There have been a lot of folks wanting to find a nice digital in the $1K range, and, the Kawai EP3 fits the bill for having a solid weighted action, excellent tones, along with very decent onboard speakers. It also sounds great with headphones.

Here is "Body and Soul" (1930) by Johnny Green:

[17 seconds of silence before the playing starts]

https://www.box.com/s/jpqvcipf09zawj4x1ked

To be honest, I didn't care for the tone. The test for me is whether I can suspend my disbelief and pretend that I'm hearing a real piano. In this case I couldn't. The decay is very short, and the resonance is non-existent. It just sounds fake and plasticky to me. Nice playing though.

To a lay person such as my self. I thought it sound great. I don't know exactly what to listen for but I thought what I heard was really good.

The ep3 is one of the pianos I had been looking at for a bit.

I have my budget at 1000. So EP3, Casio privia 850 or 350, or yahmaha p series are where im looking. This is helping in making an educated guess.

Well, I haven't heard many acoustic grands but I note pv88 was only trying to make the point, "For those of us who can't afford an acoustic piano, this feels and sounds pretty good".

Yes, nice playing! Thanks for taking the trouble to record that.

In the $1,000 category, I think it acquits itself well - particularly given the age of the design. To me it's a pleasing sound, if not technically advanced.

@ando,

It is true that the EP3 doesn't have the quality of either the CA95, or, a V-Piano (at the upper end of things) although I beg to differ about the decay being "very short" and the "resonance."

The reason I bought the EP3 was to replace my Casio AP-620, as the Casio did have very short decay and not enough resonance, even though it costs $300 more than the EP3.

The EP3's decay is far better than any Casio I have owned (i.e., AP-620 & PX-130), as the resonance is even better yet when adding in some reverb effects.

The two Casio's didn't even come close to the EP3 in this regard.

And, thanks for your reply.

Here is another recording, at the EP3:

[11 seconds of silence before playing starts]

https://www.box.com/s/exmgzyig2ami2jhna9gj

Have layered two sounds, the "Concert Grand 1" with the "Modern E.P. 2" so that it would sound similar to the original demo piece, as in the thread below:

New V-Piano recording

And, here is an example of where you can really sustain a full melodic line over a bass figuration, as the Kawai EP3 does very well with this:

[15 seconds of silence before playing starts]

https://www.box.com/s/dvj555zgeturehckbmyq

Selected "Studio Grand 2" with "Hall 1" reverb.

I feel almost ignorant in to what I'm looking errr listening for in these. To me they sound good even great. It is making me feel better about putting the ep3 at almost the top of my list.

With a budget on 1000 I, having a hard time the perfect piano. Thank you pv88 to me it sounds great.

In your given price range (or, budget) the Kawai EP3 would be a very good choice.

And, I am glad that you enjoyed the recording.

I'm debating it still

I wish I could find one to play to see if I like it better then the px series privias. I like these also.

Kawai ep3 in the sound demo sounds good to me. Just wondering if I will like the action better on it over the px series from casio.

Another important point to consider is the length of the decay (or, sustain) in the Casio's, as I think that the samples tend to be too short and this appears to still be true even with the newer models. There was someone here who returned a Casio AP-650 (latest model) on account of the decay being too short:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1985491/Casio%20AP-650.html

And, I traded in my Casio AP-620 for a new CA95, and, also kept the EP3 which was $300 less than the Casio AP-620 and has far better decay/sustain.

The speakers are very good in the EP3 and so is the decay and sustain.