HANA UMAMI RED PHONO CARTRIDGE REVIEW

Given all the excitement on social media about this cartridge, we thought we ought to get hold of one to have a play with.

There was a whole lot of chatter about how great the Umami Red from Hana was and so I wanted to know how much of this was internet chatter (read bullshit) and how much of it was based in fact and so I got in touch with Michael Osborn of the UK distributor Air Audio and got myself one. Given some of the folk saying how good this cartridge was I was pretty certain it had to be something special but the truth, as they say, is in the pudding.

The Hana range of cartridges are made by the Japanese company Excel Sound Corporation. You may not know the name but you will know many of their cartridges as they have been producing cartridges for many other companies for many years. Excel Sound Corporation was founded by  Masao Okada-san and he was brought back into the company in 2015 specifically to develop the Hana line of moving coil cartridges and the cartridges are now handmade in Japan.

The Hana website proudly states on its front page that “ HANA means “brilliant and gorgeous” in the Japanese language, “華” Moving coil cartridges by HANA, bestow the most “brilliant and gorgeous” analogue sound for audiophiles and music lovers regardless of their budget. There are eight cartridges available in the Hana range starting off with the Hana EL at a modest $475 through to the range-topping Umami Red that we have here – there’s even a $750 mono cartridge in the range and so it seems that Hana has taken it upon themselves to cover all bases.

You will have no doubt heard the word Umami bandied about on the gazillion and one cookery programs that populate our television screens, and in recent years it has become the go-to word to describe food that has a certain flavour profile that falls outside of the sweet, sour, salty, and bitter (some add hot and cold) tastes that we have traditionally (in the West at least) thought to make up (in various combinations) the flavours of all our food. Umami is a bit different and I personally associate the word with the likes of Marmite, Soy Sauce, and the like, but a quick Google search gives me the following definition from Merriam-Webster:  “the taste sensation that is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides (such as glutamate and aspartate) and has a rich or meaty flavour characteristic of cheese, cooked meat, mushrooms, soy, and ripe tomatoes.” Not the first thing you would think of when looking to name a high-end cartridge is it? BUT, I do sort of get why Hana have used this unusual (for audio) name and I suppose it alludes to a certain “je ne sais quoi” around the cartridge’s sound profile – something you can perceive but can’t quite put your finger on.

HANA UMAMI BUILD AND FEATURES

So, now that all that is clear and out the way let’s have a look at how the Umami is put together and what its specifications are.

The body of the Umami is made of Duralumin, an aluminium alloy with zinc as the main alloying element which has high strength and resistance fatigue, a factor, no doubt, in why it is used in aircraft structural parts. Its composition for those who care is “5.6–6.1% zinc, 2.1–2.5% magnesium, 1.2–1.6% copper, and less than a half percent of silicon, iron, manganese, titanium, chromium, and other metals.” Thanks, Wiki. The shape of the cartridge is “Auricle” which means ear-shaped and whilst this gives the cartridge an interesting shape by way of a talking point, it also gives the cartridge a higher degree of stiffness. Stiffness in the body of cartridges is a big talking point in audiophile circles at the moment and the likes of the RigB (Rigid Body) promise to raise the performance of modest cartridges (in this case the modestly priced Audio Technica NM95).

Back to the Umami, there is an Ebony inlay (a very hard wood) and the body is finished in several coats of gloss Urushi lacquer. It’s a lovely looking thing if that’s something you care about and there is a high degree of attention to detail that I really like.

The cantilever is Boron and the stylus is a Microline Nude Diamond. There’s a good part of the cartridge’s workings that are partially but not wholly exposed and so a degree of care is needed when mounting the cartridge, though if you are handling a cartridge of this value, or any value for that matter, I’d fully expect you to take care – no woolly jumpers that can snag, for example.

The magnetic circuit in the Umami is made up of pure Iron and the magnet is Samarium Cobalt – The ML, SL, and EL Hana cartridges all use Alnico magnets. The terminal late also differs from the other cartridges in that it is made of PEEK ( Polyether Ether Ketone) rather than ABS and the pins are 24K gold-plated as opposed to (presumably) 9K gold-plating on the others. Some parts of the cartridge are cryogenically treated.

The cartridge weighs in at 10.5g which is slightly more than the ML and more than double the weight of the SL and EL models. Output is 0.4mv/1KHz and the frequency response is 10-50,000Hz which is both higher and lower than the other models in the range. Tracking force is suggested at 2g.

A view from the side of the Umami Red showing the ear-shaped design and the semi-exposed workings.

Not really important in the grand scheme of things, but the Umami comes very nicely packaged in a wooden box, with a  tiny wooden-handled cleaning brush (the exposed workings will gather dust) and a range of bolts.

LISTENING TO THE HANA UMAMI RED

I’ve had this cartridge in my system for a good six months or more and I can honestly say that it has remained there since it was fitted other than to fit cartridges that came in for review. I will also add that it’s not going anywhere and has become my reference by which I measure others. Controversially, I have the Umami, like all my cartridges, mounted in a Nasotec Swingheadshell that fits straight onto the arm of the Technics 1200G – I have other turntables available but I have found that the Technics performs consistently and is a perfect review tool. The phonostage is our well-loved LAB12 melto with the pre being a Leema Libra into a TotalDAC AMP1 (I also used a Krell KST100) and speakers were by Total DAC (d100) and Audiovector (R6).

I’m not going to go through a million and one songs that I played whilst in review mode (as opposed to just listening to tunes) and will give a more broad overview of the taste (see what I did there) of the Umami, though I’ll no doubt mention a tune or two.

Tracking-wise the Umami was flawless both on torture tracks and on the Ortofon cartridge setup record. Not once have I found the Umami to become even remotely flustered in the tracking department and gives sure-footedness to the music you are listening to.

Channel separation was superb with zero audible cross-talk and to be fair had there been any the cartridge would have been sent back without further ado. Even on modestly priced cartridges, any degree of cross-talk would be (to me) unacceptable and the offending cartridge would be cast aside.

One of the first things that grabbed my attention about this cartridge was the degree of air around the top end. Given that the frequency response is up to 50KHz (obviously beyond the audible range) I was expecting this. The top-end isn’t artificial or forced and this “degree of air” allows cymbals and effects to really sparkle and captivate. There’s no harshness or feeling of the cartridge becoming strained in the upper frequencies and the sound is natural and clean. This openness is especially evident when listening to either acoustic recordings where you can hear the recording space’s acoustic or when listening to recordings with a high degree of effects in the tops – well-produced techno is a revelation with this cartridge. This beautifully produced top-end leads to a high degree of detail being fed through to the speakers but this detail is not overwhelming and, like I mentioned, there is a feeling of rightness about this aspect of the cartridge.

Whilst exposed a modicum of care should ensure there are no problems when fitting and handling the Umami Red.

I like bass and the Umami manages to pull everything out of the grooves in these lower registers. Whether banging out pounding techno, rocking out to metal, or enjoying solo piano, the Umami again offers up a natural-sounding bass performance. We have a lot of techno records whose bass is made up of complex tones and whilst this may not be your usual audiophile-fodder the bass can be intricate and made up of many interwoven sounds – and the Umami allows you to hear this. Regular readers will hear me bang on about Daft Punk’s Contact as a test track and the “noise” at the end is a perfect example of what I was just talking about. The bass (and other sounds) in this “mess” of sound can come across as just mush but, like other quality transducers and good quality digital systems, the Umami manages to make sense of the hash and pull out individual tones. The sense of timing this surefootedness in the bass department brings a sense of perfect timing and from a listener’s perspective this translates into a foot-tapping and wholly enjoyable experience – the cartridge could be made for EBM (Electronic Body Music)! There is also speed and agility in the bass with none of that lingering bass that I also bang on about a lot and dislike.

The midrange and upper-bass is very important for our enjoyment of music. It’s in this band of frequencies that  I think we tend to relax into the music and I’m delighted to say that the Umami excels here too. Vocals are isolated, detailed and where there are effects (reverbs, etc) these are clearly audible. It is small details like this that sets the good from the excellent and the Umami falls into this latter category. Like the upper frequencies, the mid-band is highly detailed but you never feel overwhelmed by this detail. However, this detail does allow you to “see” into a recording, and especially when listening to the likes of Neil Young and Carole King I got to hear small inflections and details in their voices that set them apart from others and this level of detail is a huge part of the whole audiophile experience!

I’ve talked about this cartridge in terms of the way it presents different parts of the frequency spectrum, but I think in doing so I may have inadvertently suggested that each of these frequency bands work in isolation with the Umami and that simply is not the case. Overall the Hana Umami presents a wonderfully clear picture of the musical image and that is from top to bottom and spatially in every dimension. Whilst being amazingly detailed in the upper frequencies the Umami is a very easy listening cartridge, though I certainly wouldn’t suggest it is in any way “warm” or “pipe and slippers” in its presentation. No, there is an amazing balancing act going on here between extreme detail throughout and a relaxed and unflustered presentation. I like the Umami a LOT!

I’ve recently taken up DJing after a 27-year Hiatus (readers will be pleased to know this is only for my own enjoyment and in the confines of my own home) and I would absolutely love to be able to fit a pair of these cartridges to my Technics 1200s and pair with a high-quality rotary mixer. Alas, given their price and design this is never going to happen but I can really imagine that on a top-quality sound system this cartridge would absolutely shine in its dynamic portrayal of tunes…I digress.

QUIBBLES

I have absolutely no quibbles with this cartridge and can only heap praise on its performance.

CONCLUSION

This is an expensive cartridge but I still think it represents something of a bargain, though I’m aware that there’s going to be some out there who scoff at this. It is a lot of money but it is not as much as you can spend on a quality cartridge and from that perspective, I maintain its “bargain” status.

What you get is a beautifully crafted and wonderfully engineered cartridge that allows you to forget the gear you are listening to and thoroughly get into the music.

The speed and surefootedness of the Umami give a wonderfully toe-tapping experience and that carries through whatever you are listening to that has a beat. However, listening to something like Jon Hopkins’ Music For Psychedelic Therapy, you also get that fully immersive experience the music was designed for. On this latter point, I’m going to go out on a limb (and no doubt upset a few folk) and say that the Umami has a digital quality with regards to its preciseness and spatiality, though it is not a digital “sounding” cartridge.

Simply put, the Umami Red is superb and fully deserving of our highest accolade!

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:

Lovely looking and beautifully crafted with a luxury feel

Form follows function with regards to the body shape and this carries through to the sound

Microline stylus digs deep into the grooves and extracts loads of detail from top to bottom

Sound Quality:

It’s a glorious sounding cartridge that exudes quality and will appeal to those looking for a hugely detailed but balanced presentation

Speed and agility in the bass

Openness and naturalness in the tops

Bags of detail in the mids

Those looking to “see” the recording space or the way a musician has balanced the different sounds in the mix will love this cartridge

Value For Money:

It’s a chunk of dosh but well worth it

We Loved:

Absolutely fatigue-free listening experience but with detail and oomph

Surefooted and fast bass

Open and yet not overdone treble performance

Hugely detailed midband performance

We Didn’t Love So Much:

I can’t really think of much and so at a push, I’m going to moan about the stylus/cantilever being a bit exposed

Price: £3399, $3950, €3700

Elevator Pitch Review:  The Japanese-made Hana Umami costs a tad under three grand in the UK but this is money well spent in my book. There is an openness in the tops, speed and agility in the bass, and a wonderfully detailed and timbre-rich presentation in the mids. The Umami conveys details of space in a recording beautifully and has a naturalness about it that makes for a truly audiophile and yet relaxed listening experience.

SUPPLIED BY AIR AUDIO

Stuart Smith