Cartridge purchase during Covid times
- Thread starter tigerdogtoo
- Start date
Both sound good to me, with the Hana perhaps a bit more relaxed without losing detail, the Blackbird slightly more forward with a nod towards the upper midrange but still punching the bass admirably. Both have a nice, wide soundstage although as with most all of the Shibata/Microline/Microridge styli, VTA is tricky and requires proper dialing in to get most benefit in that regard. The Hana, for me, took a little longer to dial in than the Blackbird but that's just what happened in my case, YMMV. In my opinion, another thing the Hana has going for it that left me sometimes annoyed with the Blackbird is an enclosed body. With the Blackbird, one little slip of the finger and you're touching the hairlike wires on the sides of the thing which can lead to serious problems (don't ask me how I know, but Soundsmith came to the rescue and revived it). It was never an enjoyable moment to try to dial in azimuth, or even zenith for that matter with the Blackbird because you had to be so danged careful where you touched the thing! For some, those who have a lot of experience with such "nude" designs, that may not be an issue but it was for me. At the end of the day, I just really like the full, smooth sound of the Hana SL and the body kind of pushed me over to that side of the ledger. My agent at the online dealership I talked about tells me the Hana M series, ML in my case, will take it up another notch in every regard, especially in the punch and definition of the bass so I'm leaning in that direction.
True, but not impossible....one has to have a bit of luck though, so see your point.