Hi everyone,

Great forum, I've learned a ton in the past week while researching digital pianos for my kids. I have 3, ages 7, 10, and 11, all about to start lessons for the first time. We are space limited while going through a remodel, so a digital piano is what we'll be getting.

After digesting as many posts as my eyes could bear, I've come to these conclusions.

1) For learning, the most important thing I should consider for my girls is the quality of key action. But, the type or brand of action is very much a personal preference. Some prefer GHS to GH, or even GH3, even though GHS is the lowest "grade" of action used by Yamaha. Some prefer Kawai to Yamaha, or Korg, or Roland, and every iteration of like and preference possible. Having no real experience playing a piano I concluded that at a minimum I need a GHS (or equivalent) keyboard. I also concluded that the clicky and/or sticky keys of the Casio 130/330 are not what I want, but I didn't want to abandon these as options given all of the great reviews.

2) The second most important thing to consider is the quality or realism of the primary piano sound (grand piano). Again, there is a huge variety of opinion about what manufacturer has the best sound. In general, the top end digitals of all manufactures are good, Yamaha and Kawai are probably the best. Some really like the Korg sounds, others Roland. My friend who I brought along to try some keyboards, having not played any newer keyboards, thought all of the ones he tried were perfectly acceptable for a new student. On a related note, I've read countless post about 1 layer vs. 2 or 4 later sampling of each note. We sat with a Yamaha p95 and a Yamaha p155 and had a hard time discerning any significant, noticeable difference without really trying. Our conclusion, while we can notice some of the very subtle differences in tone between the piano and forte, the differences are so small that it will be lost on a learning student. I said that once my kids starting complaining about the bad sampling then they'll deserve a new piano.

3) The third most important thing is the overall build quality of the instrument. This could trump the other two if the quality is just crap, and the instrument is plasticy and falling apart. But in general, if the first two rank up there, the quality will be decent.

So considering those thoughts, my top contenders were as follows.

Yamaha p95
Yamaha p155
Yamaha YDP141 or 161
Casio px-130 or 330
Korg sp250 or sp170

I realize there is a decent spread in price and quality between these boards. They all seemed to meet my basic requirements for a beginning student, with some having a few more features, some a bit higher quality, and some with both, providing for perhaps a bit more longevity. I'm prepared to pay up to $1200 (US) for a board, so all of these fall into my budget. Of course there are many other quality keyboards that might also meet my basic requirements for quality, sound, and feel..these are the ones I picked.

A console type piano like the ydp141/161 is a bit bigger, and less portable than what I'm looking for now, so despite the nice sounding, larger speakers, those were ruled out early on. We played through the remaining boards (except the korg sp250), and finally landed on the p95 as a nice balance of quality and price. My initial selection before heading to the local Guitar Center and piano shop was the p155, given its high quality action (GH), nice range and quality of sounds, 4 layer sampling and some newer tech, giving it some nice longevity and perhaps better resale. I was also kind of leaning a bit toward the Casios, but the noticeably audible clicking keys turned me off to them. My friend, who has been playing for 20+ years, suggest that the differences in sound and quality between the p95 and p155 are not great enough to justify the price difference given who will be using it. After hearing him play, I think I agree, despite my earlier predilections. One thing that is making my desicion a bit hard, is that Guitar Center has the p155 on sale for cheaper than anywhere I could find it online, same for the p95.

I'm curious if anyone has some useful feedback they can offer. I'm not looking for someone to change my mind, but other suggestions or thoughts regarding my thinking and approach to selecting a board would be appreciated. I understand all of the technical differences between the p155 and p95, and the other boards listed, and have read through countless threads on the quality of the piano1 vs. piano2 sounds, so no need to rehash these arguments. Just looking for some validation, criticism, suggestions, etc. Thanks all.

And once again, great forum, I really appreciate all of the informative and useful posts.

As a Kawai fan, although I'm also a satisfied Casio owner, I have to ask why you don't have a Kawai on your list? The CL25 for example is in budget, so could be test played when shopping.

Interestingly, I just got back from a piano shop and was shown the cl25. I really liked it, and wish I had someone with to give a whirl and give their opinion. The price I was given, $888, seemed reasonable given the quality and sound. But for $100 more I can get the p155, which has much more to offer, imo. But I'm still open to other ideas, so any further perspective on the cl-25 vs. p95 vs. p155 would be appreciated.

Ah, alas I don't own a CL25, it was just a suggestion to consider Kawai. I believe the CL25 is now a couple of years old but still represents good value. I doubt you will get many other views on this here because of its age. The newer models from the CN series, say CN23 or CN33 might well be out of budget, but there are some enthusiasts on the forum with these.

I think what is important is how you found it in comparison to others you tried, especially the sound(s) and keyboard action.

After thinking about it a bit, it seems to me that what impressed me about the cl-25 was the louder, bolder sound I was hearing. Looking at the specs, the Kawai has slightly larger and more powerful speakers. To be fair I should have listened to it with headphones for a better comparison - I listened to the other pianos I tested with headphones. And I'm guessing the salesman had the volume cranked up. Nonetheless, I liked the sound and small footprint of the Kawai.

Play if for a while, with headphones. Play scales both loud and soft. Play some cords with the pedal down and listen for resonance. How does the stimbre change as you use more force on the keys. In other words ask yourself objective questions and not just "does it sound good?". As you lift a key, can you hear the string being damped with felt or does the sound just stop? I'm not a fan of older model Kawai sound. It's been improved recently. I think it used to be rather synthetic sounding, but still musical but I think maybe to clean. Kawai's new "88 note progressive" sound is much improved over the old "HI" It would still serve the intended purpose of learning to play, any decent weighted key action piano can do that.
Yes you are 100% right to think that the larger speakers make a piano sound better. After all, on a digital piano yu listen to the speakers and nothing else, they matter a lot. But you can add good speakers to any piano later for maybe $300 or $400.

My first digital piano was a Kawai CL-25. I used it about 2 years and I really liked it. What I didn't like about it was the loose pedal and that it couldn't be closed. So just last week I got a Kawai CA-63. When I got the CL-25 I compared it to a Casio but I didn't like the touch of the Casio the Kawai played much better. Maybe you could consider the CL-35. But then again if you want portability you could also consider a stage piano. I never played a Yamaha YDP but they look very good. Just my $0.02.