SME is leaving the OEM and aftermarket/retail tonearm business.

snackeyp, it all depends on the cartridge. With most modern moving coil cartridges a Tri Planar arm will sound better unless some mass is added to the SME. If you set the resonance frequency of both arms to be exactly the same with the same cartridge installed they are going to sound identical. IMHO the SME V 12 is the best arm made for most modern cartridges. When it comes to the Koetsu's and Air Tight's the Kuzma 4 point 14 has to be heard. Best bass definition I have ever heard come from a turntable set up. If you are looking for dependable, durable, well made turntables and arms it is hard to beat SME. If you are buying these devises for looks you are in the wrong hobby. There is an inherent beauty in precision. 

@lohanimal with all my respect to SME engineering this is the sort of the arm i have never even wanted to buy, never ever. It is true that vintage turntables on used market often comes with an old SME, but this is the first thing i would immediately remove and sell to put much better japanese vintage tonearms instead. New SME must be better, but at their price there are so many tonearms to choose. In terms of design i just don't like SME on any turntable, so ugly in my opinion. 

The Da Vinci arm is a very nicely made waste of time unless you want to rig your own anti skating device which for that kind on money is unforgivable. There are many great arms that do not have that problem and for less money. If you already have one rig an SME style hanging weight anti skating device. You can get the weight on Amazon then just fashion a stainless wire with a loop to hang the weight from and mount a pin on the counter weight side of the arm. Now your nice looking Swiss arm doesn't look so nice but works a lot better:)