LYRA DELOS CARTRIDGE TOO BRIGHT, THIN AND SHRILL SOUNDING

Get a Shelter 901mk2 or Shelter Accord. Even a Dynavector XX2 mk2 is good. You will be happy.

Btw, I have heard the Delos sounding shrill, thin, digital as well as nice & analog. You can't do anything now with it if it is not sounding your way. It has a certain character that some can't take. You won't like a Kleos either. 

As someone who runs both a Shelter 7000 and Lyra Kleos, I can say w/o hesitancy that I love both. The presentations are much different and that why I love them - Shelter is smooth and laid back while the the Lyra has more immediacy and slam.

Slam and immediacy apart, they belong to 2 different schools. Within the analog domain, there are different camps. The Lyra camp has always been after resolution, frequency response etc, which is a modern take. The old school camp probably value tonal richness, flow and warmth over outright resolution. In that sense if one staunchly belongs to one school, it is difficult for him/her to enjoy the other side of the sound.

The best is of course a neutral no-nonsense cartridge, but thats not easy to find. Kondo IO ?

I too have found the Helikon to be a wonderful cartridge. Always heard it on a Lp12 with Aro tonearm. But never heard the same balance in a Delos.

IME, there is no component (nothing) that sounds "bad", "horrible", "wrong" out of the box, and turns into a good, great, fantastic after x hours. The real character is audible within the first hour. After that it is only about smoothening out and opening up overall. If you don't like the fundamental sound of Lyra in the first hour, it is going to be the same even after 200 hours.