Mark, I have finally logged 100 hours on this cartridge. I have been really pleased with its performance. It is very detailed and smooth. I have not found it to be bright at all. On saturday I listened for 13 straight hours (anxious to finish burning it in) and had zero listening fatigue. Overall this cart revealed layers of rich music with a wide sound stage and great dynamics. As I mentioned before, my experience with phono cartridges is limited but I would have no hesitation in recommending the Stradivari. :yes: Joey.

Thanks Joey. Detailed but smooth is one of the characteristics that I find appealing. Glad to see that its working out well. Hopefully you're almost to the point that you can just kick back and enjoy the music :music:

Regards, Mark

Thanks Mark, if you go this route patience is required. Good out of the box, better at 50 hours, really nice at 75, BAMMM!!!!!!!! at 90hours.... Like a switch was flipped. Mamma even said "what just happened"?????

Joe... Cool Beans! :thumbsup:

You called it Ivan !!!! But was there ever any doubt????? This site is very fortunate to have you as a resource..... Cheers Joey.......

We all have ways of breaking in our audio equipment from speakers to amps and everything in between.

Is there a good way to break in a Clearaudio cartridge without having to keep changing and playing records continually for 100 hours ?

I used the clearaudio break in record for part of the burn in time period but it was really annoying so went back to just playing music. I think with this medium it's the only way. Cheers Joey.

My Clearaudio Aurum Beta took about 80 hours to sound its best.