The issue with the SME V is colorations due to mid and high frequency resonance. That is in fact why the 'Analog Survival Kit' was devised by Sumiko years ago. The arm wrap was very useful in reducing colorations that are common with the SME V. The result had to be heard to be believed: the arm wrap was a necessity.
The problem was that the arm warp added to the effective mass, making the cartridge choice more difficult.
By contrast both the Triplanar and the Graham have effective arm-tube-resonance damping systems, rendering the arm wrap obsolete.
If anything, I would say this is the main issue with the SME V that makes it a distant 3rd choice in this thread. Secondary: the Triplanar is considerably easier to set VTA, which can be done on the fly. You can sort of do this with the SME, but you can only go up, not down, and you have to loosen the arm to do it, which is audible. It is also easier to make micro-weight adjustments on the Triplanar, as it has a secondary weight that makes tenths of a gram changes easy.
The Graham and the SME both have output connectors at their base into which inserts the interconnect cable. This is nice for flexibility, as you can easily run the arm balanced or single ended by changing the cable. The Triplanar has the cable exit at the base of the arm, and is one continuous run from the cartridge, with no extra connections right to the input of the preamp. It too can be balanced or single-ended, ordered that way. It can be changed over in the field without too much difficulty, if you know what you are doing. Overall I favor this approach, as any additional connectors are always audible with signal levels as low as they are in a tone arm.
