Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Simone Dinnerstein's thoughts on Casio GP-500 vs. Avantgrand

In March 2013 concert pianist Simone Dinnerstein auditioned a number of high-end digital pianos, and declared that the Yamaha AvantGrand N2 was the closest in touch and tone to an acoustic grand piano. This shopping spree was covered by the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets.

In September 2015 Ms. Dinnerstein gave a performance (Bach & Schubert, I believe) on the new Casio Celviano GP-500 at the launch of that hybrid piano.

Has anybody asked Ms. Dinnerstein how the new Casio hybrid piano compares to the Avantgrand, and which one she preferred?

Wrong forum.

I don't know if Ms. Dinnerstein has made any direct comparisons between the models. We've had feedback from a variety of professors, teachers, clinicians suggesting that it is a close comparison with some slightly favoring one over the other. The most common response was how the favorable pricing of the Casio Grand Hybrid made it easier to recommend over many other options, but some flat-out preferred the Casio. I don't know of anywhere in the US where you can try them on the same showroom floor, but I think there are places in Europe.

In fairness, you might get more response on the Digital Piano forum if you want to move this thread.

I also posted this same thread on the digital forum, gentlemen. I wasn't sure which one would be more appropriate.

Sam,

What?? You don't know everyone in the USA? ;-)

There IS one place in the United States you can play them side by side - right here in Philadelphia.

BRAVO, RICH !

Bravo, Signore Galassini!

Yup, I played them side by side in the Musikhaus Klangfarbe in Vienna this summer. It's a music instrument store, not a piano store.

Dinnerstein playing Goldberg Variation 28 on a Yamaha AvantGrand N2. Several other videos of her playing the N2 can be found on her Facebook page, along with her comments about the instrument.

https://www.facebook.com/simonedinnerstein/videos/927360597312266/

My own view is that the instrument works best as a MIDI controller driving Pianoteq.

Edit: This video includes a brief comment from Dinnerstein (in the Comments area) about the N2.

https://www.facebook.com/simonedinnerstein/videos/928326690548990/

Which one did you prefer, and why?

I played the Casio for the first time last month. It was good, but not as good as the avant grand, in my opinion. But a lot cheaper!

The Casio was very sensitive to touch, so that volume changed more than I intended it to from note to note. There may be a setting to adjust to make it less sensitive, but the dealer didn't know how.

For the cost of an avant grand, I'd rather get a real piano.