Cartridge breakin ......how long?

I have a Soundsmith Aida and it took between 50 to 100
hours of playing time be patience you will be rewarded with great sound.

To me hours are meaningless. Just listen and enjoy your music. If while listening something is bothering you, experiment with VTF, arm height, loading....it should be a quest for satisfaction and your ability to squeeze your system to provide it.

"11-17-15: Inna
Zd542, good cables , they can change dramaticaly for the better after 100-200 hours. I consider cables components."

I agree with you on that. Some cables take even longer than 200 hours to break in. The OP was asking about a phono cart for break in.

"11-17-15: Stringreen
To me hours are meaningless. Just listen and enjoy your music. If while listening something is bothering you, experiment with VTF, arm height, loading....it should be a quest for satisfaction and your ability to squeeze your system to provide it."

That's good advice, but with new carts, you need to be careful. A brand new phono cart can sound so bad you'll think its defective. For the first 15-20 hours, I can actually hear a difference with each new record I play.

Too "zingy", right? I found Soundsmith to sound very "hi-fi".

Waiting for breakin before I draw any conclusions, but "zingy" or "hi fi" is not how I would describe my sound. As I said above, very quiet tracking. I forget I'm listening to used vinyl. Don't recall feeling that way with my Glider. Retrieves a lot more info too. Is that because the Glider wasn't set up optimally? Don't know. It too was professionally installed. Are there better cartridges available? You bet; but I just purchased new speaker cables, so I had a very tight budget to work with (and a very loving wife who I didn't want to upset!) Going through my vinyl collection and enjoying what I'm hearing. Very happy and content with my Zephyr.