Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha P155 vs P120. Which one is better?

Hey fellow pianists!

I been curious about the differences and details of the Yamaha P155 compared to the P120. I haven't seemed to the play the P120 before but i have heard of a lot of people liking it better than the P155. I notice the P155 has a brighter richer sound, and the P120 has a darker deeper sound (which i actually kind of like).

My biggest questions are

1. Since the Yamaha P120 is older than the P155, is it still technologically advanced and sturdy like some of the newer age models price range?

2. And what is better between the previous model compare to the newer model?

3. If the P120 is older, does it still surpass the cheaper/newer high end digital pianos?

Btw i plan on buying one if i don't find another digital piano around the price range i like since i need a long lasting nice keyboard to replace my Upright Piano since i am moving.

Any advice and answers would be highly appreciated! Thank you for your time to post. I also don't know about the P140.

-DanTheMan14

Well, Yamaha has changes its tone generation only a very, very little bit over time. And the changes have seldom make it into the budget line. Both the 120 and 155 use dynamic AWM. The former uses 3 levels while the latter uses 4. My guess is that very little else has changed and if you listened to clips from both, you wouldn't immediately think that the P155 is better. I think they come from two different sample sessions, with the latter indeed being brighter and more...metallic. My guess is that more memory is used on the P155 even on a per-layer basis, so it could be argued that it may be more detailed. But it's not clear which sounds better.

I seem to recall around the time the 120 was replaced that they replaced the P80 with a piano with better technology, but a sound that a number of people liked less.

Anyway, it was definitely worth replacing the P80 because it did not feature partial pedal. The P120 does indeed have partial pedal capability. That turns out to be a noticeable improvement. That's the only really significant change that has been made in entry level Yamaha pianos. I think the predecessor to the P120 did not have partial pedal, so that is probably the biggest technological change.

To answer your question, the P120 definitely dominates current lower end pianos. For example, it's a far better piano than the P95. The latter features only one level of sampling to the P120's 3. It's likely that the current CP33 uses the same or almost the same tone generation as the P120, and it is often compared with the P155. Some people prefer the CP33's tone, for sure.

The action has not changed (as far as I know), nor has build quality increased since the P120 came out, so in those respects, I'd say it's on par with current pianos. If you can get it for, say, the price of a P95 of better, I would say it's a good idea.

I have the P155. It was the model that replaced the P140 which replaced the the P120. But they are all basically the same piano but with incremental refinements.

You can buy a P120 for half the price of a P155 or maybe even less. That puts it down in the same prices as a P95. The p120 has MUCH better key action and the sound generator has some layers the P95 lacks. But the key action is night and day different.

Also when you sell the P120 you will not loose much. But the P95 does come with a warranty so there is less risk buying a new piano.

I'd say the P120 is still a great little piano after all these years... I regret selling mine and am looking for an used one as a lightweight gigging / rehearsal board, but I'm also considering the new P155. The P120 offered the possibility of turning off the speakers and had IMO a better Rhodes sound than the P155.

Good luck at finding an used P120, as these are extremely hard to find.

i think the p120 sounds better but the speakers in the p155 are better, so it depends on how you are going to listen i guess.

Ok i never knew that. Are they long lasting? Sometimes it's hard to trust technology from breaking or wearing down. pretty much since i don't plan on really plan on upgrading. Thanks for the advice!! If i ever catch a P120 cheap and get lucky i might do so.

Digitals are certainly not built to last decades, the way acoustics often are, but for the most part they last a decent number of years. It sort of depends on how and how often it has been played. If the person did a lot of gigging or was a pro or something, it will likely have a lot more wear.

Actually it's tough to say how long they last because in the past the technology moved fast enough that we generally replaced them before they started breaking. The current generation just hasn't been around long enough to know how they last over the long haul.

As an owner of a P155, I'd say the actual sound of the older P120 (specifically the Grand Piano 1 sound) is actually better -- richer, more full sound. This in spite of the fact that the P155 has four sample layers compared to the P120's three. The actual tone is still a lot warmer and nicer to my ears in the P120.

my p250 is 10 years old and my rd250 is 25 years old. And I play them every day. My p250 had the action replaced but that was due to a manufacturing defect and really didn't need to fix it except one key. I've had several Yamahas and Rolands and actions seems to last very well.