Have you heard the Goldring Ethos Cartridge?

It's been another week of playing records with the Goldring Ethos.  It settled down very quickly. After the initial 5-20 hours, it's broken in-from what I can tell in my confirmation bias/subjective mind. :). I don't hear it changing now. 

What a stellar cartridge for $1600!  This is a keeper.  If I had to describe this cartridge I would say it's totally balanced.  It doesn't avoid romanticism, bloom, or euphonic texture. The first order of business, though, is dropping everything I've heard that I've liked into equal parts.  Not one area is overemphasized.  Or so it seems to me.  Highs, mids, and lows are equally pronounced and curtailed without feeling rolled off.  

Enough of me trying to find the terms. Here's my behavior...

I almost took the day off to listen to records. 

I've bought more records (and I own a bunch). 

I came home from a dinner party, put the wife to bed, and stayed up til 3 am just listening. 

There's a gravitational pull into my music room.  Great job Goldring. 

PS If the Ethos is below your price range, don't scoff. If it's above your price range, maybe try another.  I had a Roksan Radius that came stock with a Goldring 1042 or something. Damn, if I couldn't find anything to beat that MM. It rivaled with ease an Ortofon 2m Black.  Takeaway : Goldring makes great cartridges that should be heard.

PPS. I have no affiliation with the company.  I'm just elated that I didn't spend $10k on a cartridge that moves me and keeps me up at night--in a good way! :)

I bought a used original Eroica for a few hundred and wasn’t expecting much. It was the go-to affordable cartridge in the 90s. It’s so much better than it has any right to be at that price. I could live with it. It does lack some textural detail and inner resolution, but these are errors of omission that you only notice after listening to the cartridge for many hours.

I decided to buy their flagship, the Ethos. I was curious about what a value-oriented company can do when it pulls out all the stops. It retails for $1,600 but I found a new one for under a grand in Greece, so I have to wait a couple weeks for the shipping. I’m excited. The reviews are inconsistent in their description of the sound but consistently favorable. It sounds like a giant killer at best and a triumph of value at worst. Also, it looks really cool in my opinion. 

@jbhiller and @dmbaudio I know is been a while since your last post but am thinking about buying an Ethos and was wondering if your opinion has changed since last September.

I love the Ethos.  It's a very balanced cartridge and that's a really good thing.  The sound never gets old. I also find I just like listening to it. 

It's bigger and bolder sounding than my ART9 and Kiseki Purpleheart.  The ART9 is a bit more polite and the Purpleheart is rounded and warm and just a bit backward leaning in its presentation.  The ART9 is more conservative but equally as good. The Purpleheart is sweeter than them both--but I haven't played the ART9 right before or after the Purpleheart in awhile. 

It is not aggressive or harsh. BUT its presentation is big, bold, clear and somewhat powerful.  The loud end is robust and not bloated.  I recommend it without reservation.  It is well worth the price. 

I'll say this-- I feel like I'm missing nothing but magnifying glass detail around things. The Ethos doesn't miss the detail, but rather it doesn't highlight as much as the ART9. 

It's amazing you get this much good sound for the price. 

PS My system has some warm components but my main speakers are horn loaded.  I also like it with a set of ribbon tweeters. 

To add to the praise, in the current (April 2024) issue of Stereophile, Herb Reichert has a nice write up of the Ethos in his column that is very positive in every respect.