Soundsmith Aida vs Hana sh

Nice avatar pipetowers. Welcome to the forum. 

Pipetowers, I think I understand your question; you want to choose between HL and Aida.  I offered the perhaps irrelevant opinion that the Hana SL may be superior to both, based on written opinions I have seen on line (not based on personal experience).  But if you don't have sufficient phono gain, please do ignore me.  The only persons qualified to advise you on this decision would be those who have heard both cartridges in the same system, including with the same tonearm and turntable.  So far as I can tell, none of the responders, to date, is qualified on that basis, including me.  In the end, you sometimes have to just "go for it" and decide for yourself.  The good news is that they are both excellent cartridges, probably, and you won't go "wrong". 

If you are thinking of these two cartridges in their respective price ranges, perhaps you also ought to consider the Audio Technica ART9.  The output is comparable to the two others. It gets rave reviews. (I own an ART7 and like it very much.) And the price I think falls just above that of the HL.  Sorry to throw yet another monkey wrench into the works.

The end of life of a cartridge is always wear out, or an accident. Since MC's cannot always be rebuilt, how much is it to rebuild these other cartridges, compared to the multiple rebuild potential of the Aida? Something else to factor in, unless $2000 is not an issue for you.

Peter Ledermann/Soundsmith 

There is no Hana HL. The models are:

SH - Shibata high
EH - Eliptical high
SL - Shibata low
EL - Eliptical low

The Hana being the winner for value and the Aida sounding the way a $2,000.00 cartridge should.

You have answered your own question.