REVIEW - Yamaha P155 & Kawai EP3 Digital Pianos - Both nice in a similar price range but which one is BEST?

UPDATED REVIEW - July 3, 2012 - RECOMMENDED - Kawai EP3 audio demos at bottom of this blog Review - The Yamaha P155 portable digital piano ($995 internet discount price, top left pic) is made by a company that knows  how to build pianos and has years of experience producing both acoustic and digital instruments. The same is true for the Kawai piano company in having produced world class acoustic and digital upright & grand pianos along with their very nice EP3 portable digital piano available only in the US ($1099 internet discount price, above pic). Both of these fine piano companies have their world headquarters in Hamamatsu City, Japan and are strong competitors and recognized by musicians and piano teachers throughout the world as offering high quality piano products.

So it comes as no surprise that even though both the Yamaha P155 and Kawai EP3 portable models are pushing 3 years old now based on when they first came out, both pianos are still the current models in the $1000-$1100 digital piano market. They have a very high quality piano touch & tone and easy to use features in a sturdy cabinet weighing in at under 50lbs, so they are not too heavy. Roland, Casio, Kurzweil, or Korg have higher and lower priced portable digital pianos that are quite good, but they compete in those other price ranges. Both the Kawai EP3 and Yamaha P155 have very good internal speaker systems that allows for a surprisingly full reproduction of a professional quality piano sound as well as nice key actions. Both pianos are priced separately without the factory built piano style stand which would be an extra cost.

As far as which one is best, that is really a subjective choice. Some people will like the Kawai and others the Yamaha. However I have carefully played each one and compared them with each other (which most people have not) so I do have an educated personal choice and it would be the Kawai EP3 (pictured left with optional stand). Here are my top 10 reasons why I like the Kawai EP3 over the Yamaha P155:

1. The EP3 has a better, more realistic key action which moves more smoothly and quickly like a regular acoustic upright piano. The Yamaha P155 key action is a little too heavy, especially on the upper octaves above middle C, and other people who have tried the P155 have mentioned this as well. Those octaves on the P155 have physically stiff touch resistance when playing (especially lightly or softly) which is unnatural  as compared to a good acoustic upright or grand piano. This can be an issue when playing music where you need more finger speed or want a light subtle touch. I was surprised by this as Yamaha typically knows what they're doing, but this model does not live up to my expectations on authentic piano weighted key action and movement in that way, although some have suggested this unnatural heaviness is a good thing, but I would disagree. I have played a number of P155's and they are all the same. Both Yamaha and Kawai key actions are graded weighted hammer style, although as I mentioned above, the weight of the upper octaves on the P155 is heavier and unnatural on the upper octaves with too much upward pressure resistance based on my experience with acoustic pianos. There is a key velocity "sensitivity function" which allows for velocity curve changes, but this does little to change this issue on the P155.
2. The Kawai has a better built-in audio system including 2 main bass reflex speakers and 4 smaller speakers (total of 6 speakers) for an even fuller sound reproduction, as opposed to 2 speakers in the Yamaha which are smaller than the Kawai main speakers. The stereo amplifier power is also slightly less in the Yamaha (24 watts total) as opposed to 26 watts in the Kawai, although they are close.
3. Acoustic piano tone resonation and dynamics are better in the Kawai in my opinion. Both Yamaha and Kawai have various company words to describe the kind of action they use or the way the sound is produced or sampled. I understand the need for terminology but at the end of the day it's what you feel and hear that really counts. So I give both pianos a definite thumbs up for tone and resonance but even more so for the Kawai as far as coming closer to an acoustic piano in dynamic touch levels and fluid movement as well as very smooth half-pedaling on the damper pedal (both pianos have this) for realistic sustain control for various kinds of music.
5. Total amount of instrument tones on the Kawai is 21 as opposed to 17 on the Yamaha. The Kawai has 3 grand piano sounds (which can be edited and adjusted to your own tastes) as opposed to 2 piano sounds on the Yamaha, although the Yamaha piano sounds are very good and I do like them. The other instrument sounds including electric pianos, string symphonies, guitars, organs (with Leslie digital slow/fast speed control for B3 sounds which is very authentic), etc, are MUCH better and noticeably more realistic on the Kawai than the Yamaha.
6. The EP3 has a very cool pedal function called "pedal hold." This enables some of the more legato strings and choirs, and organs to have extended and continual sustain while being played as solo sounds or layered with piano sounds which normally decay. Without pedal hold, the legato sounds would decay and fade out like a piano normally does, which is not natural. Kawai has this feature but Yamaha does not. Some people may never need pedal hold because they are at a beginner level. But if you move up from there you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
6. The stereo reverb effects are noticeably better on the Kawai and this is important in getting a bigger more elegant piano tone reproduction as well as being better at enhancing the other instrument tones. If you don't know what reverb effects can do for tone enhancement and how important they can be, then just know that good digital reverb effects can be very useful. Yamaha has them but they are very weak and limited.
7. There are 30 realistic drum rhythm patterns in the Kawai and none on the Yamaha. Yamaha does have a metronome for timing as does the Kawai, but no drum rhythm patterns such as jazz, rock, march, Latin, Gospel, funk, Country, ballad, waltz and so on. Not only do I love to have good built-in drum patterns for myself to play along with, but I frequently use them for student lesson training with timing issues and understanding how to interact with a real drum set.
8. The Kawai has a "4 hands mode" which allows the keyboard to be specially electronically split into two identical smaller keyboards for duet playing or teacher-student simultaneous play. This can be very useful depending on the situation. I use this feature for student piano lessons and recitals. Yamaha does not have this feature.
9 The Kawai EP3 has a USB output connection to computer. Many people these days are connecting their digital pianos to their home computer or iPad as I do. There is a large amount of great interactive music software out there that make the piano playing and learning experience even better. The Yamaha only has the older MIDI output connections which still allows for connection, but it's not as user friendly and requires a special USB adapter box for conversion to USB.
10. When you sit down to a higher quality piano like these 2 models from Kawai and Yamaha, you just want to  play it with the grand piano sounds and perhaps a few other instruments and "connect with it." I feel I have more of a "connection" when playing the Kawai EP3 than I do with the Yamaha P155. But that's just me. You may feel differently.

Here are some things I like better about the Yamaha P155 (pictured left with optional stand) over the Kawai EP3:

1. The Yamaha looks a bit nicer including its music rack (although that's a still subjective). It comes in a few different colors whereas the Kawai only comes in black and is a bit more sterile looking, although it still looks nice and is fine for my needs.
2. The P155 can take a USB flash drive for storing piano recordings that you may have done on the piano. That is an advantage if you need to store your recordings for later playback or you can put the flashdrive into your computer to download into music software. The Kawai cannot do that.
3. The Yamaha has 128 notes of polyphony as opposed to 96 in the Kawai which can help with the overall piano tone and instrument playing especially for larger more complex scores and when layering two sound together. Although 128 notes of polyphony is better, 96 is gnerally sufficient and the difference is not an issue or really noticeable. If the Yamaha or Kawai had closer to 200 notes of polyphony (which is more of an expense to do) then that would be a very significant increase and a good thing.

As far as comparing the other features on both pianos including editing features, 2-track recording, layering & splitting two tones which they both do, transpose, and other  functions, both pianos are very close in that way and either would be just fine. Both pianos can have external speakers (powered or unpowered) connected to them using the piano audio outputs, and the Kawai has an on/off switch to turn off the internal speaker system whenever desired which is a very nice feature. And finally, the Kawai EP3 has a very handy stereo line in jack for CD players and iPods, etc so that you can listen to your favorite audio song files through the piano speakers or a pair of headphones and play along with them live with the piano...that is very cool and the Yamaha does not have that feature. The Kawai EP3 is $100 more than the Yamaha P155 but I think that is a small difference to pay for what the Kawai EP3 offers. However I believe you could be very happy with either piano. People want to know if there are advantages of one over the other and there are, but I believe the Kawai EP3 in this case comes out on top.

And speaking of Kawai, if you want to go to the next step as far as a quality portable digital piano, then you should also take a look at the Kawai MP6 at $1499. It is a big upgrade in piano tone and key action touch as compared to the EP3 or the Yamaha P155. Take a look a my blog review below when you have time.

Kawai MP6 Review

Here are some EP3 demos below to give you an idea of what this instrument really sounds like and why I think it's a "best buy" for its $1099 internet discount price.

   JazzMan (Modern Grand Piano, Bass player, Drummer)

   Jazz Trio Jammin' (traditional jazz group)

   Classical Zone (Classical Piano Solo)

   Romantic Grand Strings (Grand Piano and Symphonic String orchestra)

   Concert String Symphony (Famous Classical String Symphony)

   PIPE Organ Movie (Impressive Full Classical Pipe Organ)

   Digital River (The famous Yamaha DX7 digital piano sound)

   DigiPiano Groove (Famous Fender Rhodes Sound in Action)

   You've got the Vibe (Dual Mallet Stereo Vibraphone)

   Cool B3 (Jimmy Smith Full Hammond B3)

   Hot Hammond & Leslie (The Joey D sound)


  Harpsichord Heaven (Mozart Himself would love this)

   Guitar Folk Scene (The James Taylor Sound)


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 me direct at 602-571-1864

George Gershwin, Leonard Praskins, & Tim Praskins - Our Musical Connection

If you are old enough to remember the famous American pianist, composer, and musician George Gershwin (left pic) and his incredible music, or you have played, listened to, or studied his music before, then you may understand what a great composer his was and how he influenced American music for the last 100 years. Some of his famous compositions include "An American in Paris," "I Got Rhythm," "Rhapsody in Blue," "Porgy & Bess," "Swanee," "Foggy Day," "Summertime," and many others. His music influenced Jazz singers & composers, Broadway plays, film scores, famous musicals, and so many other types of music for the last 10 years. In fact his song "I Got Rhythm" is still a very popular piece included in various current piano curriculum for students including adults and children. So his music continues on even to this day. George wrote the music and his older brother Ira wrote the lyrics. So the Gershwin brothers were famous worldwide for their incredible music.

The reason I bring this up is before Ira Gershwin came on the scene in 1918 as George's partner and writer of the lyrics to his songs, my Great Uncle Leonard Praskins (left pic) had been good friends with George Gershwin and writing lyrics to George's songs for a couple of years prior to Ira Gershwin becoming George's lyricist when Leonard and George were both in their earlier teens. It has been documented how these very first songs that George ever composed had lyrics written by my great uncle. However, due to different career paths, my great uncle and George parted ways and while George continued to be a huge influence in the music world, Leonard became a very famous writer of Broadway plays, movies, and TV shows including, "The Champ," "Bird of Paradise," "Treasure Island," "The Call of the Wild, and older TV series including "Maverick," "Wagon Train," "Gunsmoke," and Disney's "Davy Crocket." Pretty cool actually with that kind of history so I am glad that I can carry on the family musical tradition. Not only do I play many instruments, teach, record, and compose music, but I am helping many other families throughout the US and the world understand how important it is to get their family involved in good music in some way. Once a person's life at any age is filled with good music (especially playing the piano), they will find it a comfort and an inspiration to their soul and something that will always be with them until the end. Very poetic, but true.

I hope you will do yourself a favor and get yourself and/or family members into music and purchase a good digital or acoustic piano to help make your dreams come true like I have. You never know what kind of positive influence you could have on others by making great music like George & Ira and my Uncle Leonard did so many years ago. In fact, one of my favorite songs in my teens that I use to play on guitar & piano and sing with a partner of mine was George Gershwin's "Summertime" song. At the time I did not know that my Uncle Leonard had anything to do with George Gershwin because he did not talk about it and there was no internet then for me to find out. I wish you and your family musical success.


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 me direct at 602-571-1864

*Below is just a brief introduction to George Gershwin's life & career:

George Gershwin's parents emigrated from Russia to the U.S.A in 1891. He was born Jacob Gershowitz in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898. Early on he excelled at street sports in his poor lower east side Manhattan neighborhood and had no early musical contact. His first musical exposure came when a piano was brought to the Gershowitz home for his brother, Ira. George (age 12) took an immediate interest in the instrument and began to play a popular song he had memorized from a neighbor's player piano. His parents invested in lessons for George beginning at age 13. He studied with the American composers Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Wallingford Riegger and with the Russian-born composer and theorist Joseph Schillinger. At the age of 15 Gershwin had quit school and was a pianist and "song plugger" for a Tin Pan Alley music-publishing firm, Jerome H. Remick & Company, earning $15 a week.
To supplement his income, on Saturdays, Gershwin recorded piano rolls under various pseudonyms. For his efforts he received $35 for six rolls. He was a great admirer of the comedian Ed Wynn and it is at this time, in honor of him, that Gershwin changed the end of his last name.
Gershwin's first song to be published was When you want 'em, you don't get 'em, when you got 'em, you don't want 'em in 1916. It was the success in 1918 of his song Swanee brought him fame, established him as a composer, and marked the end of his systematic study of music. Swanee was originally written for a revue at the newly opened Capitol Theatre. It was not successful on that outing but when presented by Al Jolson in Sinbad it became the greatest hit of Gershwin's entire career. After this, Gershwin continued to be a prolific composer of many famous pieces as well as being ahead of his time musically. He unfortunately died an untimely death in 1937 from a brain tumor.

The video below is a very cool rendition of George's "Summertime." 




 Here actual video of George playing "I Got Rhythm." Incredible!





A very famous Gershwin piece below called "Rhapsody in Blue"

Casio AP620, AP420 Pianos & Apple iPad/iPad2 - Announcement! Casio Pianos now have full USB MIDI connectivity with Apple iPad CoreMIDI applications

AZ Piano News - PRESS RELEASE - December 14th, 2012 - Owners of the popular Casio digital pianos can now interface directly with the new Apple iPad because Casio designed its new digital pianos to have CoreMIDI USB Class Compliant software. This will enable the piano student, recreational piano player, or musician to interface more easily and utilize the incredible array of Apple software 3rd party software that has been created for apple computer devices including the famous iPad. As far as I know (at the moment), no other home digital cabinet piano brand under $2000 has this quicker and more user friendly connection capability. This means that you can directly connect your Casio piano to the iPad using the the "Class Compliant" USB MIDI connection on these Casio pianos and connect directly to the iPad with a regular USB cable going to the iPad "Camera Connection Kit." You can then connect the iPad stereo audio output to the Casio stereo inputs (few pianos under $2000 except for Casio have stereo audio inputs) with an inexpensive audio cable to hear the music you are creating, composing, or learning on from the iPad. In short, an owner of a new Casio piano has easy access to the beautiful iPad user interface screen and all of the very exciting music software (including the world famous "Garage Band" software program that can be used on the iPad for music education and practice at home as well as full studio recording and music creation. You will now be interfacing and connecting with almost unlimited ways of writing music, seeing music, printing music, music education, and music creation on the portable iPad device all at home on your Casio Privia piano.

This is a huge deal for the Casio Piano company as well as the digital piano business in general. iPads will be to kids as (they grow up) what laptop computers are now to adults. Kids are growing up in the "iPad world" and as such take these things for granted and treat them as just every day common items that adults otherwise think are so fantastic. Adults have experiences and history with previous technology which younger kids do not so much. If you want your kids (and yourself as adults) to have an even more exciting time and worthwhile time with piano education and musicianship in general and be able to compete musically in tomorrow's world, then these newer Casio pianos might be the way to go.  It's just a matter of time before other digital pianos companies are able to connect with an iPad in this way where they are "plug & play," but right now Casio is in the lead. So congratulations goes out to Casio for making this happen.

Do a Google search (including Youtube videos) of the various music software now available for iPad including music notation, educational software (such as eMedia piano interactive lesson program, left pic) and the Apple "Garage Band" software, and you'll see what I mean when I say "exciting things" can happen with your music when connecting a digital USB piano with iPad. A USB connection on any good digital piano is all it takes to connect to computers and iPad/tablets, but the Casio pianos can do it more quickly and efficiently with CoreMIDI USB Compliant.

Here is a good example of a new Casio piano that would be a good choice to own and connect with an iPad: Casio PX850 Review


For more info on digital pianos and how to get one of these models for LESS, please contact me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864