Is tonearm bias a compromise, maybe a myth?

All skin and bones and no meat, which is pretty much what you get when the antiskate is out. I use female opera singers for checking anti skate, I have a couple of records that wont track if its out.

Yes I agree with Lewm that AS should be applied, with due care.
In my experience as a dealer and 30 years of audio I have found that very few TT's provide a platter surface and armboard surface that are congruent, that is if the platter is level then the armboard isn't. How many of you have run dial calipers over the platter/armboard to measure this and corrected it.
If you dont run a unipivot or arm that includes adjustability for levelling the horizontal bearings, then you have in inward or outward force applied to the cartridge before you even start.
It is entirely logical to me that each arm may require different AS levels due to differing arm geometry, cartridge alignment preferences and bearing friction levels.

I think the most common issues with applying AS that I have seen are :
Compensating for an out of level arm relative to platter surface.
Compensating for output level imbalances between channels, either in the cartridge or system ( or even the audiophile's ears ! ).
Following the manufacturers recommendation without listening.

I can pass on my experience with the Ikeda MC which has no cantilever. The diamond is mounted on a hoop which is at a rightangle to the groove. The hoop is held by a string which prevents the hoop from being pulled out when playing. The hoop has a little compliance built in.
http://www.avguide.com/blog/high-end-audio-japan-part-five-analog-ikeda-sound-lab
This cartridge requires AS on every tonearm I have tried it on, both unipivots and gimbal bearings. No antiscate the you get mistracking, channel imbalance and compressed soundstage and harmonic structure. Optimum AS applied yields no mistracking, no channel imbalance and most importantly maximum soundstage and harmonic structure.

Tonywinsc, thanks for the explanation. It corroborates with my experiences, we must listen. The downside of using our ears is that errors in other areas such as VTA, optimum tracking weight can influence what we hear and the process for dialing in a cartridge in all set up parameters is iterative in nature. New cartridges in particular or rebuilt cartridges should be rechecked for VTA, tracking and antiskating force after running in for a few weeks/months.