| Type | Low-output moving coil (MC) |
| Output | 0.3 mV at 1 kHz |
| Internal impedance | 5 Ω |
| Recommended load | 50 Ω or greater |
| Tracking force | 2.0 g (70 µm trackability at 2 g) |
| Compliance | 10 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne at 100 Hz (est. 17 × 10⁻⁶ at 10 Hz) |
| Weight | 11.3 g |
| Stylus | Microline nude diamond, 0.22 mm square |
| Cantilever | Diamond |
| Magnet | Neodymium (NdFeB), OKD generator with inverted U front yoke and integrated pole piece / rear yoke, cryogenically treated |
| Frequency response | 15 Hz – 50 kHz |
| Channel separation / balance | 30 dB at 1 kHz / 0.5 dB |
| Body | Duralumin (A7075) Auricle body, black zirconia inlay, Urushi lacquer |
| Also available | Hana Umami Red (samarium-cobalt magnet, boron cantilever, ebony inlay) and Umami Blue (Alnico magnet, boron cantilever) |
Pearl Audio is an authorized Hana dealer. Call or visit our Portland showroom to talk about matching a cartridge to your tonearm and phono stage.
