Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO Turntable Review!

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This video is on a brand new turntable from Pro-Ject, the Debut Carbon EVO. The new EVO model is the latest of an ever-evolving world-class turntable from Europe’s Pro-Ject Audio Systems. Like all Pro-Ject turntables, the Debut Carbon EVO is a manual, belt-drive turntable. This means you need to flip a switch to start things up, move the tonearm over the record, lower the cue lever, then raise the cue lever when the record ends. This is how almost 95% of turntables made today are designed as there is no need to put a bunch of gears and parts under the tonearm which could reduce the performance. Pro-Ject has usually offered a large range of color choices on some of their turntables and that tradition continues with the EVO being available in 7 different beautiful finishes. Pro-Ject builds many turntables that cost multi-thousands of dollars and like the previous models, the EVO is built to those same standards. Fit and finish is just top-notch, as is the box it comes packed in. Taking the EVO out of the box is a very easy process with all of the parts extremely well packed.

The color choices, which by the way get an 8 coat lacquer finish, offer up high gloss black, white and red; satin black, white, fir green, golden yellow, and steel blue; plus a beautiful satin walnut finish. Pro-Ject recently introduced a new line of turntables in the X series which are much more expensive than the Debut range. From the looks of it, they took a lot of the tech from the X1 and filtered it down into the new EVO. Let’s look at some of this new tech. The three feet are height adjustable and made from a combination of a thermoplastic elastomer and aluminum. Pro-Ject uses the elastomer called TPE in many of their upper-end turntables and we can verify, it does an awesome job at damping out resonances. The feet are also pretty large in diameter giving the table a very stable base.

The tonearm is a one-piece carbon fiber design. This is one beautiful tonearm with zero play in its special sapphire tonearm bearings. Pro-Ject could not really find a way to improve this arm, so it's the same as the DC version. Sumiko, the US importer of Pro-Ject, had been working on a new line of phono cartridges for years. They wanted something that was a great value from a cost/performance standpoint. Sumiko worked with a team of engineers in Yokohama, Japan to develop a whole new line up a couple of years ago. These new Oyster cartridges all have a new anti-resonant body and a special new generator system. They sound fantastic and have received tons of positive press around the world. One thing we love about the line is the first three models have an interchangeable stylus, so you can effectively start out with the entry-level Rainier, and should you wish when your stylus wears out and needs replacing, buy the stylus for a more expensive model and greatly improve your sound.

The new EVO comes with the Rainier model mounted and aligned and we see many people opting to upgrade to the highly regarded Moonstone when it's time for a new stylus. We feel the Rainier is a pretty decent performance improvement over the Ortofon Red supplied with the DC model. Wiring inside the carbon fiber arm is a high purity copper with a separate shield that is one piece all the way to the very solid gold plated rear-mounted RCA jacks. The Connect-E cable is included with the EVO. This is a pretty serious RCA cable with great internal materials and is the same one supplied with their more expensive turntables. Pro-ject even compared different lengths and decided that 1.23 meters sounded the best. While the separate cable allows you to upgrade things later, this cable is very good.

We have to say, after about an hour of listening to the new EVO with the Rainier, we feel this is one heck of an easy to listen to rig. Compared to more expensive tables it is lacking in very deep bass impact and it's not as dynamic as some $1000-$1500 tables, but geez, it's one incredible bargain for the price. The sound is never harsh, it tracks great, and just makes you want to pull out more records, always a winning combination! This table is simple to set up, easy to listen to and will get you really involved in the music. And we have saved the best part for last. Should you pick up an EVO and start really getting into vinyl, this table has several optional upgrades you can do to make it perform even better than it does right out of the box.