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I'm looking at a DGX-650, and getting it with a different stand (I'm tall and would rather have the keyboard a little higher). I'll get the piano with both stands, so I'm hoping its easy-ish to move between them.

Haven't had the chance to look at any over the weekend, in what ways is the YDP162 worse than the P155? Since if it's not really then it does sound rather good (being cheaper than the P155 in the UK)

That said I don't mind waiting a bit if the ES100 will be a real contender, and I haven't looked at Roland/most other companies partially deliberately, as even just looking at Yamaha I'm struggling to choose :P

They have a DGX650 in my local shop. It has the new "Sound Engine" or whatever, and other features which my 630 doesn`t have.

Let us know how you get on with it, will ya?

I would say they are pretty comparable. Nothing jumps out as worse in the YDP162 at first glance. If the YDP is cheaper, it's a fine way to go.



Yeah, option shock is an issue. Still, in a given price range there are usually only one or two pianos per brand and there's quite a bit of difference across brands. Might make sense to investigate whether you prefer Roland or Kawai pianos overall before honing in on the actual model you want.

Fair enough, well I'll leave it a little, see if the ES100 is any good, how much etc. Spending some money on my PC so I don't mind putting off the big outlay for a little bit :P

At the moment I think the YDP162 is at the top of the list.

So it's been a little while, where as I said I've been spending money on my computer and doing some things to it, however now that I've almost finished that, I can focus on this again, finally get something ordered and start playing!

Done some quick googling of the ES100, seems to have some good reviews, but sadly it may not even be released in Europe, and even if it is it won't be for at least a month, which is longer that I really want to wait.

I've been looking at ukpianos, but I've read a couple of potentially iffy things about them here, anyone have any personal experience with them? Their trustpilot seems good.

They also have some brands I haven't heard mentioned at much on their, which according to the owner of the site, some of which are quite good (broadway, roland, classenti?)
His own personal opinion on the ones he stocks (or most of at least)
http://www.ukpianos.co.uk/howard-score-including-prices

Opinions?

According to the Howard Scoring System, the P-105 is every bit as good as the Casio Px-850 as they have the same score. Also, the Roland F-20 is as good as the P-155 but is $200 cheaper. The Casio PX-150 is near the very bottom. This pretty much mirrors my own opinion.

While the P-105 gets a pretty low score for action, its score for sound is not that much worse than a Roland FP-80. Its too bad he hasn't reviewed the Kawai Mp-10 and ES7 yet. The Kawai CA95 gets a very disappointing score though.

Basically the Roland HP507 is regarded as the best dp at the best price. I have the same opinion. That probably is the most objective evaluation of dp's I've ever seen.

Glad to hear that the rating is probably a half decent way of narrowing down the options.
As you said it's a pity he hasn't reviewed more of the kawai models since I've heard a lot of good things about them.
Looking to buy sometime this week, so if anyone finds any deals/offers/sales that may help then then please link them here

I too saw the ukpianos website while I was looking to buy a new digital piano. I was too interested in the Classenti, but then I saw this:
http://azpianonews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/review-classenti-cdp1-cdp2-cdp3-gr1.html

Basically the guy at ukpianos is the only guy selling Classenti in the UK, so of course he will recommend them. It's a Chinese "white brand" piano that is later sold under different names.

He hasn't updated the Kawai CA95, he says "Shockingly expensive, but rather nice! If you're looking for the very best digital piano that money can buy, then the Kawai CA95 is worth comparing" but then describes the CA93. As per "shockingly" expensive I really found the Yamahas far more expensive than the Kawai when you compare what they give for your money. Same thing with the CA65.

I haven't had the chance to try the Roland HP507, but found that the HP505 and even the LX15 had noisy keys. If you can find it in a showroom definitely give it a go, recently somebody bought it after trying it directly against a Kawai CA95, personal preference to the touch and sound is very important.

I'm very happy with my CA65, for what is worth.

Yeah I saw some things about them, but to be fair he hasn't tried pushing classenti at all when I asked him a couple of questions.

Sadly both of those Kawai models are a little out of my budget :P (they do look lovely though!)

I think that page is pretty useless.

I don't know what would make his opinion more valid than someone else's.

I also would not put much weight on the accuracy of assigning a hard number to any subjective (non-measurable) attribute.

Also, your conclusion of "every bit as good as" isn't really accurate, even if two things have the same numbers and even if you accept those numbers. He points out that a given number is based on numerous parameters. Therefore, if piano A is better at X but piano B is equally better at Y, they may end up with the same number... it does not mean they feel identical, or that someone else might not not prefer one over the other, based on assigning different weights to items X and Y.

(edit: mistaken paragraph deleted)

And AFAIK, the action of the PX-150 and PX-850 are identical, so I don't understand the rationale for rating one's touch 3 points over the other.

People just love to see everything reduced to a number, even when it's not sensible. It makes it easier to make a buying decision. And I think that's the point of this chart, apparently assembled by someone who owns a piano store. You may happen to share his opinions, but that certainly doesn't make them right for everyone.

I had a Kawai CL25 before and the action was very good, so I had that one to compare to other digitals.

My original limit was also £1,000, I ended up with the CA65 after deciding to expand my limit to £1,500 and trading-in my old piano.

If you have something to sell and have found a good deal somewhere else, talk to Reidys as they accept to take old pianos and will match best prices... even with some space for further negotiation, like reducing the price if you don't want the stool or headphones, or just offering even a bit less. They know their margins, we don't.

Had I stuck to my original price I was very close to buy a Kawai CN24, and would really have liked to try a CL36. After talking to Reidys I would have got a CN34 for £950 but decided to give a go to the CA65.

As per other makers, I didn't like the Yamaha YDP162 at all and found the Casio AP450 quite decent at the price. I liked the Rolands but noisy keys and I didn't like the Korgs. But really, personal taste. You have to try them in person.

OR, you could go for the second hand market and save some money, as you are only looking at an entry to intermediate level piano. You should find some good bargains at ebay. Just make sure that you do try them because with time the keys might be noisy.

I was looking at the list as a be all and end all, but merely to try and narrow the choice down slightly to then start doing more serious research into some models.

I don't have a current piano to sell.

I'll have a look on ebay, but last time I looked I don't remember there being many options, since most were collection only which isn't really an option for me. I'm more than happy to go 2nd hand, value for money is a big priority here since I'm not sure how long I'll be keeping it (potentially for less than a year)

Roland is a terrific brand. It has a tendency to be expensive for what you get, though. But pricing does vary by location. There are many Roland models that have a great reputation and that many of us would not hesitate to recommend if you find them at the right price.

Broadway, Classenti, and other generic brands don't have a good reputation here or elsewhere. If that Howard guy wasn't a salesman I doubt he would have brought them up or rated them at all favorably. Generally speaking they aren't in the same league as the pianos we tend to recommend.

There's always a problem getting advice on pianos from a retailer. They have perverse incentives. If you want the advice of a biased source who has a financial incentive for you to buy one piano or another, just walk into a piano store and ask the first salesman you see which piano you should buy. I'm sure he or she will be able to rank the models they have in stock and tell you which they think you should get.

Never take anything StavingLion says seriously. He's a troll with little/no knowledge or experience in digital pianos. He came here for advice and purchased his first digital just the other day and since then has returned periodically to start fights. There's no consistency in his opinions except that he says whatever he thinks will cause an uproar--in this case endorsing a retailer's self-serving ranking. Listening to his advice is no better than flipping a coin and in many cases is worse.

The list ranks the Kurzweil MP-10...NOT the Kawai MP-10 (which he hasn't reviewed yet).

Whoops! Thank you for that catch! I will edit my original post as well.

Haha fair enough.

Thanks for clearing it up about the brands. I've been doing some quick looking at Kawai on thomann and seen some which I could be able to afford, the cheapest being the CL26w for £500:
The CL36 for £750 and then the CN24 for £1050ish

I like the look of the Kawai models, are either of these worth considering?

When it comes to Yamaha vs Casio I'm definitely leaning towards Yamaha since trying a couple of them and finding the action fine, whereas I haven't tried a Casio, and don't want to risk it since it seems to divide opinions quite heavily.

For Yamaha there's the YDP162 (£850-900), YDP-S51 (£750-800)

Or the Roland F-120 for £800-850.

Any of them any good? Or are they all worth considering :P

I got my CL25 second hand through ebay, weight around 30 kilos, delivery was £28 with interparcel.com I think. It was supposed to be collection only but the seller accepted to prepare it for courier collection and asked for an extra 10 quid for time and materials to wrap it nicely, and it was well protected. But then one key had issues, that's why I say that it's much better to try them in person. At that point I wasn't sure I would stick to the piano, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money either.

Many consoles can be dismantled for easy transport, or you could go for a slab. Those should be easy to post or to arrange for courier collection.

Or if you find something close, it shouldn't be too expensive to get a man & a van. I just got a gorgeous old large wardrobe delivered for £50 including dismantling, delivery and reassembly, 12 miles. And hiring your own van for the day is also very cheap. If you are not in a ground floor you really need to look at lighter pianos, though.

Check out gumtree too.

No problem - I did exactly the same thing when first looking at the list.