Lyra Delos or Hana ML


Has anyone compared these 2 phono cartridges?  I was set on buying the Hana but now I'm seeing reviews where the Delos is a better option (albeit a much more costly one).  I can't afford the Umami..  My arm is a REGA RB2000 on a SOTA Star table (Pass Aleph ono for the phono stage) .  The tonearm has mediium mass, I'm told.  Would prefer something on the more rich, lush side (isn't that what analog is all about?).  

russellrcncom

Showing 2 responses by alvinnir2

I have owned the Delos, Hana SL, and Benz Wood SL. All went into a tubed phono preamp and tubed line stage. Had  both SS and Tube poweramps at various times with this set up, but mostly tubes.

The Delos was not warm or lush. It was detailed and too  bright for me despite the tube gear it ran into. Perhaps it did not work well with the fixed loading on my phonostage. I could never relax into the music. Sold it quickly and it was a big disappointment after all the great reviews.

The Hana was very decent, fairly neutral, and a rather good value.

The Benz had all the detail of the Hana but warm and relaxed sounding.Also much more dynamic than the Hana.  A lovely cartridge but the suspension collapsed prematurely. I had the dealer replace it for a new one which I subsequently sold as I was concerned about their quality control. 

All these were on a VPI Aries I turntable with a VPI 10 unipivot arm. I saw a response above suggesting a Grado but it was susceptible to hum on the VPI and I've heard that it's not a good match to Rega tables for the same reason.

Hopefully , this helps you decide.

As you are considering the Delos as well as the Hana ML, I assume your phono preamp is capable or running low output moving coil cartridges. If that is the case and you go the Hana route, consider a low output model as they apparently do sound better. 

@paulgardner 

This is likely not the answer you wanted to hear. After some upgrades to the digital  end of my system, I ultimately sold all my analog  gear, All at top dollar, including all my LPs. All sold within a day or 2 of my listing them.

Thought I'd never say it but, I don't miss it one bit. And I  have been a vinyl spinning audiophile for over 50 years.