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No, not even close. A good upright action will feel better and respond better than an CA action. Now, a poor upright action is horrendous and I have taken lessons on a couple. Granted I am comparing them to my NV10. I have played new uprights, Kawai mostly, and they are very nice. I expect the NV5 will feel and respond exactly the same. Just my opinion. FWIW

I played the CS11 on different days in different stores to check if the action is pleasing enough. After playing on the NV10 and NU1X for nearly two years, the GF2 action felt a bit off. Not because it's too heavy or light. The responsiveness, the connection between your fingers and the instrument isn't as good as on a true upright/grand action. That doesn't mean that you can't have fun with a CA98 or similar Digitals and have a great playing experience with it.

When I had the MP11 and played the NU1 regularly, I preferred the MP11 (GF1 action). Now almost all my playing had been on acoustic (grand and upright) actions and I think I've flipped, it's hard to compete with the real thing.

But that says, yes $6.5k is a bit steep, at that price I'd be seriously considering the N1X (or looking for a used NV-10) instead.

Yes, $6500 is bit steep. In that stratum I'd go for the N1X. (It's yet to be seen whether there are any used NV10s to be had.)

I have a strong feeling that you and TomLC are exactly right in what you're both saying. When I first tested the NU1 the tactile feeling and responsiveness seemed to be more enjoyable than playing on a digital piano. I couldn't put my finger on why (pun intended), but in the different times I played the NU1 I either liked it a lot more than the Yamaha digitals I played at West Music, or I didn't notice very much difference. Perhaps the time of day, my particular mood, or the type of music I played influenced my feelings.

To sum everything up on a personal basis, as I've done before I am again going to have to bide my time on a purchasing decision. I want to keep my next piano for at least a decade, although I think at 80 years old I will have bought my last piano. I should be able to test the NV5 next April or May in Chicago or St. Louis, and if I love it perhaps I should just wait until I can comfortably afford to put it in my home.

There's one thing I'm worried about though. I could be so overwhelmed with happiness at seeing the NV5 in my piano room that I might keel over from cardiac arrest. My brother would inherit it, sell it for a hundred dollars, buy a bunch of 4k movies, store them in his library and six months later say, "When did I buy these?"

Yes, at that price, I might be thinking about the trade-off between NV5 and N1X as:
Pro- soundboard, authentic damper pedal, proper UI control panel
Cons- upright keyboard action, lack of binaural sound

We'll have to see if that is enough. But on the real release, the price at the dealer might fall and then there would be the additional pro of lower cost.

I think the NU1X fits a segment of the market that wants an acoustic action and like me would probably prefer an acoustic piano but needs the silent option and doesn't want to spend $8,000 plus. When I was looking the N1X hadn't been announced so the next hybrid was going to be over $10,000. To some people its worth the extra for the grand action but for myself the piano is like golf, the equipment isn't the issue. A grand action at my ability level wouldn't have a significant impact on my playing and even if the N1X was out when I purchased the NU1X I would have looked but probably wouldn't have spent the extra $$ on it. This is the market that the NU1X serves. As for the NV5 if that MSRP holds at $10,000 (Yes, I am rounding) and the street price for the foreseeable future ends up around $8,000 then it would make sense to look at the N1X, still the NV5 has some distinct advantages.

Or to put it another way I wouldn't know what to do with a grand piano action, all these techniques that are discussed here are way over my head so why pay extra for it? With the NU1X I still get the way cool retro Radio Shack controls and the nostalgia of buying a separate WiFi adapter.

Too bad that you are located in the US. I have seen an offer on eBay Germany for a brand new NV10 (never unboxed) for 5.900 € (regular price: 8.900 €)

You may not have to wait until April. As I said, they are coming in to the US already. The first two were already sold to dealers. I don't know where in the US the dealers are. But Kawai headquarters is by Los Angeles. Someone just said he heard from Alan Palmer who works at Kawai in LA and he said the list price is $6500. It may difficult to negotiate a price lower than that for a while though. Also, I see folks throwing out prices for the NUiX. I went to a Yamaha dealer in Orange County last June to see the N1X and the NU1x. I wasn't going to buy a piano, but I didn't tell the nice lady at the desk that. I liked the NU1x, and played around with it a bit. Noticing the loud note issue too. By the time I was thanking her and ready to leave, she was whispering $4300 including delivery. So if you negotiate you should not be paying more than $5000 US for an NU1x.

The nv5 is interesting, but why would someone spend $6500 on an nv5 when they could get a K200 ATX3 upright for not much more (properly negotiated) and have a real piano? The atx3 sounds fantastic and to me having played basically all the kawai and yamaha digitals and hybrids back to back, the atx3 system gave the best sound and most realistic auditory and dynamic feeling of all of them. If I didnt specifically want the millenium grand action of the nv10, I would have definitely picked up a k200 atx3, or k300 atx3 aures. Surely they will have to sell it lower than $6500 to offer a compelling price difference between their atx3 line unless you mean $6500msrp not smp.

I wonder about this too. Is the sensor system the same?

Only K-Aures can be compared with NV5, ATX3 doesn't have soundboard spks.
It seems that only K300Aures is sold in US, and is more expensive.
Although I think it's better than NV5 overall, but NV5 still has some advantages, such as lighter weight and no tuning maintenance of AP.

You don’t need soundboard speakers on a silent piano. It has a real soundboard and you can use it as a real acoustic piano that it is 🙂

These are two concepts.
ATX3 and Aures represent two different digi modification on AP.
The latter covers the former's silenct function already, but also has the ability to play digital audio sources through the soundboard speakers. Strictly speaking, driven the soundboard of K300 by digital electricity.

That's why I said we can compare Aures to NV5 butq not the other silent piano.

Yeah, I know the Aures and TransAcoustic but honestly can’t see a reason for their existence 🙄 You can play digital sounds through the soundboard speakers but why do you need that on a piano that is mainly an acoustic piano? If you’re so much after digital sound and different patches, why would you buy an acoustic piano in the first place. It’s just a very odd concept. Silent pianos are OK, as are hybrid pianos and regular digital pianos. But TransAcoustic/Aures...

Well, yes that is true. But you can't adjust the volume, or choose a different piano sound etc.



I would love it, for example you could choose strings (as in violin) etc. to accompany the acoustic piano sound.

If they weren't so expensive i'd buy me one.

Here’s one scenario: When visiting family, I often don’t get the luxury of being able to stop practicing for a couple weeks at a time. However, both sets of parents live in an inhospitable environment (in one case, right on the ocean, in the other, very humid with windows open each morning) for an acoustic piano, and they don’t want the piano to take up more space than absolutely necessary in a size-limited living space. At the same time, I want an instrument with as few compromises as possible.

It's always funny when people assert that a certain product doesn't make sense, when at the same time the product is on back order because so many people want it. 🙄

Too many people seem to assume, that whatever opinion (of a product, in this case) they have, surely must be the only sane/rational opinion, and everyone who doesn't share it must be misguided.

Did I write "it's funny". Actually, it's tiresome... 😒

Some of these price speculations are inaccurate. A K300atx3 is comparable in price to a NV10. The Aures is much more expensive.

The idea is not to play a digital simulation of the piano's own sound through the soundboard. In fact the sound generators of both do not have a voice with those particular pianos. Instead, the sound generators are of other, mostly grand pianos. SK EX, CFX, Bosendorfer, etc. Those are not sounds that would come from the strings of these pianos without the digital part.