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Hana Hana EL
The Hana EL provides high-end musical performance from a low-output moving coil cartridge at an extremely attractive price. Handmade in Japan, the EL uses ALNICO magnets and affords the listener the textural, imaging, and musically involving qualities associated with the best MC cartridges.
Long prized by audiophiles and music lovers, affordable low-output MCs such as the EL are a perfect match for today’s generation of high-gain phono stages.
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Professional Reviews 95/100
Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
96/100
Build Quality
89/100
Features Usability
89/100
Value for Money
96/100
With vivid detail and remarkable groove tracking, the Hana EL brings vinyl closer to the performance, revealing deep, tuneful bass and a spacious, low-noise presentation. Positive Feedback's Tom Gibbs praises its delicacy, transparency, and ability to tame worn or scratchy records, making this low-output moving coil a persuasive high-value upgrade.
What Reviewers Are Saying
Pros
Exceptional groove tracking that reduces pops, clicks, and scratch noise to a much lower level than other cartridges.
Delivers a more transparent, immersive presentation with strong detail retrieval and a convincing sense of being drawn into the recording.
Produces deep, tuneful bass with enough authority to reveal more weight and drive from familiar records.
Offers strong value, with performance that reviewer Tom Gibbs felt easily justified the asking price.
&
Cons
As a low-output moving coil, it requires appropriate gain and loading, so setup matters more than with simpler cartridges.
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 96/100
Reviewers describe the Hana EL as vivid, transparent, and musically gripping, with a strong sense of delicacy and transparency. It is repeatedly praised for pulling listeners deeper into the performance and making familiar records feel more involving and immediate.
Overall Sound
95/100
Tom Gibbs calls the EL 'truly a remarkable cartridge' and says its 'musicality and retrieval of detail' win out decisively. He also highlights greater delicacy, transparency, and a strong sense of being transported to the recording venue, with the cartridge making his system sound more compelling and world-class.
Tracking Retrieval
97/100
This is one of the cartridge's most consistently praised strengths. Gibbs repeatedly says the elliptical stylus does a 'remarkable job of tracing the record grooves,' handles torture-test material miraculously, and reduces pops, clicks, and scratch noise to a much lower level than other cartridges he has used.
Soundstage Imaging
96/100
The EL is described as pulling the listener into the performance and literally transporting him to the recording venue. Gibbs also praises the layering as unmatched in his system to date, which points to a spacious, immersive, and well-organized presentation.
FEATURES USABILITY PERFORMANCE 89/100
Reviewers suggest the Hana EL is fairly straightforward to integrate, with a body height that matched well with the Blue Point and no need for repeated VTA adjustment once aligned. Its 0.5mV output also seems workable in a range of setups, though it still expects sensible gain and loading matching typical of a low-output moving coil cartridge.
Tonearm Compatibility
89/100
Gibbs reports that with the spacer in place the cartridge aligned cleanly, and once set up he did not need further VTA changes. He also found the output level manageable at 60dB gain and says the cartridge behaved well with the loading available in his phono stage, suggesting practical compatibility when matched properly.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
89/100
The reviews note the aluminum cantilever and the very small nude elliptical stylus, but they do not dwell on construction in depth. There is enough praise for the parts on hand to suggest careful execution, though long-term build commentary is limited.
Value for Money
96/100
Value praise is explicit and repeated. At $475, Gibbs calls it an 'exceptional value' and says the performance jump makes it 'worth every penny,' while also noting he cannot justify moving to the more expensive Hana SL in his system.
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Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for Hana Hana EL
- In Living Stereo — in-store — New York City, New York, United States (website)
- The Audio Association — in-store — Anaheim, California, United States (website)
- The Music Room — online and in-store — Erie, Colorado, United States (website)
- 3mA Audio — online and in-store — Houston, Texas, United States (website)
- A/V Solutions — in-store — Pleasanton, California, United States (website)
- Absolute Audio - Canada — in-store — Calgary, Alberta, Canada (website)
- Acoustic Sounds — online and in-store — Salina, Kansas, United States (website)
- Acoustic Streams — in-store — Lower Drift, England, United Kingdom (website)
- AES — in-store — Mitte, Hessen, Germany (website)
- ALAIN CHOUKROUN — online and in-store — Paris, Île-de-France, France (website)
and 231 more verified dealers