I’ve heard some arm swaps using the same table and cartridge where the sound changed and apparent surface noise changed too. Arms that make the sound seem livelier also tend to make noise more prominent, while arms that sound more precise and tight are quieter. I think it has to do with how well an arm damps the vibrational energy dumped into the arm by the cartridge. Surface noise is a high energy impulse of extremely short duration; if the arm is well damped, that pulse of energy does not keep moving back and forth in the arm and headshell and thereby moving the cartridge and being read by the cartridge signal generating element. Musical signal will also reverberate more in a less damped arm, but, that will be perceived as natural reverberation because it is correlated with the music. Ticks and pops don’t sound like music because of their short, very fast impulse and lack of harmonic structure and so they stick out and sound louder if they persist because they aren’t damped quickly.
That is not to say that well damped arms sound better because they reduce artificial reverberation. That “something added” might be a plus, depending on one’s taste and system synergy.