However they are of the opinion that rigidity trumps VTA/SRA from a practical standpoint
Indeed, from the link to Rega’s spacer, they say
The only time a spacer is necessary to raise the arm height is if the rear of a cartridge is hitting the record whilst playing
That supports my view that small adjustments to VTA (as a surrogate for Stylus Rake Angle) make little sense when the horizontal equivalent has far bigger errors for conventional pivoting tonearms.
Linn would surely agree on rigidity.
You can have both rigidity and dynamically adjustable VTA and zero HTA error and zero skating forces if you buy a Holbo air-bearing turntable Reviews - holbo, which is significantly less expensive that the first two new tables being considered by the OP.
Then if one really wanted to, one could experiment with different VTAs and possibly one could introduce side (skating?) forces on the fly by adjusting the tilt of the arm bearing the tonearm floats on, just to see and hear what happens
