Phono Stage

"Yeah and the Rhea also has 10 tubes. Re-tubing it will put you out of $700-$1000 easily."  Really? $70 to $100 per tube? I am sure you can replace tubes for less than that.  The Rhea and its cousins from Aesthetix are very good sounding but do tend to exhibit electronic noise when pushed too hard.  It seemed to be the nature of the beast when I owned one, and expensive tubes do not cure that problem since it is inherent to the circuit.

As to the issue of signal and noise.  There are two sources of noise, the electronics and the medium, in this case vinyl. You want the signal to noise ratio of a phono system’s electronics to be at or below ideally the optimal low noise inherent to vinyl, which is around 60 to 70db below signal, at best. Guys who build their own stuff are always talking about having too much gain and wanting to build their equipment such that the gain is as close as possible to what the system needs to produce the SPLs that satisfy them, so they can get away with very little attenuation. I understand the idea but my experience is to the contrary; I would rather spend money on the best possible attenuator and have an excess of gain in my phono stage. To me that sounds quietest when achieved.

I will echo the recommendation to pair the Hana (SL, ML, Unami) with a step up transformer vs using a high gain phono MC stage. I own the SL and have paired it with several high gain MC phono stages including Manley and most recently ModWright. The best I’ve heard is using an SUT like a Cinemag 1254 (offered by many vendors from Ned Clayton to Bob’s Devices) and running into the MM input. Far more dynamic with less noise, and the tone and detail are outstanding. I won’t ever go back to a high gain phono stage MC input again. 
 

I recently added a vintage SUT from Audio Technica (the AT1000t, not the new version) and it elevates the Unami Blue to a new level. Other good SUTs include Phasemation and Quadratic. An SUT also enables you to try a range of great tube MM phono stages including EAR and Leben, which sound richer and more textured than most JFET solid state phono stages.

You’ll need a 1:20 ratio for the Unami and ML, and a 1:10 ratio for the SL. Some SUTs like the Ned Clayton Cinemag give a range of supported ratios, whereas many are fixed to a specific ratio. Really the only negative is needing another pair of interconnects, but the difference in sound quality exceeds the hassle factor.

@audphile1 

"I absolutely hate the break in process with cartridges though. Need lots of patience which is a virtue I am not built with. Lol"

Interesting, I find it only requires six album sides or so for the stylus to bed down and you're good to go.

@faustuss I heard first signs of  improvement on the Umami Blue after the 5hr mark. It is definitely getting there but slowly. Probably the boron cantilever takes a bit longer than the aluminum on the ML. I’m at about 20hrs in now and I don’t think it’s there yet. May be another 10hrs or so for it to balance out. 
I’ve been running it at 470ohms to allow the cantilever and the suspension to move a little more freely to speed up the process. I’ll dial it back down to a 100 soon…470 is a bit much for the Blue with some recordings. 
 

@audphile1 

"I heard first signs of  improvement on the Umami Blue after the 5hr mark. It is definitely getting there but slowly. Probably the boron cantilever takes a bit longer than the aluminum on the ML. I’m at about 20hrs in now and I don’t think it’s there yet. May be another 10hrs or so for it to balance out. 
I’ve been running it at 470ohms to allow the cantilever and the suspension to move a little more freely to speed up the process. I’ll dial it back down to a 100 soon…470 is a bit much for the Blue with some recordings."

Yeah, I’ve never conditioned myself to believe that I’ve ever heard a dramatic change in the sonics over time of any component I ever put into a system other than a component’s own characteristic sound.