The best turntables are often as beautiful to look at as they are to listen to, and this new turntable from Pro-Ject is a particularly pretty thing. Made from transparent acrylic, the Pro-Ject XA B turntable has head-turning good looks. And as you'd expect from Pro-Ject there's substance to match the style: the acrylic's there not just because it looks good, but because it's a material that can help the spinner to sound great.
According to the manufacturer (via What Hi-Fi?), the new turntable's acrylic plinth has excellent damping that results in a “wonderful sounding” turntable (if it does say do itself). It uses the firm's True Balanced tech, with a mini-XLR balanced output that promises to reduce noise and interference; that's an optional extra because you'll also need a balanced phono stage to take advantage of it, so the standard turntable comes with a high-quality phono cable.
Pro-Ject XA B: key features
In addition to that acrylic plinth, there's a 10-inch aluminum tonearm and a new Pick It Pro Balanced moving magnet cartridge. This isn't the first Pro-Ject turntable with a balanced output option – the X1 B and X2 B are capable of it too – but those turntables didn't launch with a balanced cartridge installed by default.
The tonearm is based on the one from Pro-Ject's premium EVO range with an oversized bearing housing to reduce unwanted resonance and a TPE-damped counterweight.
The drive system features an AC synchronous motor with a built-in DC/AC generator that Pro-Ject says “effectively removes all the unwanted effects of external power supplies” and the sub-platter is mounted into a stainless steel main bearing with brass bushing made to a 0.001mm tolerance. The main platter is 1.7kg of TPE-damped aluminum, and there's a speed control switch for easy swapping from 33 and 1/3rd to 45 RPM.
We haven't had the opportunity to hear this turntable yet, but the reviews of the X1 B and X2 B with the same cartridge fitted have been very positive; Pro-Ject's turntable track record has been stellar, and the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo is our current pick of the best turntables for most people. If you don't have the hardware or need for True Balanced output, we'd definitely recommend checking that one out: it's a five-star turntable for roughly half the cost, although we suspect the XA B will sound even more spectacular… and obviously, the XA B is see-through, which counts for a lot in our retro-tech book.
The Pro-Ject XA B is $1,499 / £1099 / about AU$2,125 and is available to order now.
