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Hi Everyone,

I've been shopping for a new digital stage piano for the last month and I would like your final opinions.

I've played the Yamaha P120, P250 and S90. I've played a few Rolands and the Kawai MP9500. Yesterday, while browsing these forums, I read about the Kawai ES3. I found one in a shop about 30 minutes from my house so I drove out there and now I've got it to play with for a week.

Originally, I was set to pretty much buy the P120. I found that it felt very heavy though. The problem seemed to be that while on real pianos with a heavy feel, there's a little "give" whereas the P120 was heavy all the way down and all the way up. It just felt a little off to play.

With the ES3, I find that it feels a lighter and more bouncy (not bad bouncy though).

As for sounds, I can definitely hear a difference, but they both sound good. The ES3's onboard speakers make the piano sound like crap, but through a nice keyboard amp it sounds nice to me.

Does anybody have any experience comparing these too?

Also, the reason for discarding other keyboards was weight. I have a nice piano at home, this is merely a gigging keyboard so I need it to be portable (else I'd be buying the MP9500).

Also, would the P120 fanatic please refrain from cluttering up this thread? I've been reading through the forums and you rarely have anything valuable to add. Thanks

Bitruder,

I have a Kawai ES5, which is, basically, an ES3 with a detachable stand, a subwoofer and a few more voices. I have an opinion similar to yours about P120. As hard as I tried to like its action, it seemed too heavy for me to be comfortable. I concur with your observation that the heaviness seems constant over all the trajectory of the key. I also preferred the tone - of course, a personal opinion.

It seems that few people get to try the Kawai ES3/5, and therefore get few reviews. I like mine a lot.

Of course, MP9500 is quite nice, but way too heavy.

P.S. Your message said ES9 in the body, but the title said ES3. I assume that you meant ES3.

Oops... I fixed it. Yes, I meant the ES3.

I played it more tonight and I think it's the one!

Well, if you prefer the ES3 over the P120, then buy the ES3.
Buying a Digital Piano (or an accoustic piano for that matter) is completely up to the purchaser.
Buy the piano that you think is better.
Happy Playing:)

I started my digital piano search with ES series because I like Kawai's acoustic piano sound better. I tried both ES3 and the older ES1. In the end I didn't buy the Kawai's. For me the keys were light but had a feeling of upward pressure. While the sound was good, it's not as detailed and sounded a bit electronic. There are fewer buttons, much thinner manual, and fewer demo songs compared to comparable Yamaha models. On the plus side, ES3 did have USB interface and stereo line-in.

These were all personal subjective impressions. Listen carefully and buy the one you like is all that matters.