The Shure seems to take up to 200 hrs to totally break in, but being that it's a very compliant cartidge to start with, it's more gradual than drastic. You should get most of the sound by 50 hours.
The cartridge is pretty sensitive with high output, and if you scroll down to the frequency response graph in this review at TNT, you'll see that its highest output is at 100 Hz. That can muddy the sound a bit and in my experience (I have one I used on a Technics SL12x0 for several months) it magnifies resonances that may be in your equipment rack or coming up the turntable plinth. It was certainly more susceptible to footfalls and finger taps than a lower output cartridge or one without that 100Hz hump.
It's a very smooth and listenable cartridge, and if you put the damper brush in place it'll track very warped records.
The sound turns dull and murky very easily if you don't keep the stylus squeaky clean. I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and it made a world of difference.
The cartridge is pretty sensitive with high output, and if you scroll down to the frequency response graph in this review at TNT, you'll see that its highest output is at 100 Hz. That can muddy the sound a bit and in my experience (I have one I used on a Technics SL12x0 for several months) it magnifies resonances that may be in your equipment rack or coming up the turntable plinth. It was certainly more susceptible to footfalls and finger taps than a lower output cartridge or one without that 100Hz hump.
It's a very smooth and listenable cartridge, and if you put the damper brush in place it'll track very warped records.
The sound turns dull and murky very easily if you don't keep the stylus squeaky clean. I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and it made a world of difference.