HANA Announces Umami Red MC Phono Cartridge

Umami, translated from Japanese, is the fifth taste category after salty, sweet, sour, and bitter, and was coined by Japanese chemist Kikune Ikeda-san in 1908. It is said to be that very pleasing or delicious flavour on the palette, a synergistic effect resulting in higher taste intensity.

HANA's cartridge designer Masao Okada-san believes this approach can be applied to his Umami Red; the cartridge's specific ingredients melding together synergistically and harmoniously to become more than the sum of their parts.

The new flagship in the HANA range, the Umami Red moving coil cartridge (£3,399) "combines brilliant materials and classic Japanese techniques with modern audio engineering." It includes ebony wood, rare-earth magnets, precision-cut diamond, high-purity copper wires, Urushi lacquering, and CNC machined Duralumin.

All the major parts in a HANA Umami Red are manufactured in house by Excel Sound with its rich history spanning over 50 years. Excel's highly trained artisans skillfully hand-assemble each Umami Red cartridge.

The cart body features exclusive Auricle body design which mimics the shape of the human outer ear. This is said to "rigidly support the Open Air Moving Coil generator." Machined from A7075 aluminium, the Duralumin body features an Ebony Wood inlay on its front facia which HANA says "provides specific damping properties". Tapped mounting holes securely attach the cart to the tonearm. The body is finished in a multi-layered Urushi lacquer finish originating from the famous Japanese Makie-artistic tradition.

The 'nude' natural diamond stylus is cut and polished to mimic the cutting head stylus used to master or "cut" all vinyl records. The Boron cantilever, with a hardness comparable to diamond, rigidly holds the Microline stylus. HANA says "this solid Boron cantilever allows the smallest audible details and micro-dynamics to be transmitted without loss to the moving coil generator, capturing the artists' intent."

The moving coil generator uses rare earth samarium/cobalt magnet material while pure copper wires are expertly hand-wound onto the classic square plate Permalloy armature.

Master designer Okadasan brings decades of experience to this design and has seamlessly integrated brilliant materials, modern audio engineering, and traditional techniques to the HANA Umami Red MC Phono cartridge.

The HANA Umami Red MC Cartridge will be available in the UK from September 22nd, and will cost £3,399.

For more information, visit HANA.