GRADOPrestige Gold3 Phono Cartridge – High-Performance Moving Iron Cartridge for Turntables – Elliptical Diamond Stylus – Hand-Assembled in Brooklyn for Audiophile-Grade Analog Sound

My search for the perfect cartridge has been a long, arduous path filled with money pits, lots of highs and lows, and frustration. It has been so very difficult to find that elusive cartridge that won't destroy my bank account while still supplying the satisfaction that I so desperately seek. Is the Prestige 3 Gold the end of my journey? Who knows, but for now, it holds the place of honor on my headshell.It's been tough to find a cart that blends firm, defined bass while also delivering a lush and detailed midrange. Add in the desire for a sweet, articulate top end without sizzling my ears off while not spending an arm and a leg, and it seems like an impossible task. The Prestige Gold comes as close as anything I've tried that was not an MC and did not cost more than 350 dollars. The other cart I have in my system is an AT 740ML. Absolutely gorgeous, detailed cartridge, but so bright at times that I struggle listening to it (I'm sure part of the issue was capacitance loading). It lacks the lush midrange I'd like, and really exaggerates the highs, and with some types of music I just don't care for it. It was the best cartridge in my collection up until I bought the Gold.My first foray into Grado cartridges was the Prestige 3 Black. I found that I rather enjoyed listening to the Black, even though the highs are rolled off and the bass is slightly bloated. But the midrange, man it was nice! But I could only use it for a little while before I missed the brightness of the AT 740ML and I would swap it out. I'd looked at the Gold for several months, debating whether I wanted to spend the money on a cart I wasn't sure I'd like. The Black was nice and all, but was the Gold worth the extra 200-ish dollars? Finally, I bit the bullet and bought the Gold. After about 25 hours of listening, I am super impressed. The Gold takes the bass of the Black and firms it up, providing heft and definition. The Gold uses this greater bass definition to really add detail and warmth to the midrange. And the highs? Nicely tamed as compared to the 740ML, but not as rolled off as the Black. It's almost like Goldilocks and the Three Bears... everything is just right.I've owned Denon MC carts and been very impressed with them. If my system was set up for a MC cart, I'd probably have one of them on my tonearm. But the Grado Prestige 3 Gold reminds me alot of those sweet Denon MC carts, and is quite a bit cheaper than them. I highly recommend this cart. It sits on an Audio Technica AT LP3XBT table, although I did try it on my Pioneer PLX-1000 table too. It sounds amazing on both. I have it run into a Schiit Mani preamp and Arcam AVR5 receiver feeding Kef R7s.The sound is sublime and I could listen for hours. Highly recommended.

By all means, I am not an uptight audiophile. I was looking for something to replace my ortofon 2m red. A little browsing and this cart caught my eye. It had all the bells and whistles of a fancier cartridge and an alleged sound comparable to $3000 cartridges. As soon as I put the cartridge on the tone arm there was a terrible hum. I will say that the hum is not noticeable during play. But the sound- god is it terrible. Instruments on records that I’ve enjoyed for years are suddenly gone. Vocals literally are moved to an entirely different place in the mix. It’s like the mix is absolutely ruined and the voice is singing into a plastic bottle. Everyone who likes this cartridge says it’s perfect for jazz records because of the unique coloring. There was one jazz acoustic guitar run on a particular record that I tried out. On the Grado that run was in the center of the mix and almost sounded far in the distance. On the ortofon it was panned hard right and beautifully present, with no expense of warmth. I thought that there would be improvements in the problems that people have noted with the Grado 2 series, but it seems that those problems have worsened with the 3. If you are interested in buying this I highly suggest you rethink. I am listening on a technics 1600 with the correct adjustments on my pro-ject tube pre amp and monitors. I don’t know how a $300 cartridge manages to destroy a perfectly mixed recording. Don’t pay for this junk.

I’ve owned numerous Grado cartridges going back to the mid 1980s. I had a pre “1” Silver in the ‘90s that I hated. It tracked horribly on the table that I owned at the time. I’ve also owned a Gold1, which was much better than the old Silver.Much more recently, I’ve had a Gold2 and a Statement Platinum2, both mounted on my MoFi Ultradeck. Both tracked well (confirmed with a test record). Both sounded really good running into my Sutherland Insight phono stage.I’m a super heavy spinner so I decided to buy the Gold3 and return to a cartridge with a user replaceable stylus, which the Statement Platinum2 lacks.Wow. The Gold3 sounds stunning- actually better than the Statement Platinum2. It’s still running in and I’m shocked how amazing this is for $260. Rock, jazz, EDM, classical- it does it all brilliantly.If you know and like the Grado sound, you’ll love this. If you don’t know the Grado sound, they sound more like real music than most cartridges I’ve heard. They have excellent detail without being harsh or analytical. Sound wise, the Gold3 is competitive with far more expensive moving coil cartridges. It’s smooth but not dull and has excellent bass without being boomy or muddy, a fantastic pure midrange, and great highs without being bright.I looked at Audio Technica as well- I had an A/T moving coil that I really liked at one point. Lower cost, a more advanced nude mounted stylus profile and captive nuts for easy mounting all made me seriously consider the A/T. But I knew it wasn’t going to sound like a Grado- nothing else does, in my opinion.I’d really like to see captive nuts for easier installation and a more advanced stylus (beyond the 8MZ) as an available upgrade path.

difficult to mount, I have never had such problems with mounting cartridge like with this one. 'famous' Grado hum is very loud, i didn't expect anything like that.

Excellent sound produced from my records, it is now fitted to my Project carbon DC turntable where the DC motor does not cause any hum, just produces wonerful clean sound. There is a little bit of hum from the steel platter so i would suggest an aluminum one instead. or if like me purchase the Fluance turntable, it has an aluminium platter already fitted, and is very quiet.

Montata su un giradischi Clearaudio Solution con braccio Satisfy: molto gradevole e poco affaticante. L'imballo molto ben fatto e consegna nei tempi previsti (1 giorno di ritardo ma con consegna il 23 dicembre è assolutamente normale)

Des spécialistes reconnus se sont demandés à propos de cette cellule s'il ne vaut pas mieux une excellente cellule MM comme la Grado Gold 3 plutôt qu'une "bonne" cellule MC ..En tous cas, après un montage et des réglages soigneux, c'est ce j'ai écouté de mieux !Attention à l'état du disque, elle ne laisse rien passer! Attention aussi aux réglages. La force d'appui notamment. Le réglage préconisé est de 1,6 g à 1,9. Pour faire simple avec des bras ultra légers (par ex en carbone) on pourra se contenter sans doute de 1,6 g. Par contre avec des bras plus conventionnels ou en S ne pas hésiter à régler à 1,9 ou même 2 g.Car pour chaque réglage même minime on entend la différence ! Étonnant..Vraiment très satisfait malgré un niveau de sortie tout juste moyen, bravo Grado !

Suono perfetto, come si puo' aspettare da una testina Grado Labs

Received ok and all setup was done properly. After 20 minutes of play time the cantilever fell off. Currently waiting for GRADO to ship out a new cantilever.