Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Want advice on buying DPs!

I'm a 4th year college student who just started working recently and I'm looking to invest in a decent DP that I can play for the next 5+ years. (Piano being one of the few hobbies I can practically still seeing myself still doing in 10+ years)

I'm a intermediate (maybe low intermediate) skill level having taken lessons for 4 years and then stopping only until recently finding: Joe Hisaishi! Oh the childhood memories! Total bugout fan of him now.

I started using a friend's Casio px575r I believe. It took adjusting when I went back home to our upright Steinway but now I kind of dislike the sound of our Steinway. Sounds too... Ringy... like bad acoustics.

In anycase, I like advise and little blurbs more than "get this period." since I enjoy soaking in as much information about the market and what to expect!
*On that note, if any of you need to build a desktop (pretty much only reason would be for games), shoot me a message. I read and research like no other on PC hardware as well as pricing*

• New to DPs. Only spent 1-2 hours googling around so far.
• Want to invest in something that will last 5+ years.
• Feel & Sound are most important. Everything else who cares. Weight? Voices? Looks? I can look like I'm playing a trashcan as long as it sounds great!
  
  If speakers are not great, I'm willing to invest $ on headphones, it should fit WITHIN the piano budget though rather than ON TOP of it.
• Budget is possibly quite flexible! @$500-700 for now. Convince me otherwise. The Yamaha P-155 is at a $300 away so... let's try and not go to that level

Based on my research (is this site any good? http://www.thedigitalpiano.net/) I'm setting my sites on the Korg SP-250, $700 for best feel and pretty good sound. But then again... P-155 says go big or go home!. Thank goodness amazon isn't charging tax yet!

Looking forward to learning from you guys I appreciate communities like these!

Where did you find a P155 for $700? That would be the best deal ever.

OK, so analysis:

The most important factor in choosing a digital piano is the action. It's a bit of a personal preference thing, but each company makes several actions and if possible it's good to get one of the better ones. I have never played or heard of a casio that has a really decent action--I don't think they make any. They tend to be on par with Yamaha's GHS action, which is found in their lower tier pianos. I would avoid any piano with GHS or a Casio action.

The better Yamaha action is GH (or GH3 which feels the same but has an extra sensor, which emulates grand piano double escapement repetition capability). The cheapest Yamaha with GH is the P155, so that's my most common recommendation.

Roland's PHAIII is very popular among people who like Roland's actions. I'm not personally a fan, though I do admire Roland's sounds. Unfortunately Roland is a bit pricey and the cheapest PHAIII piano is the FP7F.

Kawai makes basicaly two lines of actions, both highly regarded here. The RH is a plastic action many like. I see lots of people liking it better than the Yamaha GH. Their RM3 wood action is considered by some to be the very best. Cheapest RM3 piano is an MP10. If I didn't have a digital right now I'd get that one, even though it's far from your budget.

All new pianos of ok quality will have a decent sound. If it is not good enough, it's more effective and cheaper to go with a software piano than to improve the sound by stepping up the line toward expensive pianos.

As a rule stage (slab) pianos are cheaper. Just be aware that their speakers aren't that special or are missing, so consider getting external speakers.

Careful--I started around that budget and ended up buying the Kawai MP10

Honestly, in that price range, the P-155 may be one of the best options you can get. I'm assuming you meant $999 as the price point for the P-155, as is typical. But the best advice you can get is to go to a dealer (or big box store [Guitar Center, etc]) and try different models. A dealer or more specialized store would be better than a GC, because those DPs can be pretty beat up in the showroom. But the most important part of feeling and sound is how YOU perceive it.

-roki

@gvfarns

Ditto what you say,
Action: In terms of action, anything NOT GHS. I won't be satisfied with the lowest level of action.
Sound: Looks like buying a decent pair of headphones is in order. Question: Any good audiofile headphones would do well? Like a Grados? I'm going to swing over to Head-Fi once I pick a Piano and ask about headphones there...

I can't justify dropping more than $1k even with my budget. Reason I can go up to $1k is my parents have been holding onto some money for me for awhile but I've told them to hold it.

As for most of your recommendations, are you aware of anything solid <$1k?

---
@roki

In going to a store, I want a good pair of headphones which I do not have. What are considered good enough headphones?

This?
http://www.head-fi.org/t/433318/sho...nd-philips-oneill-sho9560-added-01-02-12

Looking at this image from that guide right now.

*EDIT: GOSH. Creative Aurvana Live! CAL! Dropped to $55 on Amazon Any opinions?

The P155 is perhaps the best DP (in terms of reputation, quality, and features) that is realistically available with your budget.

If you don't mind purchasing second hand, you may also wish to consider the previous generation models such as the P140 or P120, or a different board entirely, like the FP-7.

Regardless of what you decide to go for, definitely play-test a range of models before making your purchase. Never buy an instrument simply on the strength of a positive shopping site review or a handful of impressive YouTube videos.

Best of luck with your search.

Cheers,
James
x

EDIT: I just checked the www.thedigitalpiano.net - no sign of Roland or Kawai?

@Kawai James:
Out of budget range? xD
Kind of a knock on them not to include those seeing how much those are raved about here.
--
Headphones to go with Piano; any recommendations?
How well would these do?

FlashFir, a good pair of headphones is a great investment. The most popular models discussed here are circumaural open-style headphones. Sennheiser has several models (HD598, for example) that are popular among forum members. Also cheaper and quite well liked is AKG K240. This style of headphone has very high clarity and detail and a more-or-less even tone. Many headphones intended for Pop music blow you away in the bass and trebble regions, which isn't desirable for use with an instrument. Be careful because this bass and treble boosting is often considered desirable among people who write reviews for headphones.

I've also heard people say good things about denon cans but I personally know very little about them. Grados are kind of classics and nicely priced, but many people feel they are more suited to rock than to piano music.

Going back to your piano question, in my opinion there really is no acceptable piano cheaper than the Yamaha P155 (or CP33) and Kawai EP3. Really really. Keyboards below that are a very significant compromise, especially in terms of action. Since a digital piano lasts a long time, my advice is to wait and save up if you really can't afford one of these options right now.

Regarding digital piano reviews, the fact that they omit Kawai and Roland means they are probably not a completely reputable site, though their writeup on Yamaha actions seems more-or-less accurate. The big three digital piano manufacturers are Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, in that order. Casio makes a lot of keyboards, but doesn't have any really good models so I tend to omit them. Korg is a small player by comparison with these four. I don't even have enough data on it to give you an idea of how good an instrument the SP250 is.

What about these? I haven't googled up the models. But they're within my budget! And they're better than the P-155 (?)
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/msg/2787445798.html
http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/msg/2778295498.html

I'm not sure about the FP-2, however the EP2 is pretty good. Rather dated sound technology (no 88-key sampling etc.), however the action was well regarded back in the day. As the name suggests, this is one generation older than the EP2, so probably dates back to around
2007.

James
x

but the YDP 161 model has GH action, well in the uk the p155 is going for roughly 200 pounds more than the 161 model. Is it worth the extra dollar in your opinion? Would you call the YDP models mid range, and the p155 a higher range dp?

Here in the U.S. preliminary search shows that the YDP 161 is 35% more expensive, an extra $350.

more than a P155 oh god, well thats quite a difference!

Over here the 161 model is going for 826 pounds whilst the p155 is going for 1010 pounds. A question to you and to people whom live in the US if the prices were like the ones I mentioned for each of the models, which would you go for?

I would take the YDP over the P155 if the YDP is equal or cheaper.

Bottom line: for me, the lowest price GH Yamaha is the best.

BTW it's British prices that are messed up. The difference between the two is that the YDP has more cabinetry and almost certainly better speakers. It's crazy for it to be cheaper than the P.

Well, I guess the P155 does have USB to device, which apparently the YDP lacks...

The Kawai is a possibility, but I really think a discontinued, used piano should sell for more like half the new price. Therefore I think this is too expensive. If you could get it for $600 or so I'd say it starts to make sense.

Good point - I didn't see the price until now.

What does 'Firm price' mean anyway?

James
x

FlashFir,
Based on the budget you are limited to the Korg SP-250, Korg SP-170, Casio PX-130, and Yahama P-95. Since you have played a on your friend's Casio, you probably have some idea if you like the Casio action. The PX-575r is based on the older Privias and the action is stiffer than the current line of Privias. The Korg SP-250 is probably the best in the group assuming you like the RH3 action. The Korg SP-170 uses a different action that does not feel like hammer action. The P-95 probably has the lightest action of the group. The touch you prefer is the most important thing and probably the most difficult thing to nail down. All of these pianos have a decent piano sample and will sound better through good headphones than the on board speakers. You can change the sound by going into a computer. If you can stretch you budget to $1000, the P-155 is a good choice.

Yeah the prices are really weird. Im leaning towards the YDP, I tried the 161 out again today. 60 days or less before the purchase of my first DP. Im looking forward to it

shokz, have you ruled out the Roland FP-7F?
What about the Roland RP-301 or Kawai CN23?

James
x

To tell truth I haven't really considered the Kawai cn23 model. But I had considered the RP301/F120 at one point, the shop I went to stocked the rp201 and f110 so I guess I can try those models out next time to get a rough idea. What I have gathered from my reading tho is those Ivory feel keys (in the models I mentioned) are in the lower end of the Roland whilst the GH keys in the yamaha are in the upper end of the Yamaha models. I having tried the the 161 can say I really like the GH action.

Another thing going for the ydp161 as opposed to those roland models I mentioned is it is cheaper than both those models, and its speakers are 20w compared to 12w of the Roland models.

As far as the Fp7f goes, I can't afford that its going way way over my budget.

It's more or less the same price as the YDP-161...

James
x