Hana Umami Black

The Umami Black is a moving-coil phono cartridge designed by Masao Okada of Excel Sound. It is the first Hana cartridge to use a diamond cantilever, and it is presented as a distinct design rather than an Umami Red with a different cantilever.

The generator is a newly developed "OKD" type. It combines an integrated pole piece and rear yoke with an inverted U-shaped (bifurcated) front yoke, which controls mechanical resonance, aligns the magnetic field and supports the cantilever. A neodymium-iron-boron rare-earth magnet drives the generator.

The moving coil uses a 2 mm square hybrid carbon permalloy armature (78% carbon-infused nickel-iron), hand-wound with 30-micron 4N high-purity copper wire. Output is 0.3 mV at 5 ohms. The aluminum body carries a thermoset Urushi lacquer finish bonded by vapor deposition. An instruction manual and brochure are available as downloads.