Grado Prestige Blue 3 VS. Black & Gold!

Рет қаралды 17,302

2 жыл бұрын

It’s a shootout of 3 different Grado Prestige phono cartridges! Which one sounds the best to YOUR ears? Let us all know in the comments section!
Black amzn.to/3shls89
Blue amzn.to/3hekfIw
Gold amzn.to/3BP1Ivx
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Пікірлер: 61

@pcallas66 2 жыл бұрын

I definitely think the black and blue sounded the same to my ears. The gold sounded livelier and definitely had more detail and high end frequencies. The gold to my ears sounded like it had a significant amount of more loudness as well. They all sounded great though. Thank you again for your review.

@rumbodeglasas2797 2 жыл бұрын

i was gona post the same thing that you just said were alike when it comes to percetion XD i belieave that the gold for its money is not worth it because the mids are a bit absent to me despite being very open its still sounds closed (The black and blue didnt have that)

@thinlizzysupporter 2 жыл бұрын

I had a Grado cartridge on my Dual CS505-2 back in the late 80's/early90's. I think I may still have it somewhere and you've wetted my appetite to find it and give it another listen.

@allansinclair4172 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for that, particularly clarifying the differences in the range. Keep it up.

@carlosbauza1139 Жыл бұрын

Very very good! Thanks!

@jaymartinmobile 2 жыл бұрын

One of my biggest regrets: Visit a local Goodwill; Found a middle of the road turntable tucked away on the top of a shelf with a Grado Gold cartridge on it in great shape for ~$15; Wasn't thinking and didn't buy it then; Went back 2 hours later and it was gone.

@andrewfisher3613 Жыл бұрын

I got it, man what a great find !

@VolkswagenNut1969 2 жыл бұрын

I enjoyed this comparison. My U-turn has the Grado black on it and I love it! Clean, clear, great lows and highs, no distortion at all, and tracks light (1.5g). My old turntable had a Pickering V15 on it that sounded good, but you had to set the tracking to nearly 5g to get good sound, and distortion with some albums was an issue. On your comparison the gold had a hair more dynamic range and clearer highs (at least on my speakers), making the black and blue sound just a hair muddled…but just a hair. Overall, they all sounded awesome. 😃

@dusterdriven 2 жыл бұрын

I heard the same, so glad I recently got a used black. Awesome. I still use the at3600 LP gear with bass heavy albums though, because it tends to lend itself to a subwoofer a bit more.

@PeteBasel Жыл бұрын

Moving iron cartridges have been around for a long time and are good performers. The old ADC XLM and B&O carts were moving iron. The most common type is moving magnet where a tiny magnet is at the inside end of the cantilever and moves to generate the voltage/signal. With moving iron there is a bit of iron at the end that moves with fixed magnets to make a magnetic circuit that is modulated by the moving iron. It is that simple. You want to minimize the mass, and thus inertia of anything that moves so that it can respond more easily to the groove. A bit of iron was lighter than the magnets back in the old days, however I'm not sure if that is the case anymore with very powerful rare earth type magnets, probably is still the case. I believe that the Nagaoka are also moving iron and they track very well even for bonded ellipticals. More weight with bonded but less with moving iron to counteract it.

@JoeOrber 2 жыл бұрын

I change the laser in my CD player depending on the CD 💿 lol jk... Great video, super interesting facts, I certainly didn't know Grado created and patented the MC cartridge, thank you so much for sharing all this great information. With us! I personally think the Grado Black sounds a little muffled in the high frequencies compared to the Blue and Gold. To me, the Blue is the happy middle ground, because the Gold sounded a little too bright, but as you mention, that.might have to do with the Preamp settings. Thanks for a great video, greetings from Texas!

@arliecrumpler3213 2 жыл бұрын

I have the Blue and absolutely love it.

@mharrison557 4 ай бұрын

I have just got my next upgrade in my turntable line up... A Music Hall mmf 9.1 and bought a Grado Prestige Gold 3 !! after watching this ...i'm excited ..that gold sounds better than the others as well it should ! :)

@danvoight9393 8 ай бұрын

Thanks; I enjoyed this. Listening using my phone, I noticed more of a difference between the Black and the Blue than the Gold. That being said, there were subtle differences between all of these and I believe even the Grado Black at the lowest price point, with provide a lovely listening experience.

@Victrola777 6 ай бұрын

I agree with your listening observations, but in other systems I have heard an improvement of highs with the green over the black. It was slight, but I heard it on that other system.

@KevinSmith-os5yz 2 жыл бұрын

Not sure if it's a good combination but I have the grado black on a sansui xrq7, and it sounds good to me. I have a gold lying around I might see if I can tell the difference.

@mrlondellsgroovymovies 2 жыл бұрын

Gonna have to give the GRADO a look see.

@evanandrews 2 жыл бұрын

How is the Black with inner grooves? I’d love to grab a Black stylus to put a vintage MF3 body into rotation on my Technics. However I’m using shibata and micro line styli because I’m sensitive to IGD

@djray369 2 жыл бұрын

I love their mono cartridge

@steviehsan7878 2 жыл бұрын

Do you notice any difference in the trakability within the inner grooves from each cartridge? For me , trakability is almost as important if not more important than sound quality with a cartridge. I can't stand IGD ( inner groove distortion).

@machiventa858 4 ай бұрын

Wow in the demonstration the gold sounded miles better than the black and blue listening on headphones. Better channel separation and soundstage, all around fuller sound. The black sounded better than the blue to my ears (from this demo). I wonder how the gold compares to one of my recent favorites the Nagaoka MP-200?

@mileshigh1321 2 жыл бұрын

No links were left down here or in the description for the Different ones.

@andherand 2 жыл бұрын

Listened with my pair of pro monitor headphones, black and blue have small difference in the middles, while gold has definitely more presence all across the spectrum with more shining highs

@briannewell6064 Жыл бұрын

I have a Gold on my 1973 Empire turntable that I haven't really broken in yet but it sounds pretty damn good. Plus I like supporting an American family business.

@TheRealKaner 15 күн бұрын

@Record-ology I know it's now over 2 years since this was first published...but can you recall the tracking weight required for use with the Fluance TT.

@michaellourie4252 10 ай бұрын

Wonder why you did test the Grado Red3?

@robertfontenotmorris733 10 ай бұрын

I had gotten the Grado Prestige Gold II in 2019 now 2023, it had a u years ago then I had a treble roll-off. Now I had fitted in the styli it is amazingly balanced out no treble roll-off. Other cartridges I have are the Ortfon Club II and the Ortfon m10 that came with my Fluance turntable. Neither of them have any definition and detail of the Grado Gold II.

@cubdukat Жыл бұрын

I used to love the Prestige Black, but I fell out of love with it on both of my turntables when I upgraded to the Black1. One tracks horribly with it and the other tracks better, but it has hum issues. To be fair, neither turntable is the best in the world (one's a seven year old Music Hall mmf-2.2 that's been used and abused, and the other one's an Audio Technica AT-LP140XP that wasn't put together very well). And both of them have IGD issues with it. Still, I'm always willing to give them a second chance. Despite those problems, I did like the sound on it. It was very smooth and warm, if not somewhat lacking on the high end. Grado's probably the last step you'd want to take in the moving magnet (or iron) world before you head to the moving coil world.

@themaryjayneexperience5427 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks ... I didn't know that they cost so much.

@stanleycostello9610 2 жыл бұрын

I'm listened on my cell phone, and the gold was the best, black and then the blue. The blue seemed to me a little muddled, as if I had water in my ears.

@misterwirez7731 2 жыл бұрын

I'm looking for a headshell, cartridge, and stylus for an old TECHNICS SL-Q2. Any suggestions? I was looking at the Grado's and I found this excellent video. The Black and Blue, sound close enough, to just buy the black 3. The Gold had better separation and presence & maybe just a bit brighter. I think type of music may better decide. Hard heavy rock, I don't think I need a gold cartridge. Too much for me to get past the wife without a conversation... Pass, -Black it is! Thanks! Nice job!

@TheEasternShoreMoyes 2 жыл бұрын

It would have been easier to hear any differences if the same sections were played for each cartridge and the levels were adjusted.

@mr.classicalmusic5607 Жыл бұрын

I could hear a small bit of difference between the black and blue. I could hear quite a bit of difference with the Gold.

@Z00L..ChUpAcUpS Жыл бұрын

That look like old A&R Cambridge carts but modernized

@alexzorych6398 Жыл бұрын

I definitely hear the difference between black and green. Green shows more middle frequencies for my ears.

@gregorbien1719 Жыл бұрын

Blue!

@user-ff5vz5wz8j 5 ай бұрын

Labai ačiū,esu Grado Blue gerbėjas. Linkėjimai iš Lietuvos 😊

@laurensmith485 3 ай бұрын

Definitely Gold for me but unfortunately is the most expensive lol

@NickP333 6 ай бұрын

Black: 7:43 8:08 8:40 Blue: 7:52 8:19 8:47 Gold: 8:02 8:35

@kylewooten2986 2 жыл бұрын

Im a big fan of the show

@eddiebaby22 10 ай бұрын

Unfortunately I liked the most expensive 😢

@polarbear3427 2 жыл бұрын

1. Gold 2. Blue 3. Black.

@NackDSP 2 ай бұрын

From the Grado product descriptions it seems they manufacture these cartridges with very poor process control such that there is large variation in quality. They then test the product and sort them into different performance tiers. They price the different tiers based on the performance. I would rather buy from a company that can actually control the quality rather than sort the result from a random process.

@michaelchristolear4182 2 жыл бұрын

These are nice cartridges for sure but whatever you do, never attempt to remove the stylus with your fingers. I speak from personal knowledge of this!

@neverknowit11 2 жыл бұрын

Gold

@Nightmaredeathdealer 2 жыл бұрын

What happened yesterday? I started watching and you deleted it mid video lol

@johnheff7227 2 жыл бұрын

My experience with the Grado Gold is the presence of the Grado Hum that can not be eliminated as the cartridge is not shielded or grounded properly. This issue apples to all Grado cartridges in this series. I have no experience with their high end product. I would avoid buying.

@MrSeba835 Жыл бұрын

Anyone knows whether the 3/2/1 series styli are interchangeable?

@Recordology Жыл бұрын

Excellent question!

@michaellourie4252 10 ай бұрын

YES...they are interchangeable

@rekupax Жыл бұрын

Question is - how carts sound with the SAME stylus... E.G. Gold with Blue, black etc...

@Recordology Жыл бұрын

Good idea 👍

@timfaracy754 2 жыл бұрын

They may claim Perdido.

@denispgakelly 2 жыл бұрын

OK! I love your content but why not get off the fence and express your opinion, I need you to tell me what you actually hear as you are in the room. I value you opinion.. Cheers Denis

@JoeOrber 2 жыл бұрын

He did, at least a little bit, @9:16

@bobby666666 2 жыл бұрын

Totally agree. Stating the Gold gives a little more detail does not say much for a test between three different Cartridges. Usually, the reviewer goes into more detail why the differences.

@davidmorgen4558 2 жыл бұрын

Beware there hum & unneeded surface noise with grados as well as captiance problems!..

@socksumi Жыл бұрын

Someone gave me a Grado Back and I have to say it's literally one of the worst phono catridges I ever heard. Completely dull and rolled off in the high frequencies. And not just a little but severely. I remember Grado's early budget models like their iconic GTE+1 didn't sound like that at all. They were a bit warm but very dynamic with a well balanced treble. But the model Black is completely closed in in the highs to the point where it sounds defective. Does John Grado actually listen to the products his company makes. Joe Grado would never have let something this bad bear his name.

@kylewooten2986 2 жыл бұрын

I’m a big fan of the show

@Recordology 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@kylewooten2986 2 жыл бұрын

Your welcome