Upgraded to Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement?

Dear Syntax, In your first post, you may have mistyped the word "Goldfinger", and it came out "Coldfinger". Given your penchant for subtle irony, the next poster naturally thought you were making a deliberate and clever descriptive pun. I don't blame him; I did too. Or were you in fact?

The "less expensive" Clearaudio cartridges, right up to the Insider Wood, certainly do sound at least on the cold side of neutral, to me. But my single impression would also be system-dependent. Was in a Walker Proscenium with Walker phono stage driving von Schweikert behemoth speakers via I don't recall what tube amplifier.

The GoldFinger v2 is one of the most balanced sounding MC carts, not at all on the cold side. You need to have a well matching arm but within a FR66s on one of the big Micros one should figure out what wonderful jewel he has (not) in his hands...

best & fun only

Wonderful jump on it now!!

Same direction: imaging, detail, resolution.

Emil_f,
Thanks for your response. Would you mind sharing the improvements?

Lui,

I have heard both GFs - v2 and Statement. The latter is an improvement and, if you like the sound of the GF, you can't go wrong with the Statement.

I agree with Kurt_tank. My impressions are that Goldfinger V2 and DV XV-1t (may be Lyra Olympos too) are very different from their smaller brothers. The common is that these top cartridges are very warm and all of them trying to reach the so-called Koetsu sound. If we talking about Clearaudio sound we must stay on Titanium V2, respectively if we talking about DV sound we must stay on XV-1s. I have no impressions from Lyra, but I think the same goes for the Olympos and Titan i.

My impressions from Goldfinger V2 are that it is anything, but not cold. The Statement is more refined, closer to the so-called Koetsu sound ... but this is very difficult apposition ... if we compare Statement with BLO, which is anything but not warmer. :-)

Syntax,

I disagree with your assessment that the Goldfinger cartridge is "cold" sounding, via your "coldfingers" joke. (I assume you are saying that they are overly analytical, and not warm, i.e. they are cold sounding. Correct?) I've heard the Goldfinger, (as a matter of fact, in Audiolui's system), and it sounded very good. It did not sound overly analytical to me, but I will agree that it was very detailed. But then again, most extremely high end cartridges do sound very detailed, such as my Dynavector XV-1S, and even most of the cartridges listed in your system, (with the exception of the Koetsu of course!)

FYI: I'll be perfectly honest and state I don't know if it sounded better than my XV-1S, but it certainly sounded as good. (I've not heard his system enough to come to that conclusion. Although, if I recall correctly, he used to own a XV-1S, and he said it sounded slightly better.)

In fact, I would say that while it is certainly not warm like the Koestu, it is warmer than most of the Lyra cartridges that I've heard. (I believe you own, or have owned, both of those lines of cartridges.)

My two cents worth.

Everyone will definitely rave about what they own. That is for sure. I just like to know what the improvements are. What is Coldfingers?

Coldfingers.......LOL! Very good.

I know the Goldfinger 1 and 2 and all owners - who spent a sum of money for that - think, it is a great cartridge and the later one is better than the one before.
The usual game. The audiophile expects an improvement when he spends money. Or he feels uncomfortable when he does not buy something... I am confident, the first owner of that one will give you a rave.
(I can't support that, because someone has to pay me when I should listen to Coldfingers..)