Cartridge breakin ......how long?

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.