The Umami Black from Hana, Japan, upholds the brand’s legacy. Master cartridge designer Masao Okada-san of Excel Sound marks over fifty years of innovation and excellence with this new creation, which boasts a diamond-shaped cantilever and the latest “OKD” High-Efficiency Moving Coil Generator. Hana asserts that the Umami Black transcends being merely an Umami Red equipped with a diamond-shaped cantilever.
Hana Umami Black: diamond cantilever and “OKD” Moving Coil Generator
The Umami Black is a first for Hana, featuring a diamond cantilever, the hardest possible material and therefore ideal for signal transmission. The Umami Black also features a highly efficient “OKD” Moving Coil Generator, another first in this category: The newly developed “OKD” features the world’s first “Integrated Pole Piece and Rear Yoke” and an inverted U-shaped Front Yoke, optimizing the energy transfer of the diamond cantilever.
Hana Umami Black: inverted U-shaped yoke and powerful magnet made of rare material
The U-shaped (forked) inverted yoke is designed for both mechanical resonance control and magnetic field alignment. At the same time, it provides precise support for the diamond cantilever.
The Umami Black features a magnet made from a rare material, neodymium iron boron (NdFeB), which is used in the highly efficient generator and ensures superior energy conversion.
A two-millimeter square hybrid carbon-permalloy armature, composed of 78% carbon-infused nickel-iron, is precisely hand-wound with 30-micron, 4N high-purity copper wire using Excel’s patented machines. This ultra-light moving coil has an output voltage of 0.3 mV at 5 ohms.
Hana Umami Black: special enameled Urushi finish
The HANA-Umami Black features a beautiful Urushi lacquer finish, which is applied using a specialized thermosetting process that bonds to the aluminum housing via vapor deposition.
Pricing and delivery information for this flagship MC element have yet to be announced.
