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Experience incredible
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NERO
STUDIO
OPTIMAL
SPEAKER
DESIGNlevel evidence of analog tape recorders
and the corporeality of the musicians.
All of that contributed to an extraor-
dinary tactile presence—that meaningful
touch that bb told me about.
In like manner, these cartridges ex-
posed the sonic-texture grain structures
I associate with their own magnet and
cantilever materials, easily demon-
strating such things as the change
that occurs when switching from an
aluminum cantilever (on the DL-103
and Hana ML) to a sapphire cantilever
(on the Etsuro Urushi).
More than anything, all three car-
tridges reminded me how much I love
acquiring, touching, and playing LPs.
Every time I cleaned their styli and
lowered the tonearm, I got excited and
memories started flowing.
I could dream away my sunset years
listening only with the Etsuro Urushi
Cobalt Blue: It does everything I de-
sire. Unfortunately, during those years
I will need what the Cobalt Blue costs
to pay for Blue Cross, fishing tackle,
and upkeep on the Airstream. There-
fore, I’ll just have to be 80% content
(haw!) with the overachieving Hana
ML: a stunning-sounding, artfully
engineered phono invention that loves
all music, and a fantastic bargain. nconspicuously in the room, which is
exactly what John Renbourn’s The
Lady and The Unicorn (Transatlantic
Records TRA 224) sounded like with
the Hana ML. I was most enamored
of the supervivid presence of Tony
Roberts’ and Ray Warleigh’s flutes,
as well as John Renbourn’s guitar, on
“Scarborough Fair.” This is the record
and the song you want your system to
reproduce. On a fine system, with a
strong-but-elegant-sounding cartridge
like the Hana ML, you should be smil-
ing and dreaming all the way through.
Think weighty and flowing, with the
sound of each instrument subliminally
enhanced by a perfect halo of Alnico
luminescence.
Overall, the Hana ML produced a
beguiling, tubelike sound, similar in
feel to the Zu/Denon DL-103, which
I always use with the EMIA Phono
SUT. The EMIA-Zu/Denon phono
system generates happy hormones.
It runs like a wolf and dances like a
bear. It has conspicuous life force. And!
The Denon DL-103’s Alnico magnet
generates that nickel radiance I keep
referring to. Unfortunately, it does not
recover a generous or nuanced spatial-
ity. It does not expose textures in shad-
ows or detail in the treble. It suppresses
distant low-level sounds. The $1200
Hana ML picks up sonically where the
Zu/Denon leaves off.
I compared the Zu and the Hana
cartridges on the same Feickert Black-
bird turntable, with the same Jelco
TK-850L tonearm and the same AMG
Reference tonearm cable, connected
to the same EMIA SUT. What I found
was that the ML could not out-rock or
out-reggae the Zu/Denon: The ML
had lower chi. But the ML did excavate
more detail from the shadows and
expose more instrumental texture and
subtle gradations of tone. Compared
to my beloved Zu/Denon, the Hana
ML was simply more nuanced, subtly
detailed, and suave.
Similarly, the beauty of the Etsuro
Urushi Cobalt Blue is how it picks up
where the Hana ML leaves off.
I compared the Zu/Denon, the
Hana ML, and the Etsuro Urushi
Cobalt Blue on the same Feickert/
Jelco/AMG/EMIA rig described
above. What I found was that all three
cartridges generated a burnished, liquid
sound that occupied the room in a
distinctively unmechanical fashion.
All three cartridges reached into the
grooves and recovered the physical
reality stamped on the vinyl—the low-
GRAMOPHONE DREAMSEtsuro Urushi
Dai-ichi Shoji Co., Ltd.
The Landmark Tower Yokohama 20F
2-2-1 MIinatomirai Nishi-Ku
Yokohama, Japan
Tel: +81 45 228 3251
Web: EtsuroJapan.com
US Distributor:
Believe High Fidelity Ltd.
1307 Samson Dr.
Hutto, TX 78634
Tel: (512) 470-2709
Web: ibelieveinhifi.com
Hana
Excel Sound Corporation
3-7-37, Shin-yoshida-Higashi,
Kohoku-ku
Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0058
Japan
Tel: (81) 45-543-5100
Web: excelsound.co.jp
US distributor: Musical Surroundings
5662 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
Tel: (510) 547-5006
Web: musicalsurroundings.comCONTACTS