Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Casio 730 or Yamaha YDP 140

Hi, im sorry for posting again and comparing pianos again, but im confused,,,, again!

I was about to place the order for the 730, when i saw the ydp 140. the px 730 has more latest technology, but it is apparently unreliable.... i cant decide im so upser please help and sorry for annoying posts
thanks
terri

Out of the two above, buy the newest one; PX-730, despite its reported problems with keys stuck (use your warranty if the keys are depressed or defect in any way on arrival).

But as both of the new Casios have the same price, I would go for the PX-830:

Casio PX-830, Price: 975 € !!!
Casio PX-730, Price: 975 €

The YDP-140 is old and have some other problem (which is stated somewhere among the forum threads, I can't find it, so make a forum search yourself and judge.)

I don't know that the 130 to 830 line of casios are unreliable necessarily but i did have a problem with the 330 i got and returned it (2 keys started hitting together side by side, more wiggle potential than with the yamahas in general apparently) ---the 830 isn't out in the US quite yet (feb maybe i heard) but it would be a better choice if the price was close as Huygens just said and if you had any problem with the keys the warranty should deal with it. It sounds like you may be looking for a piano with the 'cabinet' look although the 730 looks like it may really just have a nice looking stand sort of cabinet style but not like the 140 you also mentioned. I hope i don't confuse you even more but I'm going to suggest you at least consider the yamaha P155...with the stand you can get as an accessory (i got mine for 99 at contois music, the stand that is) it looks similar to the px730 set-up. I suggest this because i think it may be the best bang for your buck considering the quality of course as well. One difference besides the key issue i had with the casio is the other sounds, harpsichord, strings etc. are better on the yamahas and, just my opinion, kind of cheesy on the casios. The piano sound on the casio is quite nice however. None of these digital pianos souns all that great with their inboard speakers and sound much better (much better) with headphones or a seperate sound/speaker system and both the casio and yamaha i mention fall into this. I emailed a couple of online places and asked if they'd match the 20% off wwbw had during labor and one of them took me up on it so i got the p155 for 960. I think i heard music 123 has a coupon for 20% off this weekend so maybe other places would match the price you had in your cart for them...if you're in the US of course. Sorry to ramble but as much as i liked the casio's piano sound, the key issue that at least i had and the other sounds which were just ok, makes me lean to suggesting the P155 at least to consider that.

Just been checking and it seems that the 20% at music123 (coupon code BLACK) has ALOT of exclusions including yamaha which is too bad since yamaha wasn't excluded during labor Day. I got my 20% off after labor day however by emailing a few online shops and sking if they match that labor day price and one of them did so you could try that. If you had your heart set on a console type piano the YDP223 i think would be a preferable choice over the 140 but again i'd really want to get that additional 20% and since it was happening during labor day i don't see why it wouldn't come up again or like i said you could try emailing a few places personally and simply asking if they'd match that price, couldn't hurt. I didn't have much luck calling customer service but when i emailed a couple of places it worked.

Yes, the forum has had about 8 reports of keyboard problems with the Casio PX-330. But the PX-730 seems to work better; check this CASIO PX (830 as well) thread out.




The P-155 outperforms the YDP-140, the YDP-160 and also the CLP-320. I think the P-155 only has 1 pedal from factory, you need to add $50 to get 3 pedals to it, I guess?

Link to P-155
Link to CLP-320

Edit: The CLP-320 has better speakers, though, than the P-155.

thanks alot limvady and others for the reply, thanks. im in the uk, so i cant get any discount here, also, i cant buy any other piano, it will either be the ydp 140. or the px 730, i did actually consider the 320, and the beautiful p155! but my wallet is screaming no, thanks alot. yes i too have heard of the potentiol wobble of the keys on the privia i wont sleep tonight untill i make a decision lol. thanks once again. i prefer the look of both instruments, i love cabinet style pianos like the ydp 140, the 730 is too compact for me, but it looks STUNNING!

Why not the PX 830?
Is it much more expensive in the UK?
I'd go with the Casio, the YDP 140 uses the GHS (graded hammer standard) keaboard, which really isn't that good. It's very light, and I thought the Casio keaboards just feel better.

Terry, you're welcome. I see that the ydp223 i mentioned isn't available in the UK. If the price i saw of 650 or so for the YDP140 is about right i can see why you're considering that and not the P155 considering the price i saw for that. I looked at some reviews for the ydp140 over here and they are all very good....i think it was zsounds where 18 customers all rated it a 10. The Casio privia i got seemed to have a slightly bigger gap right at the middle of the keys almost as if the keyboard was built of 2 halves and it showed at this center point; that very slightly bigger gap there in turn made the key to the right of it that much slightly closer to the one to the right of it and that's the 2 keys that starting clicking together. The casio also had more of a tendency for the keys to have a slight play from side to side; whereas the yamaha's keys seem to be better set in place and not have this tendency to side-wiggle....so the two things; the center gap pushing the key closer to the adjacent one and the wiggle tendency was what made thekeys then touch. ----Maybe you could check this out and compare the 730 with the 140 and see if the 730 may have a tendency to develop this problem or if the side wiggle on it is negligible enough so as not to be of concearn. ----Perhaps as some have suggested here, compare both models using your own headphones to get a comparison of the potential sound from each. You may well want to play it using the speakers but i found the thud of the keys from both the casios and the yamahas is a little annoying where with the headphones you don't hear that as well as really upgrading the sound overall as compared to the onboard speakers.----Also the casio's other sounds i found to be kind of lousy where with the yamaha they are really just that bit better to where you enjoy using them at times or layering 2 together (which i would think the 140 can do like the p155 where you can layer any 2 tones though i don't know this for sure on the 140) The casio lets you layer some tones together such as the strings and piano but again the other tones i didn't really want to use. ---The casio is a newer model than the 140 with more polophony 128 compared to 64 but many people say this is not a big issue because how many notes can you produce at once any way?---I'd lean toward the 140 based on my experiences but compare with headphones and try and read reviews on the 140 as well as any on the 730 and go with your best judgement.

limavady:

Do you work for Yamaha?

i am in the UK and am considering the same models you are. prices in different countries are so different that what one person recommends is not good for someone else in a different country. i have played the ydp 140 in the local store and it seems find to me....but then again i have zero years experience playing the piano. the one piano i was very impressed with was the roland f110, but this is too much for me at £899. i have not seen the casio in real life but it sounds pretty impressive at £629. like i said, i prefered the rolands to the yamaha in general but i guess it depends how much you want to spend. im probably just going to get the casio and hope for the best.

Well, lets compare them in hard numbers:

Casio PX-730:

• 4-level sampling
• 128 notes polyphony
• 16 voices/instruments
• Graded Hammers + Tri-sensor (to get faster key action response)
• Reverb, Brilliance, Chorus, DSP, Acoustic Resonance
• Speakers 8W * 2

Yamaha YDP-140:

• 3-level sampling
• 64 notes polyphony
• 6 voices/instruments
• Graded Hammers Standard (which is inferior to Yamaha Graded Hammers!)
• Reverb
• Speakers 6W * 2

If the 64 notes polyphony is split between the stereo speakers and you play 2 voices (for example Grand piano and String instruments) while holding the sustain pedal down, you will only have the ability to keep 16 notes (for one speaker) in the air from one instrument at the same time, which in the end could result in some of your notes being cut-off a little too early, surprisingly and probably annoying.

The GHS keys of the YDP-140 is lighter in touch than the GH of the Casio PX-730, but you should try them both out side by side to decide if the lighter Hammer action really annoys you. The same goes for the speakers.

Also keep in mind that the Casio PX-830 has better keyboard and better speakers than the Casio PX-730.

thanks again for the replies hugen and others
i'm leaning towards the new privia 730, i think i should risk it and hope for the best like'zxczxc12345' said
but i know if i get the yamaha ydp 140, there shouldn't be a problem, and it will last a long time.
Im so stressed... casio privia 730 has beautiful sound technology, the ydp 140 is getting out dated. they are both the same price in the UK. Im just concerend of th build qualities of the new privias.

It is interesting that all the key problems reported here are with PX-330 only, or at least I have not heard of any complaints from the 130, or 730 as of yet.

Hi folks,
I can understand the quandary about which digital to get.. after much research, mostly done on the internet I've just taken the plunge and am currently awaiting delivery of a new PX-830, currently stuck in a ship delayed somewhere on a patch of sea, awaiting arrival in Holland!
I have experienced Yamahas various, mainly a bit older than the recent ones, and I have to say they effectively put me off digital pianos completely - they just didn't sound right at all.
However, I decided that owing to the impossibilty of practising my grand piano cause it's in the same room as the TV, and I'm trying to get the music out of the house anyway and into the to-be-converted-when-we-can-afford-it garage-as-won't-be-anymore! the time had come to go digital as well. I have a tiny horrible Yamaha thing that lives in a cupboard and comes out for midi input duties with the computer. :lol:

Anyway I had very little chance to try out any DPs for real, as the shops local to us here in France just don't have any stock. I played a Yamaha which was bearable, above my budget, but the problem was it's above my budget! I played a few last time we visited UK - a Casio something small which was not all that impressive, a Kawai CL-35 I liked better, but wasn't powerful enough, and a Yamaha YPG 635 which sounded nothing like a real piano at all, all fuzzy, with that Yamaha 'tingle echo decay' I've noticed before and hate and it also had no power. Thus I have pored and listened and read, and with a budget as far below 1000 euros as possible, I decided to go for the Privia. There's an interesting and informative comparison here of the three new Privias, apologies if it's already been posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-e1U2cdUxY part one,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBdxgPlZlFw part two.
I'm a pro. violinist by trade - RCM London, but I also play piano, accompany pupils, so I need something that can comnpete with acoustic instruments at full volume, and I accompany the local choir here in France, so i'm also hoping this will be better than the 5 octave Roland keyboard the choir owns - with it's under size keys!

This is a very useful forum.
I'll let you all know what I think when, and if, the piano arrives..