Anyone notice different amounts of surface noise with different arms?

@mijostyn : You are sin of absolutism that has no sense to almost other gentlemans but you and in this regards I agree with @dhcod .

Come on, of course that the subs/EL are analog but proccessing a developed digital signal .

Mike, you can’t win all the " battles ", specially in a way subjective audio world where does not exist an equilibrium on subjectivity and objectivity.. You know that normally I’m with you in several objective issues but not in this one and no I have nothing in my system as your digital whole proccessor .

R.

@mijostyn :  As ​​​​​​@dhcod  said " It’s just what you like, what sounds bring YOU pleasure. "

Now, " I have gone back and forth between analog RIAA correction and digital RIAA correction and I can not tell the difference. " :

of course you can't because at the end your system and specially the bass range works in the digital domain. I'm not talking which RIAA is better but  maybe why you can't hear differences.

Anyway at the end we are listening what we like it and not what should be.

R.

Dear @mijostyn  :" In spite of extremely expensive cartridges of all types it still can not compete with a well mastered, high resolution digital file. "

I already posted in this thread and others in the last 10+ years that fully digital alternative beats fully analog alternative or even  alittle worst when both alternatives are mixed as in your system.

Lyra, Ortofon and several other cartridge designers make the cartridge VOICING through a fully analog alternative. Yes they comparesagainst same recording on ditigal option but that's all.

My take is that today you still do not really know how good are your cartridges and obviously that even that,everything the same, willnot beats a top digital option butI think a little better that what you are listening. These is not about what you like but what should be..

Come on mijos:RIAA and bass range ( foundation of MUSIC ) is handled digitally. Where comes the analog? that's what the cartridges were mainly designed.

You can have or " You might consider have your records/LPs digitized. "

R.

Dear @mijostyn  : Agree about my system with you.

Now, there are other individual and critical factors that goes totaly against your " inert " tonearm you posted.

Between those factors it's not only a different geometry design but different tonearm kind of mearing and the material used in that bearing, obviously the whole blend of materials used in each tonearm that are different with other tonearms designs.

Resonances/feedback, noise, distortions  and the like are generated for eacg individual factors in the tonearm designs and no one can't ( till today ) avoid all those.

I know for sure that you totally agree and your posted " aberration " was only that maybe to start this discussion and it's ok.

@richardbrand  : "  and the astonishing rebound of record sales. "  well that's only anectdotic and almost all know that. What is not anectdotic is that many/several analog lovers/LPs ( I love analog but first than all I love MUSIC. ) do not understand that from a few years now the digital alternative outferformed the analog alternative but to each his own

R.

Dear @mijostyn  : " All the best arms of similar mass are going to sound exactly the same as long as cartridge alignment is exactly the same. "

I don't agree with you for two reasons: " are going to sound " and " alignment is exactly the same ". 

Aligment "  exactly the same "? this is almost impossible that can happens due that always exist tiny very tiny alignment set up deviations. In the other side you posted that best tonearms SOUND de same and latter you posted that tonearm produce no sound and it's common sense to understand that tonearm it self does not produce sound contrary to  the cartridge transducer where that electrical signal conversion comes full of MUSIC information, yes the cartridge alone can't sound if does not exist the other transducer at the other end of the system chain but nothing of those is the real issue here.

@larryi ​​​@richardbrand ​​​​​@viridian  are just spot on.

Two different tonearm with the same  EM develops different kind of resonances/distortions that one way or the other contribute to different sound coming from the speakers due that those 2 tonearms are self damped by design and building in different way and even with  different " geometry ".

Tonearm it sel fputs a" color "/distortions and the cartridge too due that exist different kind of resonances through the cartridge body, its tracking abilities, its overall design.

mijos everything in a room/system ( including yours )  develops distortions and the owners challenge is to put all those kind of distortions at MINIMUM.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.