Anyone notice different amounts of surface noise with different arms?

Before you compare.....make absolutely sure your setup is absolutely spot on

Dear @mijostyn  : " All the best arms of similar mass are going to sound exactly the same as long as cartridge alignment is exactly the same. "

I don't agree with you for two reasons: " are going to sound " and " alignment is exactly the same ". 

Aligment "  exactly the same "? this is almost impossible that can happens due that always exist tiny very tiny alignment set up deviations. In the other side you posted that best tonearms SOUND de same and latter you posted that tonearm produce no sound and it's common sense to understand that tonearm it self does not produce sound contrary to  the cartridge transducer where that electrical signal conversion comes full of MUSIC information, yes the cartridge alone can't sound if does not exist the other transducer at the other end of the system chain but nothing of those is the real issue here.

@larryi ​​​@richardbrand ​​​​​@viridian  are just spot on.

Two different tonearm with the same  EM develops different kind of resonances/distortions that one way or the other contribute to different sound coming from the speakers due that those 2 tonearms are self damped by design and building in different way and even with  different " geometry ".

Tonearm it sel fputs a" color "/distortions and the cartridge too due that exist different kind of resonances through the cartridge body, its tracking abilities, its overall design.

mijos everything in a room/system ( including yours )  develops distortions and the owners challenge is to put all those kind of distortions at MINIMUM.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

@rauliruegas Wow are you nitpicking Raul. Give a guy a break. Just imagine if you could align two identical cartridges in two different arms of exactly the same effective mass and bearing quality. Between you and me most people can't hear the difference between different cartridges in different arms. 

My system have distortion? Not on your life Raul. My system is perfect.....just like yours. 

Do you mean “the same cartridge in different tonearms”? Such differences are not subtle even assuming the unlikely case of perfect alignment. This experience causes me to believe there is no such thing as a tonearm that adds nothing to the sound.

@mijostyn You seem to rely a lot on imagination and thought experiments, but are reluctant to believe in the resonance properties of structures like tonearms.  Don't forget that at one end of the tonearm is a highly sensitive transducer that picks up vibrations including resonances from the tonearm and cartridge body!

In my opinion, if you want to minimise distortion you are far better off with well-recorded CDs or better still SACDs.  Before you claim digital distortion, remember that virtually all records made in the last few decades have been made using digital intermediaries.

The qualification "well-recorded" is deliberate, because it seems to be very easy to produce a poor-quality CD.  It is hard to mix digitally without significant rounding errors.  SACD is a good indication that the performing artists and sound engineers have really tried!

My personal exploration back into vinyl is inspired by the high prices offered for old Garrard 301 transcription turntables and the astonishing rebound of record sales.