I listen to records via an Ikeda 'Kai' mounted in on an Ikeda 'IT CR 407' tonearm on a substantial 40 kg turntable. I buy lots of second-hand vinyl and wanted a 'cheap' pickup to use for sorting out what records are playable and what are rubbish. After reading a review In Stereophile, I bought a 'cheap' Denon DL103 and a 'Musikraft' alloy body to mount the denuded Denon In. Anyway, the Denon sounded 'crap' and mistracked on records that my 'Kai' played, no problem. Very disappointing and a waste of money. I loaned it to a friend who used it for maybe 50-70 hours whilst he waited for his new pickup to arrive. Refitting the Denon into a spare headshell and giving it a whirl on some newly acquired vinyl, I had quite a shock. The mistracking was gone and the Denon now sounded Way better than any $250 pickup had a right to! I re read the review and, sure enough, the author said to give the 103 around 100 hours to breakin. The looks on friends faces when I tell them that the pickup making those amazing sounds cost me hundreds of $, not thousands, are priceless!
