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Home / Hot Stuff / This transparent turntable might be the best-looking vinyl player

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This transparent turntable might be the best-looking vinyl player

Pro-Ject's new XA B turntable is a clear acrylic vinyl player that borrows premium features from turntables in the range

Connor Jewiss Connor Jewiss
Pro-Ject XA B Transparent Turntable

Die-hard vinyl fans know that you won’t find better audio quality elsewhere. But the best turntables don’t always look the part. Just because vinyl has a retro charm, it doesn’t mean you should play records on something that looks like you fished it out of your gran’s loft. But Pro-Ject’s new transparent turntable might be the best-looking vinyl player I’ve seen.

This acrylic plinth isn’t just for show. According to Pro-Ject, this material does wonders for sound damping, which means you’re in for a “wonderful sounding” experience. Packed with True Balanced technology, the XA B turntable sports a mini-XLR balanced output aimed at reducing noise and interference. To fully enjoy this feature, you’ll need a balanced phono stage, which doesn’t come as standard. Instead, the turntable comes with a high-quality phono cable to keep things humming along nicely.

The Pro-Ject XA B turntable features a 10-inch aluminium tonearm with a new Pick It Pro Balanced moving magnet cartridge. This isn’t Pro-Ject’s first rodeo with balanced outputs – models like the X1 B and X2 B also flaunted this. But, the XA B ups the ante by including the balanced cartridge straight out of the box.

This tonearm borrows heavily from Pro-Ject’s premium EVO range, including an oversized bearing housing to cut down on unwanted resonance and a TPE-damped counterweight to keep your vinyl spins smooth. The drive system is an AC synchronous motor with a built-in DC/AC generator to nix the nasties from external power supplies.

Add in a sub-platter mounted into a stainless steel main bearing with brass bushing, crafted to a meticulous 0.001mm tolerance, and you’re looking at some seriously smooth spinning. The main platter? It’s a 1.7kg chunk of TPE-damped aluminium, with a handy speed control switch for flipping between 33 and 1/3rd to 45 RPM.

While we haven’t laid ears on the XA B yet, Pro-Ject’s previous models with the same cartridge have been impressive. Pro-Ject’s track record is solid gold, being the top turntable pick for many. The Pro-Ject XA B is priced at $1,499/£1,099/AU$2,125 and is available to order direct.

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About

Connor is a writer for Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. He has been writing for around seven years now, with writing across the web and in print too. Connor has experience on most major platforms, though does hold a place in his heart for macOS, iOS/iPadOS, electric vehicles, and smartphone tech. Just like everyone else around here, he’s a fan of gadgets of all sorts! Aside from writing, Connor is involved in the startup scene. This exciting involvement puts him at the front of new and exciting tech, always on the lookout for innovating products.

Areas of expertise

Mobile, macOS, EVs, smart home