Originally Posted by sp00ki

yeah, in his instance. should've been clearer... here, i'll illustrate:

-bike 1 has an eai
-bike 2 has a phil
-bike 3 has a surly
-bike 3 is the quietest

in his situation, bike 3 isn't quiet because the cog is superior, but because the chainline on bike 3 is closer to 0 offset than on bike 1 or bike 2.