The Carbon EVO had a good range, a sense of transparency and speed while at the same time being soft and relaxed, with a slightly dark character, which rules out any possibility of roughness. There’s heat in the low frequencies, certainly, but they’re not overcooked and it’s certainly not at the expense of detail or texture. There’s a similarly lavish amount of detail retrieved in the midrange – it reveals so much about the glee and malevolence Nina Simone imbues her performance with it’s almost hair-raising – and while the top end is rolled off just fractionally, it’s far from a blunt instrument. This is more great affordable Hi-Fi but done in a way that is brilliantly user-friendly. It’s hard to see the result as anything other than a Best Buy.

While it's still incredibly easy to use (especially for anyone used to setting up more complicated players), you are giving up conveniences like auto start/stop, an anti-skate dial and a built-in phono preamp but for audiophiles, none of these downsides matter as the turntable’s sonic performance vastly outweighs its minor trade offs. There is no doubt that the entire performance of the Debut Carbon EVO model escalates to new levels of richness, realism, and detail retrieval, entering ‘restricted’ audiophile ground territory. Probably it’s the peak – bonus – prize of Pro-Ject’s decades-lasting honesty and respect towards vinyl and audiophiles. The Pro-Ject handles tempos and rhythms with equal assurance. Oh, you’ll get a straighter edge and a more martial approach from a similarly priced Rega turntable, but the Evo counters (and strongly) with its unfussy nature and the almost ostentatious amount of detail it digs out. There's nothing worse than buying a new record player and having no clue where to start. Thankfully, setting up the Debut Carbon is simple, even for beginners just getting into the hobby. This is due in no small part to the included manual which simply and clearly explains where everything goes.

Reviews

It’s not the newest turntable around, and the competition may be tough, but even after a few years it has proved that it’s still among the class leaders at this price. The Speaker Box 5 S2 is an unreasonably good speaker. There’s a fundamental ‘rightness’ to the way it makes music There's no built-in phono preamp with this model, though Pro-Ject goes some way towards compensating for this by including its high-quality Connect It E phono RCA cable in the box, ready for you to connect up your own device.

Whether or not the Debut Carbon Evo is the best record player for you might be decided by whether you prefer its fuller, more relaxed character or the more spritely and lean alternative of its main competitor.What impressed me the most was the easy setup. The Debut Carbon EVO took me under ten minutes to set up, and everything felt dialed-in and ready to go almost immediately. The service from Richer has always been so good there was no choice where I would buy my replacement.

It has a kind of seductive, organic richness and woodiness, that we never were aware it was hidden inside the Ortofon 2M Red moving magnet – not until now. While it's not the cheapest record player on the shelf, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon is still an incredible value. We can’t recommend this turntable enough. Speed change is manual: you’ll have to take off the platter and move the belt by hand to go from 33⅓ to 45rpm. What the Pro-Ject System does so well is give you the integration, flexibility, and convenience of an all-in-one but in a manner that is entirely Pro-Ject and tremendously appealing as a result. New for this model are a set of three height-adjustable, damped aluminium feet that will ensure the turntable always sits perfectly level on your cabinet or table, while reducing vibration. They look pretty cool, too, especially when contrasted against one of the more funky-coloured variants.We're loath to call it a negative – some would probably welcome the more subtle approach – but it did take a little sheen off our overall experience. Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO review: The alternatives The system has well-controlled, articulate, and detailed bass, without overemphasis.Rhythm sections were performed with a good sense of timing, good speed, and volume, avoiding any exaggeration.