Does removing anti-skating really improve sound?

If removing anti skating makes a vinyl playback system sound better then the setup is off somewhere. You can prove this to yourself with any good test record Like the HiFi News one. The anti skate adjust or Bias track has symmetrical test tones on both channels in increasing modulation.
The game is to adjust the anti skate until neither channel distorts at the highest groove velocity. Take the anti skate off and the right channel will start buzzing like mad. Too much anti skate and the left channel will start buzzing like mad. It helps to have continuously variable adjustment. If you do not then you can fine tune by adjusting the tracking force. You can get yourself in the ballpark by just keeping an eye on the cantilever as you lower the stylus into the groove. It should remain straight ahead. If it deviates one way or another you are way off. With no anti skating applied the cantilever deviates to the edge of the record causing misalignment of coils to magnets and taking the suspension out of it's linear region. 

mijostyn

If removing anti skating makes a vinyl playback system sound better then the setup is off somewhere.

That is not a universal truth. Kindly note that the manufacturers of some pivoted arms do not include antiskate on their arms. Of those that do, some recommend against using it.

I've always found properly adjusted antiskate to be useful, btw.

Dear @mijostyn : @larryi  posted a wide and simple explanation why the AS is need it always in a pivoted tonearm design and we have to add that not only what larry posted is important but the stylus shape tip and cartridge owns tracking abilities too.

I can remmeber that Audio Technica vintage tonearms came with a weigth where we can move it for each kind of stylus shape: conical, ellipthical and LC.

The best approach for a perfect anti-skate mechanism is this one in the Sony tonearm I own but not mounted at this time:

https://www.vinylengine.com/library/sony/pua-237.shtml   


Btw, listening a pivot tonearm with out AS looking for better quality level performance makes no-sense at all because almost at no single LP recoded grooves the cantilever will stays straigth. At groove modulations microscopic level the friction forces are really really high and the cartridge cantilever always is non-starigth even if trhough our eyes we looks straigth. Important issue is not how it looks at sigth but how true looks at microscopic level.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

it depends on the stylus tip profile, it’s better to use antiskating if you don’t want to destroy one side of the vinyl groove wall

and tilt the cantilever inexorably from one side :(

Only for cartridges that require a high reading loss 2.5 -3gr. and superior the antiskating loses effectiveness.

There are exactly two reasons why tonearms skate. The offset angle of the tonearm and friction of the stylus in the groove. The tonearm is being pulled towards the spindle leaving the stylus and cantilever behind forcing the cantilever's suspension into a non linear zone like trying to run a woofer pinned against the end of its excursion. What this effects most is the cartridges tracking ability. You can prove this to yourself with any good test record like the Hi-Fi News Analogue Test LP. Play the Bias Setting band and lift your anti skate weight. The left channel will start buzzing madly. Add a lot more weight and the right channel will start buzzing madly. Get it right and both channels play the test tones beautifully. This is the only right way to set anti skate and it is at best an approximation as the skating force changes with groove speed and degree of modulation. Any setup that sounds better without anti skating was not set up correctly to begin with. 
Tangential tonearms that are set up correctly do not skate because they are dead straight. There is no force vector off the main axis of the tonearm. Their main theoretical advantage is that they don't skate, improving tracking no matter the  speed of the groove or modulation. There is no audible benefit in them being perfectly tangent to the groove at all times and they have one major failing which is the effective mass in the horizontal plane is way higher than the vertical plane leading to two separate resonance points and stress on the cantilever moving that huge horizontal mass. Watch any of these arms with a reasonably compliant cartridge like the Ortofon Windfeld Ti and what you will see is the cantilever drift towards the record center and the the tonearm catching up to it in a cyclical manner. The benefits simply do not out weight the compromises which is why most vinylholics won't use them. I can make any of the better Rega or Project arms sound better than any straight line tracker. We are in the golden age of the turntable now. There are some fantastic inexpensive complete turntables out there. As long as you have them set up on a rock solid surface and the tonearm is set up right you will not be able to do better without spending stupid serious money. 
Final trick of the day. If you want to get your azimuth dead on just get a thin pocket mirror and place it on your platter. Lower the stylus on it.  Light up the stylus with a spot light and you will see the stylus and its reflection make an "hourglass." Adjust your arm until the hourglass is perfectly symmetrical.
This more than doubles your accuracy.