HANA Umami Blue Moving Coil Cartridge

The HANA Umami Blue is a low-output moving coil phono cartridge that pairs a Microline nude diamond stylus and boron cantilever (carried over from the Umami Red) with the Alnico-magnet generator from the HANA ML, housed in a CNC-machined Duralumin "Auricle" body unique to the Umami line. Master designer Masao Okada-san built it as the entry point into Hana's flagship series. Output is 0.4mV with 8-ohm coil impedance and a recommended load above 80 ohms.

Key Features of HANA Umami Blue Phono Cartridge

• Microline nude diamond stylus: a precision-cut line-contact profile mounted as a single-piece nude diamond directly on the cantilever, with a long vertical contact patch that traces high-frequency information conical and elliptical styli round off.
• Boron cantilever: the same boron rod used in the Umami Red. Boron is roughly twice as stiff as aluminum and significantly lighter, which lowers tip mass and raises the cantilever's first resonance well above the audible band.
• Alnico magnet, cross-coil generator (carried over from HANA ML): aluminum-nickel-cobalt magnet wound with high-purity copper at 8-ohm coil impedance. Stable field over decades, lower coil impedance than the original SL family, easy to load with most quality MC phono stages.
• CNC-machined Duralumin "Auricle" body (Umami-exclusive): A7075 aircraft-grade aluminum machined from solid billet, finished in a Melamine Thermosetting Process (MTP) coating that bonds to the metal at the molecular level for resonance damping without added mass.
• 0.4mV output, 8-ohm impedance, 10.8g weight: mid-to-high-mass cartridge that wants a 10-15 gram effective-mass tonearm. Works with any quality MC phono stage running 60dB or more of gain, or an MM stage paired with a 1:10 to 1:20 step-up transformer.
• 30dB channel separation, 0.5dB output balance: tighter than the M and S MK II tiers below it. The Umami body design and matched coil windings produce flagship-class symmetry between channels.
• Pure iron pole pieces and 24K gold-plated output pins: pure iron concentrates magnetic flux at the gap. Gold plating on the pins keeps the signal path corrosion-free over the cartridge's working life.
• Hand-assembled by Excel Sound: every Umami cartridge is hand-built in Japan by Excel Sound's craftsmen. Excel has been making cartridges for over 50 years and supplies OEM cartridges to several premium brands.

The Umami Synthesis: Red Materials with ML Generator

The Umami Blue is what Hana built when they combined the most expensive parts of the Umami Red with the most musical generator of the M series. The boron cantilever and Microline nude diamond stylus are the same components Excel installs on the Red. What changes is the generator. Where the Red uses a Samarium Cobalt magnet with a 6-ohm coil, the Blue uses the Alnico-magnet generator that Hana developed for the ML and refined for the Umami body. Boron speed at the stylus, Alnico warmth and dynamic ease in the music. That is the Umami Blue brief.

Microline Nude Diamond and Boron Cantilever

The Microline stylus is a more aggressive line-contact profile than the Shibata used on the SL MK II. The contact radius is smaller (around 2.5 microns), the vertical contact patch is longer, and the stylus reads more of the recorded modulation per pass. Inner-groove distortion drops, high-frequency information that softer profiles average out becomes audible, and worn-record tracking improves because the diamond rides in groove territory below the wear pattern of conical and elliptical styli. The diamond is mounted nude (single-piece, no metal shank bonded between diamond and cantilever), which keeps tip mass to a minimum.

The cantilever is solid boron rod. Boron's specific stiffness (stiffness divided by density) is roughly three times that of aluminum, which means a boron cantilever resists bending under stylus drag better than aluminum at a fraction of the moving mass. The first cantilever resonance is pushed well above the audible band, the cantilever transmits groove modulation to the coil with less low-pass softening, and transient attack on percussion and plucked strings comes through with the leading edge intact.

Alnico Generator and the M Series Connection

The Umami Blue generator is the Alnico-magnet, cross-coil architecture Hana uses in the ML and MH. Coil impedance is 8 ohms, output is 0.4mV at 1kHz, and channel separation measures 30dB. The 8-ohm coil impedance broadens phono-stage compatibility (Hana recommends greater than 80 ohms; 100 ohms and 470 ohms are both common starting points). Compared to the Samarium Cobalt magnet in the Umami Red, Alnico produces a slightly warmer, more relaxed harmonic envelope, particularly in the lower midrange where bowed instruments and male vocals live. Buyers who liked the M series tonal character but wanted the Red's resolution at the stylus end of the cartridge are the audience the Blue was built for.

Auricle Duralumin Body and MTP Finish

The Auricle body is unique to the Umami line. CNC-machined from a single billet of Duralumin (A7075, the same aircraft-grade aluminum used in airframes), the body's geometry is shaped for both internal damping and rigid mechanical coupling between the cantilever pivot and the headshell. The Melamine Thermosetting Process finish bonds the coating to the aluminum at high temperature, which damps body-borne resonance without adding the weight of a thicker paint or polymer skin. Cartridge weight comes in at 10.8 grams, which couples positively to mid-mass and high-mass tonearms in the 10-15 gram effective-mass range.

Tonearm Matching

Effective compliance is 10 x 10-6 cm/dyne at 100Hz (estimated 17 x 10-6 at 10Hz), recommended tracking force is 2.0 grams, and cartridge weight is 10.8 grams. That puts the Umami Blue squarely in mid-to-high-mass tonearm territory. We pair it most often with the Michell TecnoArm 2, the Oracle Origine, and the Rega RB3000. Buyers running long-term reference setups move up to the Dynavector DV-507 MK2, which gives the Umami Blue's transient information the rigid pivot bearing it deserves. Buyers transitioning from a mid-tier setup often bring an existing Rega RB880, which still mass-matches the Blue cleanly.

Phono Stage Compatibility

The 0.4mV output and 8-ohm coil impedance want a moving-coil input with 60dB or more of gain, or an MM stage paired with a 1:10 to 1:20 step-up transformer. At this cartridge price, our most common pairings from the TLR lineup are the Michell Apollo at $4,999, the Audia Flight FL Phono at $6,999, and the Kora at $7,999. Recommended load on the cartridge side is greater than 80 ohms; 100 ohms is a conservative starting point and many users land on 470 ohms after experimenting on their own system.

Hand-Assembled by Excel Sound

Every Umami cartridge is hand-built in Japan by Excel Sound craftsmen. Excel has been making cartridges for over 50 years and is the actual factory behind several premium-brand cartridges sold under other names. The hand assembly matters specifically because of how tight Hana's specs are at this tier (0.5dB output balance, 30dB channel separation): those numbers require coil winding and magnet alignment tolerances that machine assembly cannot deliver consistently.

Explore the HANA Cartridge Lineup

The Umami Blue's place in the Hana ladder, plus the next step up:

• HANA ML: $1,200 step-down. Same Alnico generator family, with a Microline stylus and Delrin body. The natural step-up from the M series into the Umami body and boron cantilever is the Blue.
• HANA SL MK II: $850. Second-gen S series with a nude Shibata stylus. Shares the Alnico generator family but uses a tapered aluminum cantilever and elastomer-coated body.
• HANA Umami Red: $3,950 step up. Same boron cantilever and Microline diamond, with a Samarium Cobalt magnet, 6-ohm coil, and Urushi-lacquered Duralumin body. The audible step is in midrange transparency and dynamic snap rather than a wholesale character change.
• HANA Umami Black: $11,500 reference top. Solid diamond cantilever, Microline diamond, and a refined Duralumin body. Top of the Hana cartridge line.

The Listening Room Difference

We're a third-generation family business with a brick-and-mortar showroom in Chestertown, Maryland, and a reputation built on exceptional service and relentless passion for hifi. Whether you're visiting in person or ordering online, we bring decades of experience, personalized service, and honest guidance to every interaction. We don't just ship boxes. We help build systems, answer your questions like real humans, and make sure every detail of your setup is right, from the cables to the final connection. Our passion is helping you get the most out of your gear, with support that lasts well beyond the sale.

HANA Umami Blue Phono Cartridge Specifications