Well, I have never come across an article or study which has compared an actual pivot arm with a linear tracker with a given cartridge and how they would measure on a test record compared to each other in a lab setting. This might not be the perfect guide as far as audible performance is concerned, but it would be interesting. If somebody knows of such a study, it would be nice to post it. I wouldn't necessarily regard it is a determinant of final listening quality, but it would be interesting to read. I would imagine that there is an averaging effect based on torsional flexibility in the cartridge stylus/suspension that applies to both tangency and variable azimuth that might make differences between geometries somewhat moot. It seems that theories assume that the cartridge itself is perfectly rigid and the stylus/suspension/generator assembly is always perfect and that you can tell what it is by examining the cartridge housing. This seems to be a very flawed assumption.
The usual caveats about testimonials tend to apply
1. It's better because it's mine
2. It's better, because my buddy has an extreme system and it always sounds good to me, therefore this one thing in his system means it is better than anything else.
3. I have audiophile hearing, so I can actually filter out the effects of systems, cartridges, setups, speakers, preamps, etc. etc. to make reliable judgments about specific elements in the chain, and I can also make judgments based on audiophile memory, even if all of these chain elements are different.
Everybody seems to do this, including me, but it again makes me very skeptical that you can hear arm geometries in the very specific way that a lot of audiophiles and audio critics claim.
The usual caveats about testimonials tend to apply
1. It's better because it's mine
2. It's better, because my buddy has an extreme system and it always sounds good to me, therefore this one thing in his system means it is better than anything else.
3. I have audiophile hearing, so I can actually filter out the effects of systems, cartridges, setups, speakers, preamps, etc. etc. to make reliable judgments about specific elements in the chain, and I can also make judgments based on audiophile memory, even if all of these chain elements are different.
Everybody seems to do this, including me, but it again makes me very skeptical that you can hear arm geometries in the very specific way that a lot of audiophiles and audio critics claim.