Turntable set up- How easy is it

We have better hearing and more objectivity than Peter. Just kidding. 

There is a thread here, most people agree that 30-50 hours are needed for certain. Some think 100. I am trying to save the man a lot of time and effort. Make the initial adjustments to cover the basics, then wait for 200 hours and spend a day to get it right. Not too much work. But if he wants to make it truly spectacular - align the cartridge by ear. This might take couple of weeks, so what? I was kidding. I certainly am not going to do this, though it could be interesting. In this case you would be doing individual custom alignment.

I was brought up on the conventional wisdom too - 100 hours or so, but I never did understand the mechanism. It sounded a lot like a practice from WW2 where riflemen from US and UK would exchange a single round (.30-06 and .303), fire it, and find that their rifles shot better.

Then I heard the word from a manufacturer. Who would know more about cartridges breaking in than a manufacturer? Only a rebuilder. And Soundsmith is both. So I accept their considered opinion until I have very good reason to change.

Fiddly, yes, but worth it in longevity, I think.

I don't have enough experience to insist on anything. However, he is one man, and there are other cartridge manufacturers. For example, Nagaoka states 30 hours, and they don't say it will be fully burnt-in after that.
Anyway, if it doesn't or almost doesn't need it, that's perfectly fine. I just never encountered a high-end device like that. It varies wildly, true.
Who would know more? Well, people don't always say everything they think. I believe, Vladimir of Lamm said that his amps would work well with any good quality power cord. And that's true. What he didn't say was that they would work even better with great quality matched cord. Lamm/Purist Audio/Kharma set-up was consistenly considered one of the best by many. Another example. My tuned Nakamichi deck exceeds factory specs and with Purist Maximus cable and Maxell Vertex tape sounds far better than guaranteed by Nakamichi in 1981. They might've tested it with the same quality cable but I doubt that they insisted on using it. So, I don't think that Peter tells the whole story.
In any case, if I hear the difference, I do hear it. It can be subtle and it can be not.

All stylii have a suspension and the suspension will compress a little during its life time. Which is why user adjustable VTA is a good thing.