Hana EL Cartridge

This cartridge replaced my Goldring Eroica LX on a project 9cc carbon tonearm. The pins are slightly thinner than the ones on the Goldring, so I first had to crimp the tags a bit (and of course overdid one ending up snapping the plate trying to open it up again and had to solder a new plate on it, my bad, too impatient to hear the Hana). I first installed without a 1 mm spacer and started with 2 g tracking. Gain was set to 60 dB and loading at 475 Ohm. I did not like the sound. Vocals were in the back, bass was not articulated, snares didn't pop. I first increased load to 1k Ohm. Big improvement, soundstage opened up and vocals were much better, but a bit harsh and bass guitars were still not articulated. After that I installed the shim of 1mm, increased tracking to 2.15g and lowered load back to 475 and boom! That was the sweet spot. It's less punchy than the Goldring, but very warm, clear, balanced/rounded, great sound stage and I probably like it better than the Goldring which is almost twice the price. Are there better ones out there? Sure, but at this pricepoint I don't think so.