Best Bang For The Buck I've Ever Spent

No contest on this. Resonance damping adhesive pads, used on drum kits, for my tonearm. Cost $10 for a significant difference.

For a component, the Trans-Fi air bearing tonearm at $1000.

For accessory, ultrasound.

@bdp24

No, I’m afraid that I haven’t compared to the ET directly. That is a fine tonearm and one of my friends owns one.

But - it’s high pressure, which means an oil compressor (maintenance), or a very very noisy oil-free unit.

But - it’s hard to see that the azimuth adjustment can be anything like as fine as the Trans-Fi, which has a 2 inch adjustment base, which yields adjustment increments of 5 minutes of arc.

But - it has no flat spaces for affixing extra weights to adjust mass, or apply Moongel.

But - the wand sits on the end of a tube, which would appear to be less stable.

But - it’s 5 times more money !!!

Another reason to buy the Trans-Fi - the owner, Vic, went on a mission to make the tonearm work for me. Change the fasteners? No problem. Need a custom mounting tower? Done, no charge. You think that might sound better? You’re right, it’s incorporated in the new edition.

I put one on a Nottingham Analogue Mentor, which was upgraded to beyond Dais specs. Big improvement. It runs a Mayajima Zero.

I bought another one for my DIY air bearing turntable with 45 Kg platter. Very fine. It runs a higher end Koetsu.

If I try another tonearm, it will be a Durand.

But - of course, YMMV.

Another thing about the Trans-Fi - it's just made to be modified and tweaked.

When I got into experimenting with mounting torques, I calculated that I needed more strength in the mounting nuts. So, I bought a disc of copper-nickel alloy, and had two mounting holes drilled and tapped into the disc. Presto - superb distribution of force, good looks, mass where it's needed for the low compliance cartridge, and strength to spare.

@slaw 

( The azimuth adjustment on an ET arm is easy!) I don't know what the above poster is referring to?)
I guess that you are referring to me. I said, "it’s hard to see that the azimuth adjustment can be anything like as fine as the Trans-Fi, which has a 2 inch adjustment base, which yields adjustment increments of 5 minutes of arc."
You will note that (1) I did not say that azimuth adjustment on the ET was hard, as you imputed to me, and (2) I did not categorically state that the adjustment was not as fine. But I suspect that it is not - or can you get stable, repeatable 5 minutes of arc adjustment? If so, that's useful information, and I would prefer to be corrected.

"He states it's high pressure... that's what the end user has paid for. It doesn't have to be.)" I stand corrected. Thank you.
 

@bdp24 

One more thing about the Trans-Fi is that it allows the anal-retentive to really get really into nervosa. The flat, parallel sides of the wand allow one to align the cartridge very close to perfect tangentiality; I recently achieved 3 minutes of arc, based on setting parallelism to better than 0.001 inches.

My cartridges really seem to blossom with this level of precision. Yours may too.