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I found this video online and thought that it really showed the difference of high end digital piano's internal piano sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFmDkp6vSag
Personally, Kawai and Yamaha tied for me.

If I watch short samples, I prefer Yamaha.
But when you have it at home, you won't play short samples, you may play it for hours.
Variability of sound become more important, because it translates into dynamics and responsiveness, and Roland seems to have advantage over sampled pianos here, at least on paper.
P.S. Could not visit stores and play all these pianos in person, due to the current situation or because they are sold out.

I agree the Roland did not sound so good compared with the others. The Casio did very well IMO (now I will put my fire proof suit on).

Please rewatch the video, your last sentence seems to be going against logic.

Sorry, I had a comment on Youtube in my mind when I typed those.

And I found Casio on par with Kawai and Yamaha on that video (of course, my opinion). The joke on the last sentence is because Casio is often detracted around here. (I should have added a ).

The best for me were the Casio and Roland. Yamaha has a very distinctive bright sound while and the Kawai was just muddy and dull.

Fascinating. The Kawai and Yamaha tied for me. The other two sounded so fake I didn’t even listen to the whole clips.

YT vids are interesting but not too informative. By and large you hear the midi-generated recordings and not what you'd hear in the shop when physical parameters come into play. Like speakers.
Playing the stuff in the flesh is the only way to go with the knowledge that really, all of them are very good.
And \i was surprised at the range of adjustments in the P515 for stuff like dynamics, brightness, lid position etc.

Yes! Exactly right, peter.And it goes both ways. I recently heard a online video of my old, old CLP240. On the video it sounded good. But my piano's native sound is crap ... whether through its own speakers, external monitors, or headphones.

I don't know why ... but these videos can be deceptive. I don't trust them. And ... in the end ... the only demonstration that matters comes from the piano when it's in your living room.

Hmmm ... will Abdol chime in to say that he has charts and graphs that will tell me what to like and what not to like, right?

Well, I don't know really. Tbh they were all a bit 'harsh' for a piece that in my mind anyway should be softer and more expressive, so I can't really say. Th Casio sounded better than the Kawai (shock), the others were kind of - well, OK I suppose, but if I were to play that piece (haven't for years, admittedly) and I couldn't get it to sound better than that, any of those 'pianos' would go out of the window (yes, I know, bad workman blaming tool an all that, but....)

Nope - the Roland didn't do it for me in this particular video, neither did the Casio (particularly at the beginning).

I tried the internal recorder on my DP the other day: Played back through another device, it sounds very different to playing in the flesh.

Do any of you use a seperate preset optimised for recording/headphones? It seems there's quite a difference.

(Hang on.... my ears are probably lying).

That's very true actually, taking the Yamaha P125 for an example - when I played it in person it sounded awful, but when I played the recorded audio on my computer speakers it sounded very good! So in the end, trust your ears, nothing else

Interestingly, I recognized immediately the brand of every piano sound in that video.

Honestly, the Roland sounds very bad in that video. It has the most percussive sound of all of them and that typical metallic Roland piano sound if you hit a key a little harder. But then I heard on other videos some similar Roland cabinet-style DPs that sound so much better... So, I don't know... Maybe is just the default piano patch that is not good.

The Casio has that typical (for many Casio DPs) short attack and thin sustain that I don't like. Maybe there are other piano patches in that DP that sound better.

Kawai and Yamaha are nice, as usual. They have a different timbre, so it's a matter of personal preferences here. I slightly prefer the Kawai SK-EX sound timbre, but with headphones I feel Yamaha samples are better spatialized in the stereo field, so they feel a little less muddy when you play many notes togheter with pedal down.

EDIT: I just heard now some Roland DP videos about the HP605, the HP704, the LX706... Well, I didn't remember they sounded like that: more of less, they sound all the same, as in the above video, and they are more percussive than Yamaha and Kawai main piano patches. They have a very clean and dynamic sound, but I hope you can lower a little that percussive feeling in the options (or maybe use a different piano patch), because I don't like it at all. Of course, that's just my opinion, maybe you like how it sounds.

Bet you're glad you typed that now...

I never liked this video cuz the pianos are rather varying price differences (in the US). Literally thousands of dollars between the HP-605 and CLP-675

I don't care about how they sound, I care about the action. It's like being concerned over appearance more than ones behavior.

You are correct, there is always a VST that sounds better than any internal piano that you can use on your DP if you don't like the internal sound.

Watching a video with compressed audio via YouTube may provide an impression but to choose, you should play the instruments and feel the connection between the keyboard action and the sound. I use both internal and AU/VST pianos depending on what I'm playing or trying to achieve.

The ultimate proof for me ...