Rega Planar 3 vs Pro-Ject X1. Battle of best value turntables! Comparison and Review

Intro

This is a continuation of my review for Pro Ject X1,  if you want to know more in details about that device go and watch my review. I wanted to do more detailed comparison between two devices that I think hold most value on a market. 

And that is X1 and Planar 3. Whoever you choose, you will not be wrong,  

it will bring joy and fun to your household for many years. 

But this two turntables have different approach to how they present themselves sonically.  

And there are certain quirks that sperate them.  This is the point of this video, and I will separate my thoughts into 3 groups.  Ease of Use and Materials, Sound and Upgrade Path.  

And of course in the end give my final verdict. But first I will do quick review of Planar 3 

Rega Planar 3 Review

Planar 3 is as sonic push from Planar 2, and a significant step up from Planar 1.  

This as a mature device, that is able to compliment perfectly your audio gear once you go to mid-tier or upper.  

It uses acryl Laminate for a Plinth, 24v motor,  Manual belt drive and RB330 tonearm.  

That tonearm is a wonder, with a great sense of stability and precision.  Overall materials look very well constructed. and finish if like the glossy type is gonna be excellent. 

Extensions to the sound that Planar 3 are bringing to table is it is certainly very musical. It has an infectious rhythm behind it, a lot of punch and dynamics. is the sound it reproduces.  

Because of that listening to Planar 3 is a treat and joy.  

It does come with variety of different Rega cartridges, but most commonly Elys cartridge which is a huge step up from carbon cartridge. It does play nicely with a groove of a record,  

extracting those fine details letting your music to be presented a bit more freely and with energy. 

In the end there is little to fault with Rega Planar 3, at this price point. It delivers sound that is very mature, that will transcend in to lives of a lot of different audiophiles, disregarding of their level. It will complement your system with musicality and precision, and bring more life to your system. 

Ease of use and materials

Lets first get going in first category in that is ease of use. 

The reason I like to separate this category is simply how easy it is to setup and use turntable 

can be a separator in whether you motivate yourself to use turntable or not.  

Playing vinyl’s can be a chore, especially on the days when you are really tiered.  

Setting up, this two turntables initially is a very similar experience. You need to be careful in setting up weight and positioning, as it can be bad for your music and for your turntable if not set incorrectly. There is a additional pain point in setting X1 anti skating,  

but if you follow instructions it should not be that hard. 

But nothing to add here or compare. I expected Planar 3 to be dominant here  

as Planar 1 is one of the easiest turntable to setup, but it was mostly a tie. X1 out of box provide you with better cables, and they certainly care about ground hum more, as it provides a cable with a fork.   

But big win here for X1 is that it uses automatic speed change,  

while Rega uses manual belt speed change. I already spoke in my Planar 1 review about how troublesome this can get if you mix different speed vinyl’s in listening sessions.  

As it is much easier a click of a button, to a lifting of platter to move belt.  

But lack of additional buttons and all the major functionality of Planar 3  

being in below the table, makes this one fantastic minimal looking turntable. 

I prefer looks of Planar 3 to X1 as it minimalist unobtrusive looks can compliment many house decor.  

Speed in which it takes to play vinyl is very similar,  but maybe I always felt a little bit more confidant in setting up tonearm to a right groove with Planar 3 as it is a bit more heavier arm therefore it makes it a little bit easier to navigate and move it.  

Where X1 absolute crush again Planar is build quality.  Not to take anything away from Planar as it is very nicely build, with acryl platter and plinth and optiwhite platter 

 it looks amazing and it is decently good into stopping vibration. 

It is just that X1 with resonance free acryl 1.5 kg platter and very thick plinth is something that shows that  X1 major goal was to have a great base that you can work on in future.  

As it is more sturdy and well built out of two. 

Conclusion to this category is that X1 is more easy to use turntable 

and have better build quality, not that Planar is lacking here drastically, as it has better looks and more precision it is just X1 in this budget level is giving too much. 

Sound 

But here comes the meat of this comparison.  And probably the biggest reason when you buy a turntable, and that is sound quality. 

And it is one that in my opinion is far harder to compare than build quality.  They have two distinct sonic characteristic, and depending what you search from your music you can go in either direction. 

I hade a lot of fun listening Planar, it is very musical as it ties a lot of elements better than X1.  It pushes a treble a little bit into forcing dynamics of mids to little bit pop out.  

Making attack, and drums and kick of bass more, open and foreword.  

X1 is more balancing act,  Pro Ject have stated it itself it is a sonically harmonious sound. 

Delivery is more neutral and in straight line,  as it helps vocals kind of burst out of the mix for more easier and detailed delivery.  It is a bit more mature sound, with a tad bit more details.  Some people might call this sound boring,  

but I believe they just did wrong system matching in creating an exciting sound. 

Bass is amazing with X1 and much more controlling and detailed than Planar 

Therefore Planar can have better pairing as it is a more fuller sound, and unless your amp and speakers bring a lot of colorations,  synergy will work great. 

While for X1 I always recommend an amps that is more lively to give life to this neutral and detailed sound. 

Regarding tonearms, Planar have an upper hand, and not just tonearm but also a philosophy of cartridges.  I prefer Regas 330 to projects carbon aluminum tone arm.  

It feels more sturdy and it has a batter precision.  

One thing more X1 in most cases come equipped with Pick it s2 MM.  

A decent beginner cartridge, but for this level of enthusiasm it is a bottleneck to fully experience X1.  That’s why Rega did a smart move and ditched their carbon cartridge for Elys or Exact cartridge in Planar.  

They free the sound of Planar and helps you gauge the quality of a turntable. 

Sound can go both ways, but for me I found musical and entertaining sound of Planar a winner here.  

One thing which is must is to change cartridge of X1 

Upgrade Path 

To me greatest strength of turntable lies in its upgradability.  When you buy a turntable,  

it is just a stepping stone to what it can become.  Idea is always that turntable grows with you.  And everything beside a plinth, you can eventually change.  

Even thou cartridge change is most commonly used to improve sound 

some people change tonearms, platter etc. 

X1 is amazing in this regard. It has very thick base, which you can grow upon. 

And with adjustable azimuth, and feet and cartridge shell.  It opens a door to many possibility of upgrade and experimentation. Its plinth and platter are already amazing. 

So upgrade cartridge and eventually tonearm can go long way. 

Planar is more restricted in this area. While you can upgrade everything similar in the vain I spoke before, you get a little bit lesser material to work with. 

 And from my experience Rega best works with rega cartridges, sometimes there are compatibility issues with 3rd party add ones.  

So it is much easier to upgrade further with Pro Ject.  And I think Pro Ject wins in this category. 

They both have variety of phono pre amps options from their respective brands. Where Rega has a better legacy in building awesome phono pre amps,  especially Phono MM preamp which is an amazing value In this price range, Pro Ject gives bigger variety in what it gives, you can even get tube preamp like Phono Tube S2, which is amazing tube preamp on a budget level. 

Conclusion 

This two turntables are both amazing. And depending from what angle you take your journey they can be very Reliable companions.  

In pure sonic level I think Rega is more rounded and musical turntable. It right away grabs your attention and brings joy in your listening sessions.  Especially speaking about that bottleneck of Pick it S2 MM.  So if you are just purely interested in sonic capabilities go with Rega. 

But if you are interested in turntable as an investment. As something that will grow with you  

and will together flow into other levels of audiophiles prestige,  X1 is a better investment as it as a base allows more levels to reach.  It has a far bigger ceiling of upgradability than Planar. 

This is my detailed comparison of probably turntables that hold biggest values in this price range.  Hope you enjoyed it and if you want to support me and my channel, I am pretty new in this and any support is more than welcome.  

Thank you and see you again!