BaerWald vs VPI setup protractors

Can this small amount of variance have a sonic impact?

Yes, but don't worry. Most alignments are done wrong and the owners won't notice.

I would never trust a printed on paper protractor on a high-end turntable. I’m an architect, and deal with skilled accurate drawings every day. Even with good quality printers on good heavy gauge bond paper things can be ever so slightly off. First paper shrinks and expands based on humility. Second printers don’t necessarily print perfectly, depends on how they print and to how acutely the paper mechanism rolls the paper as print, thirdly and most importantly the hole needs to be man made and when fractions of a mm count that’s too much risk. Don’t get me wrong if all you want is a generally OK alignment then maybe paper is OK but I would never trust that on the high-end turntable. Factions of a mm matter

Well, I can’t speak for the effects of "humility" or "factions of a mm," but having used a number of the Dennesen/ Feickert style protractors, I concluded they are far more prone to significant error. This is especially true because they rarely mimic the height of the playback surface. Their spindle holes are typically fixed and often have close to a whole mm of slop. You won’t find that problem with the common printable protractors. Then it’s up to the user to eyeball whether the guide rod is centered over the tonearm pivot - another potential point for egregious error. When you add these all up, you might be off by whole millimeters rather than just fractions.

The Conrad Hoffman protractor is a PDF so while printing it, have a ruler ready to measure the actual print. Increase or decrease the print scale by as little as 1 to 2% and re-print it. It's best to print it at a professional print shop with plotter type printer usually used for printing engineering and architectural drawings because they're better calibrated than multi function printer-scanner-copier machines. Sometimes a printer's calibration will be perfectly okay in horizontal direction but a bit off in vertical direction (and vice versa). In such cases go to a different print shop. Yeah, I know it's a lot of trial and running around but that's the fun of creating your own protractor:)

And regarding mirrored surface for aligning the cantilever, use any small mirror. It works perfectly as long as there's sufficient lighting in the room.

@cleeds " I couldn't disagree more, and have long thought the cause of many complaints about LP playback are rooted in improper setup."

Actually, you could disagree more. What if your opinion was to use a T-square or a ball-peen hammer? (a little light levity is what this discussion is lacking.) 

Has anyone tried the DB Systems protractor?
https://www.musicdirect.com/analog-accessories/db-systems-dbs-cartridge-alignment-protractor?sc_src=...

jls001

And regarding mirrored surface for aligning the cantilever, use any small mirror.

That won't work. You'll need a mirrored gauge that includes an etched line that's used - along with the reflection of the cantilever - to achieve proper orientation of the cartridge in the headshell. That's how you can ensure tangency at the designated overhang point. Even with a pickup arm that doesn't specifically allow for adjustment of the cartridge at the headshell, there's enough potential left-to-right "slop" that not getting the cantilever aligned almost guarantees you'll never achieve tangency - even at the null points.