PRO-JECT ESSENTIAL III RECORDMASTER

£349, project-audio.com The Pro-Ject Essential III has minimal styling and claims to offer true hi-fi sound at a sensible price. It favours ‘lighter’ music, but less so than the Rega, and for most listeners this won’t be an issue.

It’s available in a range of different configurations: there are models with Bluetooth or optical digital outputs, for instance. This latest RecordMaster version packs in a wealth of features. There’s a USB-B output, which makes digitising your vinyl nice and easy; a felt slipmat, which helps protect your records; and a single button on the bottom left of the plinth, which you press to switch between 33 and 45rpm playback, or press and hold to turn the deck off. On the downside, it’s a low-torque beast, so it takes a few seconds to get up to speed. It’s also a little susceptible to vibration, and while the externally mounted drive belt will be a definite talking point, fitting the damn thing proved more than a little fiddly (though you’ll need to do this once every five years at most). A great-sounding deck, with a strong feature set 8/10