Hana EH

“The Hana (EL and EH) get a solid recommendation for their price point.”

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“The Hana [EH] cartridge is the best cartridge I have ever owned.  I have been using my Hana almost every day for hours, so there is probably well over 1,500 hours on it.  The sound has not degraded at all, which means this is a fairly durable moving coil cartridge.  I bought a number of extra cartridges so I could rotate cartridges and not wear out the Hana, however, I still use the Hana almost exclusively.

“The Hana has the wonderful imaging and soundstage that connects you to the music.  Tracking is outstanding and there is no inner groove distortion.  The Hana had absolutely no harshness and was so musical I could listen to it for hours.”
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“Having given the Hana cartridges a proper run-in, I tried the EH version (elliptical stylus, high output). Among general characteristics is the perfect balance between the left and right channels, with a stereo image exactly positioned between the speakers. Tracking was never a problem on any record I played, surface noise is very low, even on older LPs and the styli do not collect much dirt. The EH was a pleasure to listen to over long periods, higher notes play a little softer compared to my reference (Transfiguration Axia) and the Hana sounds warmer. The midrange has a rich sound, good definition and delivers both voices and instruments to a commensurate standard. Lower notes and deep bass are a little problematic with the elliptical stylus, there is more than enough bass but it’s not very well defined. Zooming in on music fragments, I put on Stacey Kent with The Changing Lights and notice a streamlined stereo image between the loudspeakers with a lot of depth. Solo instruments like her husband’s saxophone or a solo guitar jump forward from the stage, but not far enough to be in your face.  The sound is shapely and organic with deep involvement, but a certain distance remains. With the classic The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett the charming character of the Hana produces a grand piano in all its glory. Where other cartridges are sometimes too cold this delivers a big instrument in a large concert hall with slowly decaying harmonics. The hall acoustics are easily recognizable, a result that surprises me in a cartridge of this price as does the way the Hana behaves so well.”