Hana SL or ML?

All I can say is you are probably barking up the right tree.. Got the SL after multiple carts... Including some of the DVs (which were good to my ears too)... No longer looking... Love the Hana. 

The NZ forum I subscribe to have been comparing the SL and ML, the ML wins in terms of sonics apparently. I haven’t experienced the ML in my own system though. I have an SL here and it definitely likes cartridge loading above 2k ohms to open out the soundstage. It needs quite a few hours to run in. It’s a lovely warm sounding cartridge, and VTA is critical with the shibata stylus. However in my system (Garrard 401, The Wand tonearm) the Dynavector XX2 Mk2 is quite a bit more musical and transparent. My friend prefers the ML over the SL as it takes better to lower loading impedances such as found with typical MC stepup transformers.

Thank you all!! Much appreciated sharing your thoughts!

@ndevamp  Surprised about this comment:

I have an SL here and it definitely likes cartridge loading above 2k ohms to open out the soundstage.

I run my SL smack on the recommended 400 ohm and that sounds perfectly dialed in to me.  2K would sound incredibly shrill and overly zippy in my setup.  I suspect your finding is an outlier but I'd be curious if others find loadings as high as yours work best.  What gain are you using?  61dB for me.

It’s most likely system dependent, so I’m not totally surprised you like yours set at 400 ohms. On my system 390 ohms made it sound a little clamped down, probably with better focus and more neutral overall, but I couldn’t go back from 2.2k on my SS system. It just sounds more relaxed and open. 5.6k was a little too slow for my liking though.
I’ll give 390 ohms and 1k another go and see if I still prefer 2.2k. Also my SL is still running in so my preferences might change with time!
Overall preamp gain 57db.