Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha P95 vs Casio PX130

Hi all,

at the same price level I've found the two models in the subject.

After trying both of them, it looks to me that:
- Yamaha -> definitely better sound.
- Casio -> sound less real, more softened, muffled, but the touch is "harder", more similar to a real piano. The Yamaha one seems to have a lighter touch.

Because of such considerations I can't decide about which one to buy.

Any suggestion? Personal experiences?

Thanks
Luca

Touch is the one thing you can't change on a digital piano. It is also a personal thing. Go with the one you like best.

I find the Yamaha action closer to a real piano. The good quality pianos I've played do not have a heavy touch. Like Galaxy said, go with what feels best to you. But if you're being influenced by how you think a piano should feel, I'd suggest walking into a store that sells fine grand pianos and play a few.

I suspect that many of the people who keep saying that heavier actions feel more real haven't played many high end grand pianos. It's like what I said elsewhere... piano manufacturers try to minimize many of the things people here are looking for, including added weight and a noticeable escapement feeling and gradedness. DP manufacturers are trying to engineer in some of the same things that real piano manufacturers try to engineer out!

I happen to use a Casio PX-3 these days for my gigs, it has features that I find very useful, but I wish it felt more like the P95. And I also happen to agree with you that the P95's piano sound is better.

In my opinion... go with Yammie at this range of price (~USD 500,00)

For quality of after sales service, and build quality, it's the Yamaha over the Casio.

Kurt

+1

We see too many posts re problems with Casio actions: sticking or wobbling keys. That does not mean that all Casios have these problems, it does mean that it would be a good idea to know the store's return policy.

I went with the P95 over the PX330. I felt as though when I am playing the Yamaha it feels like playing a musical instrument.
I didn't like the touch on the Casio and it felt like too much of a computer (as much as I love computers and am a techie)

I feel as though the presentation of the Yamaha lends itself to being more musical. At some point I will add the stand and pedals

FWIW, I actually see cautionary posts like this at a rate of 20x any actual posts of owner complaints. It's like a broken record.

As for the comment about after sales service, I'm just curious about KurtZ's experience. I've found both to be good, and both to be occasionally bureaucratic (not unexpected as these are multi-billion dollar companies).

It's funny but on this forum, most recommendations for Casio are given begrudgingly, and yet the products from the Casio's Privia line are winning critical acclaim from industry staples like Keyboard Magazine here and here and MMR + others like the NY Times . These models all share the same action & feel. Casio is definitely winning the real world battle for customers in their target price range.

As for the touch, both are entry level DPs ... they are remarkable for the price*. You have to include "for the price" and essentially the difference between the two essentially amounts to preference, not a measurable better or worse in regards to accuracy. Touch on acoustic pianos varies tremendously even among comparable, expensive brands.

Whichever you decide, the questions you need to ask are simple: will the DP do what I ask? is this the price I'm willing to pay? do I like it?

I have significantly more experience with Yamaha acoustic pianos, but I see a tendency there that parallels in the digital world. Yamaha makes different levels of products, and often their hard earned professional accolades for their top products are then passed by association to their entry-level products. Is this necessarily fair? In the Acoustic piano world, Yamaha faces an onslaught of high value competitors, especially for their lower line models.

Casio doesn't yet make any $3000 DPs, but their cheap DPs are good and I think they put a lot of pressure on Yamaha.

Both are good, but don't let anyone scare you from a Privia.

I think 20x is an exagerration but I take your point! Nevertheless there's a reason for the caution, I see far more complaints of faults with Casio than any other make. That is due in part by the large number of units Casio sell but that doesn't explain it away entirely. Yamaha sell an awful lot of DPs too!

In my opinion Casios have a lower build quality than other makes and their quality control seems to be poorer too. I'm not saying they're rubbish, they make very good DPs for the price but then Yamaha and Korg and Kawai also make good DPs at around the same price and they feel better made to me. Plus a Yamaha in particular will have a better resale value when you come to upgrade.

Casio is definitely worth considering if someone is buying an entry level DP but it's reasonable to warn them of potential quality issues too!

Out of curiosity, I did a search of this forum for Casio + stuck keys or sticking keys over the last year and the phrase most often associated was "there have been reports of..." The second most common was to the effect of "I've not experienced those problems."

I'm not denying they've happened, just that it seems that a few people are working overtime to send out a warning. While not a comprehensive search, if I have time, I'd like run a tally of owner complaints vs concerned citizens.

I know there's at least two of us who have had problems, I sent mine back for repair, which made it worse, and then got a replacement which is fine. The other person's issue seems less severe and apparently intends to just wait until near the end of the 3 year (UK) guarantee period and then get it repaired then.

I don't understand people mentality - they always want good, durable product for cheap price... With some exceptions confirming the rule you get what you pay for and it should be like that.

OK I get it - people believe in magic, you can produce quality product out of the thin air...

True up to a point but only partly true in this case.

Firstly all Casio DPs use the same samples and actions so paying more for a higher spec Casio won't get you a better quality DP just more features.

Secondly as I mentioned above, Yamaha, Korg and Kawai all produce DPs around the same price as Casio's cheapest decent DP (I'm not counting the CDP200) the PX130. Korg's SP170 rrp is actually cheaper. In my opinion the Korg and Yamaha are better quality than the Casio and it seems that Korg's and Yamaha's quality control is better too. I've never seen Kawai's CL25 but Kawais are generally beautifully made so I would expect good quality from their low end DP too. These companies achieve their low prices by cutting features not quality. If you buy higher spec DPs from these manufacturers you get more features and (depending on model) better actions and samples too.

Sam,
You are correct that Casio has won some awards for some of its products. But these awards do not track longevity, defects, or product quality. The fact is there are a lot of complaints about Casio's actions before the product is even one year old. They used to be about noise and chattering. Now they are noisy and many develope wobbly keys. It seems Casio has actually taken a step backwards with their current keybeds in this regard. I realize they may be taking care of their customers by replacing their defective keybeds, but the number of failures (hard to get a handle from a forum) also is saying something about the lack of product quality. This is Casio's next big hurdle to jump.

Yes, that's me. I have one of the very first PX330's sold in the UK and 3 pairs of keys started clacking together after about 3 months. I was a bit annoyed and disappointed at the time, but not too bothered because of the 3 year warranty. Also I now have a 'better' home DP to go with the Casio stage DP.

The problem is definitely the side to side play of the keys as I can fix it with a very thin plastic shim. I've heard, but not confirmed that later Casio's have better build in this area. Anyone care to comment?

I have been and still go on record saying that the PX330 represents very good value for money and is quite fun to play.

spanishbudda,
I have been noticing the keybeds on the current PX series have more side to side play than on the older Casio I have. Mine barely move side to side on the white keys. The black keys have more side to side movement but play fine. I've noticed the spacing on some of the white keys on the new Casios aren't uniform with some being wider than others.

[Edited]

pv88, I believe the keyboard actions of the PX-130 and AP-620 are largely the same, but for the addition of moisture absorbent key surfaces on the AP model.

Cheers,
James
x

I had a similar dilemma and tried the Yamaha P95, Casio PX130, and Korg SP170. The keys on the Yamaha P95 have very little side-to-side motion while the others have keys that feel mounted on soft rubber, with lots of side-to-side motion. While the P95 has fewer voices and features than the other two, it feels and sounds more like a piano. I ended up with a P85 which at $100 less, is very, very close to the P95, at least for my ears and fingers.

[Edited]