Review of Grado Opus 3 MI Phono Cartridge

[@tonyidle7813]

I was manager of a high end audio store in Portland Oregon from 1981 until 1992. we sold Grado as well as stanton, empire, ortofon and shure cartridges. I think dollar for dollar Grado is one of the best values for the money , both in sound and quality.

[@CaptainDarrick]

Not in quality . I have owned about four of five sets of Grados ...four of them broke because of the cable they use ..I always managed to repair them with soldering , new wire etc ...but they still eventually broke again . I gave up completely on the brand the last time as I was soldering on a new cable ( again ) and the heat from my soldering iron made the coil separate ...I threw them in the bin at that point and said to myself ...no more Grados for me . I now own a set of seinheisers 650s ...so far so good

[@toddgreen4444]

Grado cartridges have always been a good value in my book. With their 3 series cartridges Grado Labs really took their cartridges up a notch or two. And the Opus3 is really nice for $300!

[@toddgreen4444]

Grado Labs customer service is very good and if you had contacted them, they would have repaired your headphones for you. This review though was about Grado phono cartridges...

[@CaptainDarrick]

@@toddgreen4444 I am not in the US . I mailed them . They wouldn't help and in fact told me where to buy a replacement cable ( and obviously do the job myself ) ..which cost half the price of the headphones ...utterly useless

[@joey1127]

I loved the Empire 2000 e/III. One of my all-time favorite carts from the golden age.

[@blkmacster]

Thanks for this. I'm back to using Grado's after a long journey and spending lots of money. I'm going with a Timbre Master for my main cartridge and a Shure V15VMR/Jico Sapphire for my secondary one.

[@szczepancom]

Greetings from Poland

[@ScottGrammer]

Grados have a bad habit of humming because they're not properly shielded. I was warned about this but it cost me $150 (the price of the Grado I bought) to know for sure that it's true.

[@Audiorevue]

Yes they can hum but to say that they always hum or to insinuate that is ridiculous. A lot of their humming comes from the fact that they are unshielded as you mentioned, but it really is dependent upon what turntable you use them with. For example Rega turntables almost always will hum with a grado cartridge. The main reason being is because the way that Rega turntables are shielded in the arm causes the cartridge to pick up more emi from the motor than it would on similar tables, like u-turn tables for example. Truthfully I've had numerous grado cartridges on numerous turntables, particularly Technics turntables for some reason, But others as well and I have always been impressed from the lowly black all the way up to their wood body carts like the master. Best thing about grado cartridges is tone particularly mid-range tone, they just excel at that and regardless of which one you get they truly have this way with capturing mid-range life and vibrancy and timbre that truly make you enjoy your records more than you could otherwise

[@ScottGrammer]

@@Audiorevue I did not mean to suggest that they always hum, and you are absolutely correct that is depends in large part on what turntable they are used with. It also depends on how close the turntable is to other components which radiate a hum field. I've owned only one Grado but I've installed dozens for others, and sometimes there is a hum, and sometimes there isn't; it's just much more common for Grados to hum than most other carts.

[@12_inch_spinnerz]

I have an audio technica vm95ml, i like it but this grado has my interest. Can it be mounted ro a standard AT headshell?

[@andymill32]

Yes you can but I have it, a at vm95ml, at 540ML and a at oc9xml and all 3 are far better than the Opus 3, it has a bit more bass than the ATs but tracking, detail and sibilance are worse than all including the much cheaper 95ML, get a 540ML or oc9xml if you can afford it instead.

[@LetThereBeSound1]

@@andymill32 I have to humbly disagree with your assessment of the Opus3. I just got two samples a few days ago, the stereo/low-output and the mono/low-output and I am in awe of what I am hearing with both. I too own several Audio Technicas and disagree there is less detail or that these Opus3 somehow exacerbate sibilance. This is simply false. Either you had a lemon or you did not nail the setup. In fact, I invite you and everyone else reading this to click on my name and go to my channel where you can watch my last three videos using the two Opus3. Two videos are of the stereo Opus3, one of the Opus3 Mono. Even though we are dealing with some level of "dumbing down" due to the KZbin compression, I promise you the way the sound completely debunks what you are going on about. Incidentally, can reveal what was the turntable/arm combination and the phono stage used? This sounds like it could come down to be a mismatch somewhere.

[@NackDSP]

How about buying an Ortofon test record, play the 1 kHz tone, capture it with a sound card and Audacity free software. Show us the Audacity spectrum display so we can see the 2nd harmonic distortion of a cartridge. That would be valuable. Just reading the catalog info is not helpful. I can read the Grado website myself. Grado has zero specifications for these. No stylus tip radius value. Who would pay $300 for an elliptical stylus? That's ridiculous. It very likely has a .4 Mil radius and very high distortion. No specs so who knows. if you would measure it, we would all know. I'm guessing it will have 1 % distortion on that 1 kHz 5 cm/s track. Yeah, that's right 1%.