The Hana Umami Blue moving coil cartridge represents a compelling synthesis of Master Designer Okada-san’s vision, traditional Japanese craftsmanship, and modern audio engineering. Its distinctive Auricle™ body is CNC-machined from Duralumin, a material chosen to provide a rigid, non-resonant foundation that allows the generator assembly to perform with exceptional clarity. By combining the precision-cut diamond stylus, boron cantilever, and high-purity copper wire of the Umami Red with the Alnico magnet-based generator found in the acclaimed Hana ML, the Umami Blue achieves a musical character that is both richly textured and rhythmically engaging.
Every major component is manufactured in-house by Excel Sound, a firm with over fifty years of experience in transducer design. Skilled technicians hand-assemble each cartridge, ensuring the precise alignment and delicate tolerances that are critical for extracting the finest detail, spatial cues, and tonal nuance from the record groove. The result is a cartridge that conveys the emotional weight of a performance, delivering a presentation that is vivid, dynamically expressive, and consistently rewarding across a wide range of musical material.