Digital Piano REVIEWS - 2011/ 2012 & MY TOP PICKS! Kawai MP6, Casio AP620, Kawai CE220, Roland FP7F, Yamaha P155, Kawai EP3, Casio AP420, & More

UPDATED REVIEW - February 15, 2013 - My picks for best digital pianos under $2000! 
For a recent review of new digital pianos under $1000 go here: New Digital pianos under $1000

As an expert digital piano consultant to many people throughout the world, I like to share my knowledge of digital pianos with people just like you. There are SO many choices when it comes to new digital pianos these days and people obviously want the best piano tone and touch they can get (with some other nice features) for the lowest price possible. That's what we all want and that's something I look for in a digital piano. The variations of digital pianos also can make it confusing because they can come in nice full size furniture cabinets, smaller slimline modern cabinets, lighter weight portable pianos with built-in speakers and optional manufacturer built stands & pedals, and also portable pianos with no built-in speakers.

There are various digital piano configurations because people have different musical tastes and needs. Digital pianos are used for home, church, school, stage, recording studio, gigging, and other venues so it also depends where you will be using the piano. However, if you are in the price range that most people are in, (which is between $1000- $2000US) and want the very best possible acoustic piano tone and key touch that you can get in a digital piano regardless of cabinet, its other features, or weather it has internal speakers or not, then for me there is a clear choice right now and that is the Kawai MP6. The MP6 is just the piano keyboard alone without a built-in speaker system, stand, pedals, or bench. All those things have to be purchased separately or in a package but do not add a lot of extra cost.

Many Roland, Kawai, Yamaha, Casio, and Korg digital pianos are very good with a few being better than others of course.  Bu the Kawai MP6 portable piano keyboard (above & below left pics - $1499 base price) is my overall pick for best piano sound and key action along with flexibility to make it a very exciting piano own. The reason for this piano being my top pick is because the MP6 plays very smoothly with an organic baby grand piano feel and tone that even a pro can appreciate. I would consider the key action touch weight on this piano to be medium or slightly firm (as opposed to light) which gives the player better control with piano dynamics for the softest tone to the loudest...and everything in between. The MP6 is fairly easy to operate and has enough cool features for making music in ways that will enhance your overall playing and music enjoyment experience.

The Kawai MP6 does not have automatic chord arrangement styles like a few of the other pianos but it can play back general MIDI song arrangements for lesson piano books and general ear training which is a great feature to have. This feature also allow the player to mute out specific instruments so that you can play those parts along with the song for learning and enjoyment The MP6 is mainly built for superior grand piano tone and realistic key action touch along with some very impressive instrument sounds including vintage electric pianos, symphonic strings, B3 jazz organs with digital drawbars, guitars, brass, flutes, synths, and more realistic instrument tones. And I am very particular when it comes to some of these sounds and the Kawai MP6 certainly passes my test with flying colors. If you are an experienced piano player, advanced student, very particular in wanting the most realistic piano tone & touch possible, or are a beginner and just want the best pure piano experience (and don't care about cabinet and built-in speakers), in my opinion this would be the perfect digital piano in that "under $2000 US price range." Below is a link to a recent article I wrote about the MP6 with more details on this fine piano. Obviously this instrument is not in a cabinet so that can be a downside for some people and then you would need to look at something else.
http://azpianonews.blogspot.com/2011/01/kawai-mp6-digital-piano-awesome-piano.html

2nd place goes to the new Casio Privia PX850 digital cabinet piano (left pic). This 2013 model is simply amazing for its low internet price of $1099 because the piano has most of the features of the more expensive pianos have like 40 watts of stereo audio power, ivory feel keys, USB direct output, realistic hammer weighter & graduated key action touch, and more. It also has features that the higher priced pianos do not have such as 256-note polyphony piano sound chip, four insternal speakers instead of two, USB flash drive audio wav file recording and playback, a lift top lid for sound direct expansion, and other cool features. Considering all of the possibilities out there right now for a great digital piano buy in a compact furniture cabinet, I would highly recommend this new Casio PX850. Go to my review to read more about this impressive piano: Casio PX850 review

3rd place  goes to (once again) Kawai with its very popular CE220 furniture cabinet piano (left pic - $1899) for a great piano under $2000 with the features that people want. The CE220 has actual wood acoustic piano keys (no one else has this feature in this price range) and a very realistic sounding acoustic piano sound using 192-notes of polyphony along with having many useful educational features in an attractive cabinet. Go here to read CE220 Review.

4th place I would choose the new Yamaha Arius YDP162 cabinet piano ($1499 internet price - left pic). The new 2013 Yamaha YTDP162 is a really fine piano overall with nice piano sound and has many features including 128 note polyphony, ivory feel keys, 40 watts of power, layer & duo, a very smooth key action (although a bit heavy at times), and a more tradtional cabinet. Yamaha makes a series of the Arius models and you can go here to read about some of them as well as my review on the new Yamaha YDP162: Yamaha YDP162 review

Below those pianos (under $1000) would be would be the new and very impressive Casio PX780 ($999) piano (go here for review: Casio PX780 review. The PX780 (which I have played) is a lighter weight compact cabinet piano with lots of impressive & useful educational & performance features at a very low price and is really is pretty amazing for its low price:). After that would be the Yamaha YDP181, Kawai EP3 and Yamaha P155 piano (in that order) all having overall good touch, (although the the Kawai is better in my opinion), and realistic and resonate piano sounds with good dynamic range ($1699, $1099 & $999 base price).

The Korg keyboard company still produces three basic digital pianos with the Korg SP350 ($999) being the best of the three. However, this model uses older technology (about 6-7 yrs old at this point) with just 60 notes of polyphony and not near the capabilities, touch, and dynamic piano range as the Kawai EP3  (left pic with optional stand) or Yamaha P155 (below left), so the Korg is not really a competitor these days. You would need to add an optional factory made wood stand for a more complete package on the EP3 and P155. Casio just came out with a new furniture model piano called the PX850 for just $1099 that is quite impressive at it's low price and in fact is the lowest price of any top Japanese manufacturer to offer what it does in an attractive compact cabinet with the basic piano features that many people want. 

 The link below is a more in depth review of both the Yamaha P155 and Kawai EP3. Check it out when you have time:

http://azpianonews.blogspot.com/2011/06/yamaha-p155-vs-kawai-ep3-digital-pianos.html

Besides the P155 portable digital piano (left pic - $999), Yamaha also has the Arius YDP135R furniture cabinet model at just $999 internet discount price which very nice. Although all of the top brand digital pianos are good in various ways, this rating is my personal opinion based on piano touch & feel, action movement, piano tone, price point, and what many people are looking for in the respective price ranges. Yes, there are other models being advertised I have left out of this list, but the ones I've listed here cover what people are generally asking for throughout the country. As far as the various features in each one of these pianos and their detailed specs, you can go to the manufacturer web site to get that and they usually give a good description. I believe that certain pianos just stand out as "best overall" in their category and what people are wanting for under $2000 and the pianos I mentioned here are consistently the best sellers.

A person can spend more than $2000 and have some other good piano choices such as the Roland HP505, Kawai CN34, Yamaha CLP440, and others. So there certainly are plenty of very nice digital pianos for more money (up to $20,000 and more for digital Grand Pianos), but most families want to be under $2000, and in many cases closer to $1000.

Based on my experience both past & present, I do recommend people stay away from the off-brand names like "Williams" which is a Guitar Center house brand and is only sold by the Guitar Center company and it's subsidiaries including Musicians Friend, Music & Arts, Woodwind and Brasswind, and a few others. Also I would stay away from the brand "Benjamin Adams" sold by the Sam Ash company as well as Suzuki & Adagio sold primarily in the US by Costco. It's all about having realistic key touch action, proper dynamics, smooth key volume response, realistic piano tone up and down the entire 88-keys, no unreasonable key noise, and proper pedal response. There are basic minimum standards that pianos need to have and these off-brand pianos simply do not offer it.

Also, the off brands or house brands (in many cases) are not actual piano manufacturers but simply created names produced by relatively unknown Asian factories with (what I consider to be) low quality technology and parts for a low price. Their names sound American to give you the impression that they are somehow as good or better than the Japanese brands, but they are not. They are all made in China and although generally speaking product being made in China is not an issue as far as I'm concerned because many of the top brands now have factories in China. It's what the product actually is, how it's made, the parts and construction that is used, and the quality control provided that counts. I have played all of the off brand pianos offered in the US that I have mentioned here and would not recommend them to anyone if they are looking for a good piano playing experience and long term investment (no matter what the price is). The piano cabinets themselves, extra sounds, and other features offered in these digital pianos are only important if the primary functions & features of the piano passes the test. Low price and an attractive furniture style cabinet alone is definitely not a good way to judge piano quality, although unfortunately many people do. You will likely purchase a piano that you'll want to keep for a while so be sure you do your homework and get something that is a good instrument from one of the name piano brands, you'll be glad you did.

Aditional UPDATE: I also recommend the new Samick SG110 digital baby grand. Samick is a well known South Korean piano & musical instrument manufacturer which has been making acoustic grand and upright pianos for over 50 years.  Samick is also one of the largest guitar building companies in the world and has made thousands of guitars for famous companies including Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, and others and also builds the Greg Bennett and Silvertone line of acoustic & electric guitars. Samick recently came out with a line of medium priced higher quality digital baby grands and two main reasons why I believe these pianos are a good choice is because the Samick company entered into a business relationship with the Fatar key action company and the Orla digital sound electronics company, both of which are located in Italy. These two well known European companies have been designing quality digital piano components for many years and Samick is now using the Fatar graduated hammer piano key actions with a very quiet action movement and good dynamic response in a brand new digital  3' deep mini baby grand model called the SG110, offered in a beautiful high gloss polished ebony.

Samick SG110

The normal  store pricing of this model is about $3000 but it's possible to purchase one for slightly more than $2000 (ask me how) so that's why I am including it here in this review. Although this model has only 64 notes of polyphony which is sufficient for many situations (128 would have been better), it does include some very cool interactive educational features for piano lessons using a USB flashdrive along with a vast array of fun instrument sounds. It also has a strong sounding built-in speaker system along with a record-playback function and LCD display screen. This model is best suited for piano students and recreational piano players, but for more advanced students or players I would recommend something else. You can certainly spend a lot more money on a piano like this and move up in sound quality & features in the more popular name brands including Yamaha, Roland, etc. But for the price, this Samick SG110 in my opinion is a good choice, especially in piano sound & key action movement than the typical low price smaller sized digital baby grands you'll findfrom Suzuki, Williams, Adagio, and others. The key action movement and response is the heart of any digital or acoustic piano and with this Samick model having a good one from the European company Fatar which is a nice benefit. Go here to read my review on this model: Samick SG110 review  

When I evaluate digital pianos, I always look for higher quality at the lowest possible price and I believe that beginner piano students or recreational piano players should not have to spend a lot of money to get a good digital piano that performs properly. There are minimum standards you should look for in a digital piano and if you do not get them, you will be sorry later on. 

I know it's difficult for people to judge these various brands and models on their own when they really don't have the experience & expertise, and it can get more confusing when different piano and instrument stores tell you different things depending on the brands they're selling. That's why I am happy to help anyone who wishes to contact me and will answer their questions about what might be best for them. Even though the choices I have made here for my top digital piano picks are good ones, there may be other options for YOU depending on your price range and specific needs & wants.  I am committed to good digital pianos, good music, good piano instruction, and enriched lives for the piano player and for those who enjoy listening to good music. Go to this link below to see how important I believe music is in the lives of children and why you should should get involved in your community (if possible) like I have in furthering the positive power of music in the lives of others.

Phoenix Conservatory of Music - Helping Kids achieve success!

If you want more info on these and other pianos and lower prices than internet or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864