We're moving to a setting where I'll need to play thru headphones mornings,evenings,and weekends. Not to bore you with details, but pure digitals and AvantGrands have been ruled out.

Yamaha 'Silent' Pianos make noise when the acoustic sound is shut off. In the verticals, it's the noise of of the hammers hitting a padded rail that keeps hammers from striking the strings. As Yamaha Silent Pianos are usually special order items, it's hard to get a chance to hear this noise before purchase.

Some, but definitely not all on pianoworld, say this noise is objectionable--in one case even for neighbors below!

A tech just told me that the grand versions of the Silent Piano (e.g., Yamaha C2SG) are much less noisy than the vertical silent pianos. He claims that in the grand version, in silent mode, the hammers are moved from the strings and never hit a rail--they just don't make contact with the strings.

QUESTION: Can anyone who has heard Silent Piano in vertical and grand configurations say what the difference is (if any) in the noise level of the actions in "silent" mode?

QUESTION: Can anyone who has heard both compare the external noise level to that of a garden-variety digital when someone is playing with headphones (and thus speakers shut off)?

Thanks to anyone who can help here!