REVIEW - Yamaha YDP161 & YDP181 Digital Pianos - Nice, except for the Key Action

Updated Review - January 25, 2012 - The Yamaha piano company makes great pianos, no doubt about that, and they've been doing tit for many years. I personally own a Yamaha acoustic piano and have played professionally on many Yamaha acoustic & digital pianos as well as their pro keyboards, synths, and organs. My kids even play a Yamaha flute & clarinet. So it will come as no surprise that I like Yamaha musical instruments. I have followed their digital pianos for years and they have always had a very respected reputation for good quality instruments.

Yamaha builds a line of furniture style cabinet digital pianos called the Arius, and they sell for under $2000. They have four Arius models in the US but this review is on the YDP161 ($1499 internet price, left pic) & YDP181 ($1799 internet price, below left pic). Essentially these pianos are about the same in most ways with a few notable upgraded exceptions in the YDP181: slightly bigger speakers, 4 more instrument tones, a USB flash drive input for storage of recorded songs on the piano as well as playback of recorded piano songs from the flashdrive. Also, the YDP181 has a control panel across the front with a LED display which makes it much easier to navigate the various features on the piano. The YDP161 is much more difficult to navigate the various features including the instrument sounds so I much prefer the YDP181 for that reason as well as the other differences.

Both pianos have the same piano sound sampling with 3 dynamic levels, both have midi connectors but no USB (they should have USB output connectors at those selling prices), same amount of polyphony (128 notes which is excellent), same upgraded quieter & heavier GH key action, same audio power rating of 40 watts total with two speakers, same layer functions along with reverb and basic 2-track standard MIDI recording, and same cabinet and pedals with (half-pedal) progressive sustain. Tone quality is better on the 181 because of the larger speakers (although the power is the same on both) and the overall touch movement is good with one exception on both instruments: the key touch when pressing any keys down on the upper octaves is somewhat stiff, in my opinion.

Here's what I mean; when you first apply pressure to the key and try to press very easily and softly as is required in many piano pieces as well as being important for younger beginner students, the GH action in both pianos reacts very unnaturally on the upper key octaves above middle C, as compared with a good acoustic piano. There is an upward resistance to each key that requires a (unnaturally) large amount of finger pressure to get the key to move downward. In other words, the key does not move easily when playing lightly or softly. It's a bit stiff and unnatural going down and that can be a problem when playing light legato or staccato style music and also when younger students with minimal finger strength try to press on the keys.

To see this for yourself, when trying out one of these pianos in a store, turn the volume of the piano all the way down on the piano and then lightly press each key and you should feel the key not going down easily under a lighter touch. Now try that same thing on any good acoustic or grand piano and you'll notice a difference in that the keys on those acoustic pianos should go down easily with a gentile touch. In my opinion with the key action on both the YDP161 & 181 being this way, I would hesitate to recommend these pianos as great substitutes for acoustic pianos and that's really too bad because otherwise I like them and they do have a good piano tone with some other nice features. The lower octaves below Middle C are OK on the intial soft or light touch because regular pianos do offer more key pressure resistance down there. But as far a piano teacher and a piano player is concerned, dynamic physical key touch should be the most important thing in selecting a digital piano, followed by the actual audible response of the piano sound to the key touch with a smooth dynamic range when playing the keys (which both Yamaha's do have), then realistic piano sound with a good speaker system, and then finally smooth pedal action with half-damper control, in that order.

If the keys are unnaturally stiff on the initial touch and not like a typical acoustic piano in that way (try it for yourself), then the player will have to compensate with unnatural finger pressure to compensate. What's also interesting about this is that the lower priced YDP141 ($1149 internet discount price, above left pic) has the basic GHS key action which in my opinion, plays more naturally on the initial touch of the key in the upper octaves, but unfortunately, is a more springy and noisier key movement than the 161 &181, so it has its drawbacks as well.

What I am talking about on the key actions here would, for most people, not be an issue at first because it's not something you'll immediately recognize in a store or if you buy it sight unseen on-line somewhere. But once you or your child start playing a song in the privacy of your home and notice how the keytouch movement really feels, then you may understand why it's important to get a key touch that really moves like an acoustic piano in every way possible. It's important, especially when investing this kind of money. If your younger child is practicing his or her lesson and has a difficult time pressing the keys down, you might otherwise think it's the child's problem with his or her fingers when it really isn't the child's problem at all but instead an issue with the mechanism of the key action not being what it should, in my opinion.

If it were me and I was a getting this piano for a beginning player, I'd probably opt for the lower priced YDP141 or higher priced Yamaha YDPV240 because the key action will be somewhat easier to play. If I was a bit more advanced than a beginner but couldn't move up into a much higher price range, I would be looking at the Kawai digital pianos such as the new CE220 or Casio Celviano pianos which are under $2000 and have an easier, more natural key movement based on my experience.

So that's my opinion for what it's worth, and although I am a big fan of Yamaha musical equipment, I would look at other options besides the YDP161 & 181 at least until they redesign the GH actions in those pianos so they would perform with more ease and natural initial touch on the upper octaves. One other thing, a good piano player can play almost any piano with almost any key action because excellent piano players know how to compensate for various types of key actions so it may not be as much of an issue for that kind of a player. Overall, the Yamaha YDP161 & YDP181 digital pianos are solidly built instruments, reliable, and sound good, although I would submit they are somewhat overpriced for the features you are getting as compared to the other good brands in their price range.You can also look at my reviews for the Kawai CE220 Kawai CE220 Review, Casio AP620 and Roland RP301 and compare what they offer for the money against these Yamaha pianos.

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