The Pro-Ject E1 is a very capable, but affordable, turntable that's a particularly good option for people who are new to vinyl or who just want a fuss-free turntable that won't break the bank. It looks good, it sounds good and it comes with everything pre-set so you can simply assemble it, plug it in, and start playing. The simplicity means that the Pro-Ject E1 lacks features you'll find in some rivals, such as a 78rpm speed setting, a phono stage pre-amp, a USB port or Bluetooth streaming – so if you want to stream old shellac singles to your Bluetooth headphones or rip them to digital this may not be the for you.
But its simplicity is its strength: the focus is on delivering an involving sonic performance, and the E1 does that very well. For this price, you won't really get any better sound than this has to offer. And it comes basically ready to out of the box – you won't need to have any fears over the set-up process, which makes it fantastic for beginners.
It lacks automatic operation, which is a bit of a shame, but not a big deal. It's also quite lightweight, so make sure it's not positioned somewhere vulnerable to vibrations. Aside from these notes, it's hard to fault this for what it delivers – it's designed to make great sound analogue sound easy, and it 100% achieves that.
The version we tested here is the plain Pro-Ject E1, which does not have its own phono stage – it's designed to be connected to an amplifier or to a system that has a phono stage before the.
