Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha CLP785 or NU1X

Hi everybody!

So, the description speaks for itself - any thoughts on why you would opt for one or the other?

I will mainly play using headphones - not all the time though.

Did anyone have a chance to compare the two in depth?

Will I regret the "older" samples and also the lack of the binaural version of the Bösendorfer in the NU1X?

I'm a beginner pianist but well-versed with other instruments, so my main focus here will be high audio quality and the "better" keyboard (which I'm not yet able to distinguish from a slightly "worse" one).

The prices in my area (Vienna) are basically the same, so this doesn't play a role.
Still, I can't really afford anything more expensive.

Btw, I searched for a comparison already, if I missed the thread, please share the link.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts

Hello,

@garldehildehar, I cannot comment on the sound quality of these two instruments from personal experience.

Regarding the actions (the keyboards): these are rather different in two major aspects:

-> The NU1X's action is a true *upright* piano action that is read out digitally to then produce sound, also digitally.

-> The CLP785's action simulates a *grand* piano action feel.

So, two levels of action authenticity and also two different piano feels that are targeted.

*Most importantly*: Play both instruments yourself, multiple times, and find which one you love most and/or just really grabs you.

Cheers and happy trial runs,

HZ

I had the pleasure of playing both of these at length. While I enjoyed the NU1X, I ultimately chose the clp785. It offers allot more up to date technology and TO MY EAR sounded better.
My advice like others is to play both and make your own decision. Don't forget your sheet music , lol.

Choose based on the key action and your future plans. Since you can if so inclined improve the audio experience with software piano's, and ever increasing spend on speakers if necessary. Then the dilemma is the NU1X upright action, which is a good grounding in an unforgiving acoustic action, or the simulated 785 grand action which is nothing like a grand action. If you have a teacher get them to help you choose.

A good point by 1957: buy what sounds better ... unless you're inclined to use virtual instruments as spanishbuddha suggests.

To me the action is the driving element. I've not yet touched a 785, but its action is likely a good bit better than my old 240.
Still, an upright action is better. If I had to choose from just those two, I'd recognize that you can change the sound by using virtual instruments ... but you cannot change the action.

For my part, though, I'd choose neither one.

The 785's conventional digital action is not a step up for me.
And the upright NU1X is a lot of money for an incremental step up to an upright action.

I'm holding out for a grand action, possibly an N1X. It's all about the action.

I recently had the same dilemma. My solution: I bought an acoustic upright
The store I was in had the NU1X but not the 785. I liked the way the NU1X played and felt. The store owners said that the sound and action were much better on the NU1X than the 785, and the only reason to get the latter was the additional voices and electronic abilities of the 785. To Mac's point above, the N1X (not to mention the N3X) indeed felt a world above in quality, but they are also priced accordingly.

And once you settle on NU1X, you can start the NV5s debate :-)

Haha yes. As an NU1 owner I'm looking at that, but playing one in a store seems a tough proposition at the moment.

Thanks a lot for all your opinions, I really appreciate it.

An acoustic piano would be my first option for sure, but that's not possible since I usually like to play in the evening, but even during the day it would just be too loud.

Maybe some day - if my life goes into a direction where I don't have to worry about that.
Realisticly though, I actually see myself buying a 15k hybrid in a few years when I had the time to gain the skills to actually being able to appreciate it (and the money of course..).

As much as I use VSTs for certain things, I really don't want to be forced to "set things up" before I play. I want to relax, not to tweak sound settings to reach perfection - with which I would end up instead of playing, I know myself.. but that could be good to know for others in the same dilemma.

So, yeah, I'd go for an N1X I guess, but the price is just too high.

For sure I will try to play both in advance - I don't know if I'll be lucky enough to do that right next to each other though.

So, what I got from this is that I should expect the action of the NU1X to be more realistic for an upright compared to the CLP785 being close to a grand or an upright?

Do you think that - with the plan in mind that I plan upgrade to a current & higher class hybrid model (or an acoustic upright) after let's say 4 or 5 years - it is better to go for the NU1X (action-wise), or will the difference be neglectible if I play on a CLP785 for a few years?

If it is, I guess I'll go for the CLP785, IF it really does sound better to my ear after testing I can live with a small extra challenge to get used to the new action.

The thing is, I trust myself with choosing the better sounding one while testing, but I don't think I can evaluate how it will be action-wise to switch to a top notch model in the future.

Thanks again, this thread will help a lot of people

What can you play as a beginner? Scales, arpeggios, a couple of simple pieces? Play them on the NU1X and 785 in a store and just see which one gives you the most pleasure overall as an instrument responding to you. You will know. That's the one to buy.

I briefly searched YouTube, but couldn't find a CLP-785 vs NU1X comparison video.

However, Merriam Music recently put out a pretty good CA99 vs NV5 comparison video. These are obviously Kawai instruments, however some of the discussion points may still be relevant to Yamaha products.



Kind regards,
James
x

I played both at Yamaha London some time ago. It was just a short demo playing during lunch time, so take it for what it's worth. I only play digital and have a Kawai digital piano (CN 24), which also influenced the way I felt whilst playing both.

Coming from a digital piano, the hybrids (I tried both the N1X and the Nu1X) gave me an impression as if they had "deflated tires", as you don't have that "springiness" that is more typical of digital actions. I am absolutely sure the hybrids, with their "acoustic" actions, give the more "authentic" ( = similar to an acoustic piano's) experience. I am also satisfied this isn't really important for people who are not at a very high level of proficiency or are not planning to make of an acoustic piano the centre of their piano experience.

In real life, *you will get accustomed to the action of the piano you buy.* I felt way more comfortable after only 10 minutes on the hybrids as my hands naturally adjusted to the "deflated tires" sensation. I am pretty sure it would work the other way, too.

A personal sensation I had (from only some minutes of playing) was that both the N1X and the CLP 785 were more pleasant to play than the NU1x, which I found more difficult to live with (e.g. trills would be more difficult). Again, with time and practice I doubt this would amount to a problem, at all. In fact, the NU1X might make me better at trills...

I found the CLP 785 very pleasant to play on. Partly, this is because I was already accustomed to a digital action; partly, because the action gave me a sensation of quality. It was like playing the action my Kawai wants to become when it grows up. For my money and what I want to do (I am not interested in perfecting myself for playing on an acoustic), the CLP 785 it beats the NU1X every day of the week, as the superior technology gives it a clear advantage once you have decided that you don't have to have an acoustic action.

As to the binaural Boesendorfer: Yamaha London had a noisy environment (there were building works outside), and they give you mediocre headphones to play on. However, after my personal experiences at home (where my Sennheiser HD700 give me a completely different experience than the mediocre speakers of the CN 24) I am persuaded that, upon investing in very good headphones and once located in a quiet, domestic environment, you will find the Binaural Boesendorfer worth having.

In my eyes, the NU1X only wins against the CLP-785 if the "acoustic" action is your first priority. Take that away, and the NU1X is technologically obsolete.

You are at the beginning of your piano career; therefore, if I were you the main question I would pose myself would be: what do I want from this piano? Do I want the "acoustic experience" as first and foremost requirement, or do I want to simply enjoy playing the piano enjoying different sound experiences, knowing that I will adapt fairly fast to different actions? The answer to this question, which is personal to you, will give you a clear winner.

Obviously, this is just my two cents. FWIW, I am in the market for a new digital piano when the pandemic ends and availability goes back to normal (I'd say Christmas/New Year), and I have excluded the NU1X.

Your mileage may vary.

Hello garldehildehar

here is a link to a 785 review.



Unfortunately no direct comparison to the NU1X. And unfortunately in German. Possibly with English subtitles? I find the perspective of this review interesting, as it comes from a beginner. The owner is very enthusiastic about his new 785, but at least I had the feeling that he was celebrating his purchase a little too exuberantly. The "professional keyboard" is mentioned several times. The often-discussed weight of the keyboard (I was also able to test this and in my opinion it is at the upper level, just before too heavy) is interpreted as an indication of the professional design. It is also mentioned that the little finger of the left hand gets tired quickly with this keyboard. But, according to the tester, that would be okay, because the hand is then trained. In my opinion, this is the beginning of a big misjudgement. For this owner, the keyboard tends to overstrain the hands. Especially since he does not take piano lessons and therefore does not receive any profound feedback on these topics. Nevertheless, I wish the owner many pleasant hours with the 785, hopefully without physical complaints.

Kind regards
MBiG

Will do that as soon as I can - the goal was simply to get some additional feedback of actual owners / trained pianists.

You seem to have started from a similar point and also your goal seems to be similar to mine.
I assume that in the future, I will be more likely spending money on a good hybrid/digital piano of some kind than on an acoustic piano.
To me, since I'm not following a career with the piano, this is just the more convenient option I guess.
Thus, I think that if the action of the NU1X doesn't absolutely blow my mind as compared to the CLP785, I don't expect to decide to go for it.


Also some valuable information in here, I didn't think about searching for this kind of comparison, but action-wise it actually was helpful to watch it. The thing is, with these models, the sound samples and sound generation seem to be exactly the same, so from this part of the conversation the situation is different I guess.



I'm from Vienna, so my German is good enough to understand that

Thanks for this video, didn't see it so far.
Also an interesting perspective - what I took from it is that the keys will be heavier than expected, but that's something I will hopefully find out as soon as I make it to a music store for testing.
I already played a CLP745 by the way, the keys were really "soft" though - not really what I'm looking for nor what playing short parts on an acoustic piano in the past felt like.

Thanks again to everyone.

Ok, I didn't know that you are from Vienna, therefore the explicit reference to the German language of the video. (I myself am from Bavaria, and from a region where the Bavarian dialect is really strong. In fact, High German was my first foreign language when I started school. But as a Viennese, I don't have to explain that to you, do I?) Back to the actual topic. If you already have experience with Yamaha keyboards, you certainly don't need too much support in evaluating the 785 keyboard. Just this: I would like to endorse Mr Harrison's advice. Especially with a keyboard like that of the 785, it is recommended in my opinion to choose the volume with appropriate attention when testing, in order to avoid the effect - as described with the NV5. All the best and good luck with your choice of instrument. MBiG

So, after multiple days of testing both pianos I decided to go for the CLP785.

The reason for me was that I don't see myself getting a real upright any time soon.
In fact, it's more likely that I will be playing digital pianos for the rest of my life, so the hybrid action in the NU1X was nice, but not "necessary".

I have to say that the sound through headphones was "better" (by that I mean it sounded cleaner, and more balanced) on the CLP785 - it's hard to tell how the speakers are doing, as I couldn't test this very well in the store.

I tested this using studio headphones - the NU1X produces a good sounding piano experience nonetheless - at least for me - but the highs and lows were outweighing the mids pretty strongly - maybe that's done to replicate an upright instead of a grand more naturally?!

Anyways, apparently I will need to wait at least for 2 more months, let's see how long it will actually take to have it delivered.

Thanks for your help everybody!


Viennese people usually don't have the strong dialect of other parts of Austria (the areas where people from one Dorf don't understand the other Dorf) - should be a city-thing though, like with other countries - but I get the idea of referring to high German as a second language

Hello,

@garldehildehar, How nice of you to report back on your decision and your progress in learning about these instruments. So far this thread has been an interesting read.

I wish your wait is overseeable and you'll be content with your choice and with the instrument itself.

Let us know how things develop for you!

Cheers and happy anticipation,

HZ

PS I like the little discussion of dialects. Long ago I had Flemish friends and while we were all supposedly speaking 'Nederlands', we often diverted to English to understand eachother better... At the time, I found that very funny and interesting.

Reports suggest that currently even the manufacturers themselves are completely unreliable regarding delivery estimations. I don’t want to sour your mood, but I’m afraid it may take much longer than 2 months, regardless which brand or model. I’ve been waiting for 7+ months now, and my dealer says some people are already waiting for more than a year for their piano.

Hello Monoch,

may I ask which instrument you have been waiting for so long?

Kind regards,
MBiG

@MBig yes, I’m waiting for a Kawai K500 Aures. Ordered beginning of January.
Dealer says delays are all across the board though, any brand or model (containing digital components).