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My N1X will be delivered in an hour. I am working from home today since my daughter is sick, but that means I'll be too busy at home to find some time for the piano Well, I hope I'll find a few minutes when the project I work on recompiles and can do a brief encounter with the piano.

Screen breaks are a must ;-)

Solution: One hand on each keyboard - computer and piano...

I've tried both and reported about it elsewhere, but to summarize

1) When I play the Novus, I can feel the music in my body just like when I play an acoustic upright that is at my daughters house. I think it is because of the woofer down by the pedals. I don't get that feeling with the N1X
2) The N1X sound has a "clarity" (I can't think of a better term and its very subjective) to it over the Novus that I rather like.

You guys, we’re doing great! At this rate we’ll catch up with the Novus thread very soon.

Of pivots, hammers, and sensors, do we truly have a consensus? Discuss amongst, but do not by any means project, simplify, nor quantify; for as we all know, imagination is more important than knowledge. I’d rather imagine that a hybrid is an acoustic than know that, well, it is not.

If you try to make sense of the above, you, my friend, should carry on....carry on... as if nothing really matters.......Mama!

Can’t say much now Played it for 30 seconds. I haven’t played a piano for almost a month but initial impression is it’s definitely better than NU1X as a keyboard feel, more substantial and a bit heavier in regards to dynamic weight. The bass is exactly as I like it: clean and not boomy. Will write more when I have at least a few more minutes alone with it

I would not be able to resist. Maybe it should be a "sick" day for you too

Isn't at least the MD-BT01 Bluetooth MIDI adapter available?

Or does it not work?

Using the speakers I was a bit disappointed with the sound of both of them. Given the price you are paying, and that the Novus makes a point of the Onkyo hook up I expected better. I would say in that respect they were both inferior to my old Clavinova.

Through headphones the N1X on CFX is definitely superior.

I didn't notice that the bass was particularly different between the two. The Yamaha CFX sound is noticably brighter in the treble, and I prefered the Bosendorfer sounds in the N1X - but they don't have the clever sampling for headphones.

I am keen to hear more feedback from others who have tried both. I intend to buy one can't decide which. I am not an expert pianist but I didn't like the N1X action as much as the Novus. On the otherhand in almost every respect I prefer the N1X

I had a few more minutes, played both through speakers and through headphones.

Through speakers I played only the CFX. The bass is deep and powerful. I really don't see how one can find it "lacking". I would go as far as to say it's approaching the upper limit of my taste, above that it would be boomy. Mind you I am not a bass-head. But a piano is a piano, there's no "the more the better" when speaking about an acoustic instrument which has what is a proper bass and what is not. Honestly, can't see what the fuss is about. And to put some comparison in the picture, I've always found Kawai bass unnaturally boomy. I haven't played a NV10, however I've played a CA78 and it was hip-hop level boomy. But each to their own.

Through headphones, I briefly went through all voices. As I expected, CFX binaural is awesome. I think it might actually be a bit cleaner and brighter than what used to be on the NU1X but my memory is fading already, so might be wrong. However it seems the headphone amplifier is weaker. I plugged my 300 Ohm HD-650-s and I had to put the knob at the max position which wasn't the case with NU1X where there was some headroom. At MAX position on the N1X the volume is just enough for me, however other people might not be OK. But we're speaking about a 300 Ohm pair, so it's already a corner case.

All other piano voices sound kind of nasal through headphones which has already been discussed. I remember that was also the case with NU1X. However Bosendorfer was great through speakers on the NU1X. It's something related to how the pianos were sampled, probably related to the multichannel sampling and how that's mixed down to stereo.

The keyboard is very responsive, I can finally play trills near the bottom, there are no loud note issues And there are no irregular keys/sensors. So far all is simply great. I can't wait having more time to start practicing and restoring my technique which after a month is quite bad. I might try recording something tonight but I don't want to embarrass myself on the other hand

Indeed. Past a certain point, the more pronounced the bass, the less like a concert grand it sounds. The CFX and SK-EX have anything but boomy bass.

CyberGene, you seemed to have loved the NU1X dearly; especially as it related to the sound propagation, and how convincing the overall experience was.
Do you feel that the N1X surpasses this in some respects, or in all respects?

Regarding the bass, the N1X uses one subwoofer facing the wall; whereas, the N2 uses two subwoofers facing the player (under the keybed). I remember the bass being somewhat “weak” on the N2, but I wonder if the placement (low/front) had something to do with that.
I also wonder if there really is any need for two subwoofers instead of one placed optimally (left-most side); after all, left is where the bass should be coming from, isn’t it?

You're not quite right. The subwoofer on the N1X is facing the floor and is on the left side of the piano along with the bass port:


Also, while assembling the piano, there was a rear grill I had to remove temporarily and there was a speaker facing the wall but I'm not sure it's a subwoofer.

Also on the back of the piano near the top there are two small grills which I would assume are tweeters. There are also three elongated grills on top. And finally there are two speakers facing the player behind the cloth (in the picture above), facing the player but slightly angled towards the floor.

P.S.


TBH I played mostly at night and on headphones, however you're right I also loved how it sounded in those cases I played through speakers. But my memory is fading and I can't really say I can compare them. If I had to say something based on just a few minutes of playing through speakers today, I would say the N1X has slightly more powerful bass and the sound projects from everywhere, better than NU1X, although NU1X wasn't bad in that respect either. The improvement can also be due to the multichannel sampling though (only stereo on NU1X). I just tested the two Bosendorfers briefly on speakers (patch 2 and patch 4) and they are both wonderful through speakers! The second Bosendorfer patch is a new one, especially for N1X and it has even more clarity and brightness compared to the first one, however both are clear and would be of use depending on the reportoire, the first one for dark romantic pieces and the second one more open. What I can certainly say though is through headphones it's only the binaural CFX that works. The rest is very nasal.

Thank you, CyberGene.
I saw a picture of the N1X with the speaker facing towards the wall exposed, and I assumed this was the subwoofer. Still, it seems that 6 speakers facing in many directions should be fine, and of course, there’s always the possibility to add monitors to suit individual needs. David added some monitors, and I must say the setup still looks very nice and clean (no dangling cables, etc.)

I also noticed the N1X was very quiet when played through the headphones - the same ones that I use on the Clavinova were too quiet for practical use on the N1X which is another minor frustration. Other than the CFX I thought the voices were a bit thin and monaural through the headphones - again compared with the Clavinova.

A slight correction regarding speakers. There’s no left front speaker on the underside of the keyboard. It’s the subwoofer there which is floor facing. So, we can assume the speaker placement, number and size are the following (from specs):

- Three 8 cm tweeters on top (left, center, right), facing the ceiling
- A 13 cm center rear speaker facing rear wall, in the speaker box beneath the keyboard.
- A 13 cm right front speaker facing the player and very slightly inclined towards the floor, in the speaker box beneath the keyboard
- A 16 cm subwoofer facing the floor, with bass port, on the left side of the speaker box beneath the keyboard.

CyberGene, how do you think the overall sound compares when using speakers between the N1X and the NU1X? My impression from reading on this forum was that the NU1X speaker placement was close to optimal, and that speaker placement might be a slight weakness for the N1 (but maybe not for N1X).

Tyrone, that’s hard to answer, but I tried to answer that in another post above, answering to Pete, check it out.

How does the N1X speaker compared to N1? I only tried N1 and the bass is underwhelming. I don't mean it is weak like a small upright. What I mean is it sounds like playing a recording using a cheap woofer. I remember the speaker sound from N1 is like coming from a box but not from a real piano. Not sure if it is improved in the N1X.