Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Help me to chose my digital piano

Hi there, I am an intermediate piano player. I used to be decent when I was younger, playing the like of Chopin etudes or Beethoven tempest. 15 years after stopping, I want to return to this instrument which I always thought it was the purest. But I want to have a more fun approach. I will still consider classical pieces, but I also want to add my childhood video games music to my repertoire. Therefore, I am looking for fun and quality together.

From my first research, I thought that the CSP 170 was ideal for my purposes. But looking deeper, I think that its features were more like shallow and toying with music. So I would rather go for the brand new CLP series. Many reviewers acknowledge that for Yamaha CLP 700 series, the 775 is not worth the additional money compared to the 745. I even read that the 745 offers a better feeling regarding the action.

On the other hand, I was refusing to admit that I could consider Kawai pianos simply because they are not available in my country. But after listening plenty of videos, I can't deny that I simply appeal more to their sound/tone than Yamahas. This is annoying ! I wish I could prefer the bright and perfect tonality of Yamaha but Kawai just feels so sweat and warm to my ears.

Currently my hesitation is between CLP 745 and Kawai CA59 but I am also considering the CA79. How would you compare these two models, price/quality wise.

Considering the aforementioned, I am simply looking for advice and diverse opinions

Thank you, and apologies for the grammar.
Neil

I the Kawai pianos are not available in your country then most of this is moot, isn't it?

Have you been able to try the various CLP models for yourself?

I was in a similar situation testing Yamaha and Kawai several times while selling my grand to move to the digital one. First I wanted Yamaha because it was at a better price locally but luckily the stores that have Yamaha and Kawai are next to each other so I was able to go back and forth and for MY preference, the choice was easy for Kawai. Speaker sound AND touch moved me towards Kawai. Then I was hoping to go with the 59 first but the CA79 and CA99 got my attention. I was getting biased towards the 99 due to the soundboard but for MY ears, it sounded "congested" even moving away from the wall so in the end, I went for the CA79 and couldn't be happier. The one thing that tarnishes the experience a little is that while I hated the look of the LCD on the Yamahas...the Kawai looks very nice but dang its sluggish. Of course you can use your phone but still..no idea how Kawai thought that performance was acceptable for a touch screen in 2020
But of course YMMV

We have to understand Kawai is a piano manufacturer first and foremost. Furthermore, they are not as large a company as the likes of Apple and Samsung so they do not have the means to invest as much into touch screens At least, they are already better than Yamaha's LCD as you mentioned

As Mac said, why try to choose between Kawai and Yamaha if Kawai is not available (or available but at a much higher price) in your country? Why not concentrate on choosing between the pianos you can buy and get service for.

If Yamaha is your only choice, choose the model with the action you like the most then if you absolutely cannot "warm up" to the Yamaha samples, using VSTs is always an option.

Most Yamaha DP's have a range of voices that includes softer or mellow ones. The more advanced ones allow you to adjust the brightness too. Also, your ear and brain adapt to the sounds. After that there are VST's.

Actually I really like the way the Korg SV2 has its user interface...
might be not so expensive in terms of parts and more user friendly and stable at the same time.

I had my last Yamaha for over 30 years and when researching what to replace it with I did the tour, Roland went first, the Casio GP310, it was much harder between the CLP 775 and the CA79 but the key action and the design plus the sound pushed me to do something I hadn't planned, and go Kawai.

I can only confirm I did make the best choice as the playing action is epic it just behaves like an upright acoustic and (like you with the CFX) I adore the SK-EX rendering