One of Hana's top moving coils: a boron cantilever, Microline stylus and samarium-cobalt motor in a duralumin and ebony body, with sound that is precise and detailed yet warm and expressive.
The Umami Red is built by Excel Sound in Japan. Its generator combines a Microline nude diamond on a boron cantilever with high-purity copper coils on a square Permalloy armature. A samarium-cobalt magnet and cryogenically treated pure-iron magnetic circuit drive it, and output is 0.4 mV. The body pairs a CNC-machined A7075 duralumin structure with an ebony wood element finished in gloss urushi lacquer. That combination is meant to give the motor a rigid, low-resonance mount. A PEEK terminal plate and 24K gold-plated pins finish the build.
Stereophile's Herb Reichert found it a major step up from Hana's ML. He heard wide-angle clarity, sharply focused images and excellent vocal intelligibility, and even said it made an all-analog LP sound like tape. Hi-Fi+ heard fine detail and precision combined with musical warmth, a well-judged tonal balance and strong scale and dynamics. It also noted that careful alignment and load matching pay off. It needs an MC phono stage with plenty of gain (about 60 dB or more) or a step-up transformer. Hana specifies a load above 60 Ω, and Reichert ran it at 80 Ω. At 10.5 g with medium compliance, it suits medium-mass tonearms.
| Type | Low-output moving coil (MC) |
| Output | 0.4 mV at 1 kHz |
| Internal impedance | 6 Ω |
| Recommended load | Greater than 60 Ω |
| Tracking force | 2.0 g |
| Compliance | 10 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne at 100 Hz (est. 16 × 10⁻⁶ at 10 Hz) |
| Trackability | 70 µm at 2 g |
| Weight | 10.5 g |
| Stylus | Microline nude diamond |
| Cantilever | Boron |
| Magnet | Samarium cobalt |
| Frequency response | 10 Hz – 50 kHz |
| Channel separation / balance | Greater than 30 dB at 1 kHz / 0.5 dB |
| Body | Duralumin (A7075) and ebony, gloss urushi lacquer |
| Also available | Hana Umami Blue (Alnico magnet, all-duralumin body) |
Hana's spec comparison chart (PDF) compares the Umami Red with the ML, SL and EL.
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.
