TW-Acustic Raven 10.5 or DaVinci Grandezza??

Dear D,
I agree with you entirely.
I have rarely had a problem with the azimuth of cartridges when used on arms without azimuth adjustment.
However on the two arms where I DO have azimuth adjustment........the Copperhead and the Micro Seiki MA-505......I have to battle with it.
Particularly on the MA-505.
The DaVinci is virtually assured to be spot-on with azimuth....unless your cartridge is a 'dog'....as Dertonarm says :^)

I don't want to enter the debate here about the merits of either tonearm mentioned by the original poster, but I am surprised to read that there is a consensus shared in this thread that azimuth adjustment is apparently a completely perfunctory and unnecessary feature of tonearms. So am I to understand from this that adjusting cartridge azimuth is never needed because all manufacturers ensure cartridge azimuth is perfect at the factory?

I guess all these third-party devices like the Fozgometer and the new Soundsmith Cartright product are redundant and not needed. I, for one, am relieved to learn this!

Dear Kipdent, on the price level we are usually talking about in high-end audio NO customer should accept a cartridge with anything less than a perfect 90° orientated stylus.
On this premise azimuth adjustment in the tonearm is indeed obsolete.
If a customer requests azimuth adjustment to compensate lousy quality control by the manufacturer of a given cartridge, that is another story.

One should however take azimuth adjustment VERY cautious, as ever so often it is NOT a misplaced stylus which is compensated, but differences in output between the two channels.
This is ground full of trap-holes here.
As for Fozgometer and similar products - they do find their buyers and many feel comfortable with them.
Fine.

I for one expect - as a conditio sine qua non in priori - that a cartridge I buy features a dead on 90° stylus.
Would you accept track and rake errors in your new car's axle beam ??
Can't imagine that.
Likewise I see no point to accept a manufacturer misplaced stylus in the first.

I have a friend who owns both the TW tonearm and the DaVinci on a TW table

He likes the TW arm a lot, however the DaVinci in his words is in a higher level. At the higher price level, one would hope that is the case.

I agree with Dertonearm,I always carefully examine the cartridge before walking out of the store, there exists expensive mutt's that quality control missed.

Luna, I would be thinking top dollar resale value on the whole package at this stage , the DaVinci would be my top choice.
I see two Raven arm for sale and not selling, lots of looks but no sale, used Raven tables same thing it seems.

For sure spending extra money on audio items does not always translate into better performance no matter what you do.