Review on GRADO Prestige Gold3 Phono Cartridge with Stylus - Standard Mount by John Contreras

I have had many Grado cartridges since the mid 1980's. In the 90's I had a pre-1 silver that I hated. The desk I had at the time was doing terribly. I also had a Gold1 which was much better than the old Silver. Most recently I had both Gold2 and Statement Platinum2 installed on my MoFi Ultradeck. Both tracked well (confirmed by test recording). Both sounded really good on my Sutherland Insight phono stage. I'm a very hard gamer so I decided to buy the Gold3 and go back to the user replaceable pen cartridge which the Statement Platinum2 doesn't have. Gold3 sounds fantastic - even better than Statement Platinum2. It still works and I'm shocked at how amazing it is for $260. Rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical - all brilliant. If you know and love the Grado sound, you will love it. If you're unfamiliar with the Grado sound, they sound more like real music than most tapes I've heard. They have great detail without being harsh or analytical. In terms of sound, the Gold3 can keep up with significantly more expensive moving-coil pickups. It's smooth but not muffled, with great bass that isn't boomy or muddy, fantastically clear mids and great highs, but not bright. The cost effective, more advanced needle profile with easy attachment and captive nuts for easier assembly got me thinking about the A/T. But I knew it wouldn't sound like Grado - in my opinion, it wouldn't do anything else.