I had an anti-glare screen protector and recently switched to a Power Support crystal clear. Neither had any difference in the tapping when using the pencil. Handwriting instead of printing is definitely more quiet.
Oh really? Okay well with noise reduction now out of the question, how is it for actually protecting the screen? For that matter, do you think the pencil could inflict any (even minor) scratches to the screen?
I highly recommend a screen protector and especially so if using the Pencil. While I don't believe a clean Pencil tip will scratch a screen, I do think if it happens to catch any piece of grit, you'll have a scratch. When I had on my anti- glare protector using the pencil, I felt a drag with the pencil and immediately stopped. The protector had a deep scratch. If I didn't have a protector I'm pretty sure I would have had a scratched screen.