The new cartridge from Hana (Blüte, blossom) is a real masterpiece coming from Japan. The Duralium body features an ebony wood inlay at the front. Besides of a Boron cantilever the rare earth comarium/cobalt magnet offers very good electro-magnetic energy of the Umamis musical design.

I heard different opinions about this cart. Trusting a good friend of mine who is a High End testing person I invested into this lovely red painted body which is a Urushi lacquer. It is not as expensive as my favorite carts like Ortofon 100, AS Palladian, Lyra Titan, Lyra Olympos.

I used the new Tom Petty Wildflower 7-LP Edition on the Continuum with its SAEC WE 8000 tonearm leading to the Boulder 2800 at a 100 Ohm resistor.

The sound is very surprising. I never heard such a relaxed and homogenous exposure as the Umami Red comes along with. It is not really soft, it drives the punch but always with a kind of musical enclosure putting you back into the seat. It catches you but leaves you in a mindful readiness to listen.

Maybe the cart of the year!