Steve, I think the noise to which Davey refers is that generated by the phono gain stage which has to amplify the extremely low output of these cartridges. The noise is not from the cartridge itself. Some phono stages are much quieter than others and some have much more gain than others. Perhaps your Lamm is quieter than Ron's IO.
Thank you, Peter. That is entirely correct.
Steve, the phono stage is what what introduces noise into the system...usually because the phono stage is working too hard and therefore either a) distorting the signal or b) allowing tube noise to intrude or c) both.
As I have stated before, I am no fan of SUT's...compared to tube phono stages. However, they do allow the pre-ampflier to operate much more in the sweet spot..usually. Plus, one can safely operate ( from a noise perspective) a much lower output MC with most SUT's.
One has to pick their poison, IME. Go with an SUT and throw away a lot of the magic that the tube phono stage brings, or go with a tube phono stage and limit oneself to certain cartridges that do not stress the amplification stage and/or the tubes.
Unfortunately, the trend these days seems to be towards flea output cartridges, which i am afraid leads to numerous incompatibilities with the downstream gear. Years ago I experienced this issue, so I am well aware of the cost to rectify the situation.
IMHO, Ron is very smart to be mindful of this scenario....and to not rely on luck to get it right!