Jalen Sigh Tech

Verdict

The Evo 2 takes everything that the original Evo did well and goes about making it that bit better. This is a superb turntable and one of the very best models available under £1000 right now

Introduction

When we look at the affordable turntable market today, a great many of the reasons of why it looks like it does can be attributed to Pro-Ject.

When the original Debut appeared in the late nineties, its simplicity, wide availability and more than respectable sound quality meant that it sold in quantities that helped to make the vinyl revival that followed something that was supported by readily available hardware both from Pro-Ject and other brands that had followed their lead.

These days, the Debut range has moved upmarket a little. It’s no longer the starting point for the Pro-Ject range and has become a more sophisticated and well equipped device at the same time.

There are now varying levels of Debuts of which the Evo 2 you see here is towards the middle. When the original Evo was launched, it was at the top of the pile but since then, the Pro has arrived to become the flagship. The Evo 2 takes some features from the Pro with a view to offering higher performance – how well does that work?

Availability

The Evo 2 is available in the UK for £599.99 and, thanks to considerable effort on the part of the distributor, it’s very widely available indeed. In the USA, it will set you back $699, while Australian vinyl fans will need to be willing to part with $1,299 AUD for the privilege.

At the time this review was being written (October 2024), a quantity of the original Debut Evo were still on sale at a reduced price. This is still an excellent turntable but it is not the same as the Evo 2 for the reasons I will cover so be sure to check which Evo you are buying before spending your money.

Design

• Unsuspended Plinth with new feet
• Improved rear connections
• Huge selection of finishes

Something that has helped the Debut series be as successful as it has over the years is that the basic essence of what makes a Debut a Debut hasn’t changed in the entire time that Pro-Ject has been making them. Every Debut has been a belt drive, unsuspended turntable with a tonearm that is an exactingly specific 8.6-inches long. The Evo 2 doesn’t mess with any of these basics and it looks entirely like a Debut as a result.

This doesn’t mean that there haven’t been refinements though. There is no suspension on a Debut, which means that its isolation from the outside world comes via the feet. The Evo 2 has excellent examples of these that make the deck itself impressively resistant to me stomping around it. These new feet can also be adjusted to ensure that the playing surface is level even if the surface that you have put the turntable on is not.

Another little refinement that sounds minor but really isn’t can be found lurking at the back. Up until now, all Debuts have put their connections – both for the cables heading out and the power heading in – in small sub chassis under the main plinth. This worked well enough but made connecting up fractionally more fiddly than it really needed to be. The Evo 2 is the first Debut model I have tested to put these connections on the back of the plinth itself and this makes connecting it up rather simpler. Pro-Ject also supplies a decent interconnect with ground cable in the box as well.

As you will see in the pictures, the sample supplied for testing was blue and I feel it looks pretty good. Don’t like the blue? No problem. No less than ten finishes are available (one wood, three gloss, six ‘satin’ sheen) and it allows you to have a Debut that is sympathetic to your home décor in a way that is beyond almost any other turntable regardless of price.

In a perfect world, all the finishes would be in gloss but you can’t have everything. The turntable itself is well made and finished to a standard in keeping with the price. You also get a lid which is an underrated addition for anyone with pets, children and no dedicated listening space. About the only element of the design that might benefit from a tune up is the start/stop switch on the underside; it works well enough, it simply feels a little crude.

Features

• Revised carbon fibre tonearm
• New phono cartridge
• Damped platter 
• Vast selection of upgrades

While the Evo 2 looks like every Debut that has come before it, it reflects technical developments that Pro-Ject has been working on across all of their turntables and more specifically, it borrows parts from the Pro which arrived as the new flagship (and which has now been replaced by the new Pro B). This includes a change to the bearing assembly on the arm. The carbon fibre armtube is the same as before but this bearing is stiffer and more rigid which in turn helps the cartridge to track better.

The cartridge has also been improved. The original Evo used an Ortofon 2M Red which is a decent but not truly spectacular option. The Evo 2 has a Pro-Ject Pick it MM EVO cart which, while very similar in basic design; it’s built by Ortofon, uses the same bodywork and retains features like split pole pins which are an Ortofon trademark, is designed to work with the Debuts and should be a useful step forward.

The other key area that has been changed is the platter. It’s still made of aluminium but turn this new unit upside down and you’ll find a ring of TPE; thermoplastic elastomer. This process is impressively efficient in how it works. An aluminium platter, even one that is relatively thick like this one, ‘should’ ring when struck but this doesn’t. The result is a playing surface that is more inert for the record itself. This platter sits on a sub platter which the belt acts on and this is simpler to fit than one that runs around the platter itself. The motor and it’s interesting on board DC conversion system are carried over from the original Evo because there is absolutely nothing wrong with them.

Something else that has also continued is the selection of available upgrades for the basic Evo 2. All of the upgrade parts that fitted the original (and there are a lot) also fit the new model. The ones I would be making a priority to apply would be the metal sub-platter to replace the plastic one and clamp to secure the record to the platter. The fact that these parts exist to get more from the basic turntable without needing you to trade it in is another huge strength of the design.

Sound Quality

• Effortless and engaging sound
• Plenty of fine detail
• Impressive bass extension

Given there wasn’t very much wrong with the original Evo, the new one has its work cut out but it does a good job of justifying its existence from the outset. Importantly, this still sounds like a Pro-Ject turntable should. Compared to a Rega Planar 2, this is a less urgent and slightly softer sounding device but this isn’t always a bad thing. When you listen to something less out and out ballistic like The Woman you Want by Eliza Shaddad, the Pro-Ject is able to make things sound lively without making anything feel relentless or forced.

The technical improvements over the original Evo make themselves felt too. This is an exceptionally quiet turntable at the price point. There is effectively no unwanted noise in the signal path and this means all you hear is the information on the record itself. Even when I have tested the Pro-Ject into an exceptionally quiet Cyrus phono stage, there has been very little perception of the turntable itself. What this means is you get to hear more record instead and this means plenty of fine detail on the record makes it through. Into Dust by Mazzy Star becomes a layered and incredibly intimate performance that envelopes you in Hope Sandoval’s beautiful vocals.

Some of the benefits are down to the new cartridge. It’s surprising how something that is so clearly related to the Ortofon 2M Red that was on the original Evo (and that is not significantly more expensive) is so much better. The jump in performance it offers is very similar to the jump in performance I secured by changing the 2M Red stylus to a 2M blue one on the original Evo; and that change on its own is pretty much the price difference between the old Evo and the new one even without the other changes being taken into account.

Those other changes, mainly trickled down from the Debut Pro, have also give the Evo 2 bass extension more in keeping with its big brother. There isn’t ‘more’ bass; that wouldn’t be right and would sound a bit peculiar. Instead, the bass it offers has more texture and definition. Play Song of the Stars by Dead Can Dance on the Pro-Ject and the enormous low note at the start reveals a level of detail and control that is very, very rare to find on a turntable that costs less than £1,000. When you consider that, thanks to the upgrades available, the Evo 2 has more to give, it’s a deeply impressive showing.

What about the rung up the ladder, the newly launched Pro B? Does it make the Evo 2 nothing more than an interim step? I’ve yet to hear one but I suspect that, unless you happen to have a balanced input available on your system; something that the Pro B (B standing for ‘balanced’) is designed to make use of, the gap between the Evo 2 and the Pro B is going to be quite tight. It’s quite likely that, for a system that uses RCA connectors, this might be the sweet spot of the range.

Latest deals