Pro-Ject Debut Evo 2 turntable review

The Pro-Ject Debut Evo 2 is the latest ‘evolution’ in the Austrian company’s popular entry-level hifi turntable series. It’s priced at £599. Despite a £100 price increase over its predecessor, it’s the more affordable model in a trio of recent turntable announcements from the UK distributor Henley Audio, including the new transparent acrylic-framed Pro-Ject XA B — priced at £1,099 and sold exclusively through Sevenoaks Sound & Vision stores — and the £799 Debut Pro B, which was announced in July as the update to the 30th Anniversary Debut Pro deck.

Pro-Ject is continuously evolving its range of turntables and has more deck variations in its lineup than I can keep track of. No other turntable maker has such an extensive lineup of models, and Pro-Ject has successfully managed to provide a vinyl replay solution and upgrade path for every kind of vinyl listener, spanning entry-level to hi-end price points.

Enduring Debut

As a first step into the world of hifi turntables, the Debut series has been popular with vinyl lovers since the 1990s, and with series models praised for their attention to sound quality and ease of use at real-world prices, it’s easy to see why. The new Evo 2 iteration looks set to continue the trend.

Billed as the replacement to the company’s Debut Carbon Evo deck (£499), the new Debut Evo 2 draws on the design flair of its upmarket Debut Pro siblings to deliver a vinyl spinner that furthers performance at a value price. That said, the Debut Carbon Evo it replaces is expected to continue until stocks are depleted.

Hifi credentials

Despite dropping the Carbon name from this latest Debut version, you still get an 8.6-inch one-piece carbon fibre tonearm mounted, this time mounted on a new CNC-milled aluminium block with low-friction bearings. No doubt, the £100 price increase over its predecessor is partly due to the increasing costs of imports on items manufactured within the EU, but the Evo 2 also introduces some refinements that elevate the series’s entry package to a class of its own.

For example, instead of factory-fitting the same Ortofon 2M Red cartridge as found on the Carbon Evo, the Evo 2 comes pre-installed with a new Pro-Ject Pick it MM Evo cartridge, co-designed by Ortofon in Denmark. As a new vinyl fan or someone returning after a hiatus and looking to add a turntable package to their audio setup, all that’s required to get you listening to your precious records is an external moving-magnet (MM) phono stage. Whether that’s a phono stage input built in to an integrated amplifier, say, or an outboard preamp from Pro-Ject’s own Phono Box series, or something like iFi’s Zen Phono (£199) that won our best budget phono stage 2023 award, the Evo 2 is an easy add-on for all kinds of vinyl listeners and as plug ’n’ play as a hifi turntable gets.

The Debut Evo 2 also gets a new non-magnetic aluminium 1.7kg main platter with TPE damping, and an improved machined MDF chassis with little hollow space inside. Added to this is a decoupled AC motor with updated damping to reduce unwanted resonances to the belt drive and sub-platter, with a 33/45RPM electronic speed change via a rocker switch placed discreetly on the underside of the plinth. Pro-Ject says that 78 RPM speeds can be achieved with an optional pulley and drive belt change that’s available separately.

Frankly, the Evo 2 is one of the most competitively priced hifi turntable packages I can find on sale right now. I should point out that this deck is a great alternative option for anyone considering a Rega Planar 3 pre-fitted with its Nd3 MM cartridge, and that the Evo 2 costs less and throws in electronic speed control too.

It’s also supplied with a dust cover, felt mat, and semi-balanced Connect it E Phono RCA turntable interconnect cable (priced at £45 on Henley Audio’s website) to carry the low-level audio signals from the turntable to be boosted by a phono stage of your choosing.

As a vinyl spinner designed to value traditional audio principles while utilising modern techniques, I’m impressed by the Debut Evo 2’s analogue-only hifi approach. There’s no digital wireless connectivity here — for that you’re going to want to look at turntables like the Pro-Ject T2 W, which has hi-end wireless streaming skills for £899.

Everything about the Evo 2 feels reassuring. From the solid packaging, great build and finish, to the smooth installation, this turntable is nicely thought out. There are even three compliant feet underneath which help provide a degree of self-levelling, should the plinth be placed on an uneven surface.

For anyone new to setting up a turntable, the installation experience was reassuringly straightforward thanks to the clearly written instruction guide. If you need a visual step-by-step guide to help you along though, I found this how to set-up your Pro-Ject turntable video on the UK distributor’s website particularly useful.

Size matters

The Pro-Ject’s footprint is smaller than the Technics SL-1200G turntable it replaces in my hifi setup at home. At just 6kg, it’s much lighter too — and depending on your school of thought, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Either way, the smaller footprint and repositioned connections make it much easier to hook up the audio interconnect and power cable, rather than the recessed back panel under the plinth found on the older Debut Carbon Evo. Of course, this does mean that the connection plugs now protrude a little at the back, but the compact size of the Evo 2 plinth still meant that it took up less room on my hifi rack than my Technics deck.

I like the golden yellow satin finish I opted for on the review sample. In fact, the Evo 2 iteration introduces several new finishes to the Debut series, including red wine (pictured below), fir green, steel blue, black and white. There are more standard Pro-Ject finish options to choose from too, including high-gloss black, red or white finishes, plus a walnut veneer. That’s a staggering 10 colour options for one turntable model. No other turntable maker I know of offers such a wide choice of finish options.

Performance

I was lucky enough to visit Pro-Ject’s stand at the High-End Munich Show in May 2024 to see the Debut Evo 2 being showcased for the very first time. Sadly, there wasn’t an opportunity to experience the next-gen model in action away from the hubbub of Europe’s busiest audio show, but in the quietness of my listening room at home, the Evo 2 conjured up a very enjoyable sound.

Connected to a Cyrus Phono Signature phono stage revealed just how rich and warm the Evo 2 sounds with the Pick it Evo MM cartridge fitted. The deck itself is quiet with negligible motor noise, and it spins up the platter to the desired RPM within just a few seconds. In fact, it feels quicker than most belt drives I’ve encountered, which given that I’m more familiar with the near-instantaneous platter startup time of the direct-drive motor on my Technics SL-1200, the Pro-Ject’s quick start is impressive.

Spinning the Pet Shop Boys’ latest LP Nonetheless on the Evo 2 sounds bigger than I was anticipating. The deck really gets into the opening track Loneliness, and the mid-tempo beat and melancholic vocals were nicely articulated with a tonal balance that always felt engaging across the frequency range. There’s a degree of warmth from the Pick it Evo cart which I like, and the synth-pop track’s bass notes consistently felt punchy and utterly engaging as they carried the track along.

Definitely debut

With the inescapable news of Oasis’s reformation and inevitable UK tour dates in 2025, I found myself listening to the band’s 1994 album Definitely Maybe on heavy-weight vinyl and was drawn to the sound of the anthemic track Live Forever. As an early top-ten for the then emerging band, this pivotal hit is an emotionally optimistic song and the recording has strong production values. I was impressed at how the Evo 2 deck was able to manage the song’s powerful drumbeat and brash cymbals, while also enabling the track’s main guitar line and vocal to stand out. Everything sounded together, and the slightly grating percussive elements I’ve heard with this album on some packaged decks sounded nicely controlled on the Pro-Ject, with a great sense of soundstage and strong instrument separation.

A Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab pressing of Yazoo’s Upstairs at Eric’s album shows off the Evo 2’s tremendous soundstage capabilities, too. As synth effects bounce left and right across the soundstage on tracks like Bad Connection and Situation, Alison Moyet’s distinctive vocal remains firmly anchored at the centre of the mix, sounding characteristically bluesy and powerful within the recording’s expansive soundstage.

Swapping to Chord Electronics’ Huei phono stage delivered a similarly impressive performance for a slightly lower cost than the Cyrus Phono Signature, and perhaps a little more richness to the low-end than it managed to muster, too. Playing a special edition of Debussy Piano Works on coloured vinyl sounded rich and engaging, with no hint of fluctuation in the platter’s speed stability, and the listening experience was nothing less than utterly beguiling.

In summary

Before embarking on this review, I confess that I was slightly sceptical about whether a value belt-driven turntable could manage the surefooted assertiveness I enjoy when listening to my direct-drive Technics deck. I needn’t have worried… The Pro-Ject Debut Evo 2 sounded tremendously engaging throughout the review period, and more assertive than I imagined. It was a joy to set up and use, and best of all it always sounded musical.

With the widest choice of colour options and finishes available from any turntable maker, the new Debut Evo 2 is one of most attractive and best value turntable packages you can buy right now.