Hana Umami Red or Lyra Kleos?

skyscraper,

Yes, about 10 years ago, I had the pleasure of just Peter and myself in his room at a show. He demoed several carts including the Voice on a VPI HRX with his bookshelves. I was impressed with what was heard on his little bookshelves

Sounding like a broken record-I’ve shared this particular part of my experience with Mr Soundsmith in other threads.

In the end, it’s what your ears feel comfortable with along with your wallet. There is something about ANY cartridge on a particular arm that you could pick apart.

Since we share the same table, thought I would give my $.0002 cents worth(adjusted for inflation)

FWIW-The Audio Technica ART9 is a cart in the $1K price point that will easily compete with carts 2X the price. I have used both SS and AT on my VPI Classic.

Mike, what Raul is trying to tell you is that no cartridge is going to perform at it's best in a unipivot arm. The results are less predictable and will always be substandard. In general more compliant cartridges will perform better in unipivot arms but the limiting factor is the mass of the arm.

You would do yourself a service by switching to VPI's gimbal arm. It is not perfect but it is far better than any unipivot. 

As an aside, any Lyra cartridge is superior to any Hana cartridge. Putting these two cartridges in the same sentence is a huge insult to Lyra. Hana cartidges have become popular because they are cheap. That is what they are, cheap cartridges. There are many high output cartridges for even less money that significantly outperform any Hana cartridge. If you want a less expensive MC cartridge get an Audio Technica. 

@skyscraper The Sound Smith Hyperion is just more fleshed out than the Kleos—more “real”.  It has a better/stronger bass foundation, and everything else just seems to build on that foundation.

@mijostyn 

Not sure what your beef is about Hana cartridges, other than the fact that you don't  like them. I've said this before. I had a Soundsmith Boheme and the competing Hana cartridge I now have sounds WAY better than that Soundsmith. There. I said it...

Tablejockey, that must have been fun to been able to talk with Peter Lederman. I’m hoping for even an email reply from him about "The Voice" cartridge. You’re absolutely correct about your ears and wallet being the best guide.

I sometimes wish I lived closer to a big city, so I could find a shop that had high end equipment to audition, like I used to in my twenties living near New York City.. Instead I enjoy hearing from each of you who have that luxury, and/or are knowledgeable about the nuts and bolts of audio, specs especially of late.

mijostyn,, are you saying the the Lyra Kleos at $3,650 is a better performing cartridge in your estimation than the Hana Unami Red at $3,999. Before I cross the Hana Unami Red off my short list, I’d like to confirm you aren’t only making the comparison with the relatively "cheaper" next model down the Hana line, the Hana ML at $1200, If that’s the case I appreciate you providing a direct answer to my question about the Kleos versus the Umami Red .

Sounds too like I’ll have to add a better tonearm to my wish list from what you and Raul are saying. Just when I thought this cartridge might be my final upgrade. I feel like Al Pacino in the last Godfather movie when he was trying to finally "get out" but kept getting drawn back in.

Achipo, unfortunately the Soundsmith Hyperion comes in at double the upper end of my price range. Sounds like a winner otherwise.

Mike