I took the chain ring off & checked it on a glass tabletop. I used a piece of paper to check the tolerances of numerous points at different areas of the chain ring & it is SPOT on!
The spider seems to be a little crooked which I think is simply the arm is on a little crooked. Possibly not tightened all the way. Also, when I laid a chain across the chain ring & around the cog, the line is definitely straight. EXCEPT or a quck bend as it hits the chainring... which again tells me that the arm is a little crooked, again possibly not on all the way.
As for the noise, the mechanic just emailed me back saying to bring it back & he'd have a look. He said it takes more time to do but that he actually pulled the bearings out of the little cage & put them in individually. Reason being that the grease eventually gets thrown out of the cages & the little cages disintegrate basically.
-john