REVIEW - Casio AP250 Digital Piano - 2013 model UNDER $1000 - RECOMMENDED

REVIEW - Casio AP250 Digital Piano - I recommend the new 2013 Casio AP250 furniture digital piano ($999 internet discount price) because it offers a surprisingly realistic piano playing experience in a very low price range for hammer weighted style key action movement, a full size 3-pedal unit for traditional piano pedaling, and acoustic piano tone realism in a smaller size traditional furniture style cabinet (with a metal sliding key cover) available in satin brown. Overall, the AP250 is the same piano as the new Casio PX750 contemporary compact model as far as key action and functions go except for a few important things: The AP250 projects the piano sound direct through its two speakers and 16 watts of stereo audio power inside of its cabinet producing a good piano tone for its cabinet size. Also, the AP250 has a more elegant style brown furniture style cabinet with a privacy back panel and a very simple but clean look along with a sliding metal key cover and a matching piano bench as opposed to the bench being optional. The AP250 is also fairly lightweight with stand and pedals (only 87lbs) and the piano itself can be detached from the stand & pedals for easy moving. 

The Casio company itself is based in Tokyo, Japan (left pic) and has been producing digital pianos and musical instruments including digital keyboards, synthesizers, pianos, guitars, and other sophisticated musical instruments for over 30 years, which is a long time in my opinion. They are obviously also well known for their keyboards, watches, digital cameras, calculators, and hundreds of other digital products so technology is not new to them. Casio is generally thought of as a company that gives you a lot of "bang for the buck" in the lower price ranges and it's certainly true for the AP250 in my opinion. By the way, all Casio digital pianos come with a long 3 year parts and labor factory warranty, and are fairly reliable based on my personal experience as well as other people I know who own Casio pianos, so there is little reason to buy extended warranties for these pianos.

Casio AP250 Piano

I have played the new AP250 and like the way the it plays and sounds. The main control panel buttons are easy to see and located in front of you across the top as opposed to being on the side of the keyboard which make accessing the main functions more user friendly on the AP250, unlike other digital pianos. The piano has 18 nice instrument tones including strings, harpsichord, organ, electric pianos, etc, five of which are various realistic sounding acoustic pianos which is one of the most important features to have on a digital piano. A good variety of acoustic piano tones allows you to play and reproduce different types of piano music including classical, jazz, pop, country, etc. There are a few newer digital pianos from other brands available in lower prices ranges including Yamaha & Roland, but they typically have only two acoustic piano sounds, so having five of them is very good. Also, the piano sound is almost always better when there is more piano sound computer memory (called polyphony) and the AP250 has 128-note polyphony which is very good in this price range (Yamaha & Roland also have 128-note polyphony). It's generally always better to get more polyphony than less. Having more polyphony also helps with getting more realistic pedal sustain smoothness when sustaining multiple notes on the keys. Playing the pedals is a very important aspect of piano playing and this would include having good, resonate pedal sustain reproduction instead of just on & off sustain as is in many other digital pianos and keyboards. The better pedal sustain reproduction is also known as "half-pedaling," and the AP250 has that feature which is important as your playing skill level increases. All regular acoustic pianos have a "gradual sustain" pedaling (the right pedal) so getting "half-pedal" sustain on your digital piano is a good thing.

As far as key action movement and dynamic response goes, the AP250 is very good (feels like a real upright piano) for its low price and I was impressed when I played it, and it takes a lot to impress me :). Key action is always the number one concern of piano teachers and those people that can play piano at higher skill levels. many people ask me "does this digital piano feel and respond like a real acoustic piano?" My answer is that most brands and models of real acoustic pianos feel and play differently from each other including uprights & grands. There are different price ranges and qualities just like in anything you can buy, so the AP250 is not going to be replacing a Steinway grand piano anytime soon:) However, for its price range it is an exceptional piano in being able to reproduce an acoustic piano playing experience with the proper hammer weighted action (very realistic), proper tonal dynamics (with 3 key sensors per key unlike many others with just 2 sensors), smooth volume response, and fairly good decay and attack times. Decay time is how long the piano sound continues when you first press the key down and then release it while pressing down the damper sustain pedal. The longer the "decay time" the better the piano sound.

Casio AP250 keyboard

As far as the piano keys themselves go, the various digital manufacturers have come out with new synthetic "ivory feel" keytops on many digital pianos which is a new material on top of the white keys that tries to reproduce the original real ivory keys that used to be on most acoustic pianos many years ago until it became illegal to use elephant ivory. The ivory substance provided a better playing experience for most people because it helped absorb the sweat your fingers would produce while playing the keys and this material also provided a smoother key surface as well. Also, the black key tops of acoustic pianos were made of ebony (have you heard the term ebony & ivory?) so the black keys also had a better playing surface. To get these new keytops (ivory only) instead of the regular plastic ones, you would need to spend around $1500 or more in the Yamaha, Kawai, or Yamaha brands to get it on furniture cabinet digital pianos. Beyond that, this new material is not the same on different piano brands because some are noticeably better than others. Casio has added a proprietary synthetic ebony and ivory texture to their keys that I like and it's better than some other brands in my opinion. So I give Casio a lot of credit for coming out with such a nice feature at a much lower price than anyone else. Is it worth getting?...that's up to you, but I think it's pretty cool:)

Beyond the piano playing experience, having some useful digital features in the piano which can help with music education and/or playing skills, etc, is always welcome as far as I'm concerned. As a piano teacher & musician I enjoy having these features on my digital pianos and like to see students and recreational piano players get them too. The AP250 allows for the layering or splitting two different sounds at one time like acoustic piano and violins etc, electronically splitting the keyboard into 2 equal parts for duet play for teaching and learning, or to put a different sound on the left hand and a different sound on the right hand which is lots of fun. The piano has a 2-track 1-song recorder for recording two hands independently of each other for playback so you can hear how you did...some people don't want to hear themselves but it really is a good thing to do:). The AP250 also has a key transpose feature to electronically put your song in any key no matter what key you're actually playing it in as well as a number of other useful functions including metronome, key sensitivity control, brightness control, and other useful features. The PXAP250 also has a class compliant USB MIDI connection to computer or iPad device which is very useful for interactive play and learning for both children & adults. There are super cool iPad/tablet apps out there (above pics) to take advantage of this new technology as well as great piano music programs for laptop computers so that you can have a fun interactive time in learning, composing, on screen notation & music creation.

Casio AP250 with closed key cover

Overall for the money, the new 2013 model Casio AP250 looks like it is the best new digital piano out there under $1000 in a traditional cabinet design which reproduces the piano playing experience in a way that makes it seem real...and that's what it's all about. The Casio AP250 in brown would be my pick for someone who wants to be in the lower price range under $1000 having a more traditional piano experience along with a sliding key cover, headphone jacks, realistic acoustic piano sound, great progressive weighted key action & smooth key feel, and useful on-board digital features. 

Casio AP250 with bench

So, are there better digital furniture cabinet pianos out there?...yes there are. But they are all quite a bit more money (at least $1500) including those from Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai. However just because some digital piano brands and models are more money does not necessarily mean they are actually better than pianos for less money. I have seen this kind of thing happen over the years in a variety of pianos, so you cannot necessarily equate low price to low quality and I believe this is the case with the Casio AP250 being a low price but with higher quality. The only downside I can see to this AP250 is that the speaker system is a bit small (2 speakers at 18 watts audio power), but that is the case with many digital piano in this price range and in fact other new pianos I have played in this price range have even less audio power. I would have preferred a more robust internal sound system but I guess you can't have everything:). However for most rooms in an average home, the AP250 should be sufficient for volume. If you want or need louder volume, there are other good digital pianos out there that can do this but they typically cost more money. With that being said, given what the Casio AP250 does have, I would definitely recommend this new model for its low price.

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 me direct at 602-571-1864