Are Dust Covers a MUST

I'm in the blocks airborne vibrations camp. Maybe it all depends where you keep the table in relation to that crep you're playing too loud, haha.

A cover can block vibration because it acts like a fence (think Faraday cage but for airborne radiation instead of electromagnetic) between the excitement in the surrounding air and the tonearm. Consider, can the neighbors hear your rig better with the window open or closed? The chassis itself is necessarily exposed to the environment and hence the damped plinth. To stretch the idea even further the cover typically damped by felt pads above the chassis may act to soften chassis induced vibration similar in effect to the mass loading of component cases.

Yeah Dan but it was a toss up between that and the Cone of Silence in the chief of Control's office from Get Smart.