Thank you DeckardWill for documenting your entire journey with the nv5s. I am very happy to hear that your talented son can practice without issues. I've ordered and waiting for my nv5s to arrive. May I ask if after resolving your issues, despite being able to practice properly, are you happy with your nv5s? Does it sound beautiful? (of course it's still a digital and may never sound like a real acoustic) Or does it feel like some sort of a compromise to your son and you?
Thanks Oron for the reply and kind words. We still have the NV5S, and my son is now taking some time learning pieces he enjoys before working towards his Grade 7. We have very mixed feelings about the NV5S. On one hand, the upright action and small footprint make it the only real opportunity for my son to progress further. On the other, we feel that the sound produced (both amplification and samples) could and should be a great deal better for the money spent. We also continue to believe the build quality should be a little better than it is. The hybrid/top end digital market is probably so niche that manufacturers (Yamaha/Roland included) likely know that they are able to get away with maximising profits and not really investing the R&D and components to build the instruments they are capable of.
@@DeckardWill It's great that your son enjoys the nv5s now that most issues are fixed, I guess kids are less picky than us, adults :) May I also ask how is the sound quality when using headphones? That being said, I completely agree with you, I had my kawai mp11se and had the feeling that samples are kinda poor, after trying to connect it to pianoteq it was a day and night difference. the pianoteq modelling produced far better and pleasant sound. As I really don't want to deal with extra equipment such as laptop, audio interface and cables (so many moving pieces!) I went for the nv5s with the hope it's going to deliver far better sounds as it has a sound engine that is several generations ahead of the mp11se. It also seems like different people have different experiences with the nv5s, some find it amazing in all aspects (including sound) right out of the box and some get disappointed with it. So it really seems like a bad quality control where getting a good unit is a luck. This is totally unacceptable for a flagship product with such price. Then I ask myself, what would be the alternative for people like us (probably most people) who cannot afford a real acoustic piano due to size and the ability to practice with headphones? As it seems there isn't a perfect hybrid out there so at least we can get the action and maybe compensate sound with a good VST and external amplification (as annoying and unfair as it is).
The sound via headphones seems pretty good - having said that, we don't really use headphones as the piano is never used late night (and we have understanding neighbours!). Yes we were the same - we hoped the sound would be a very high standard and that there would never be any need for external amplification. The outputs are on the front of the instrument so it really is designed to be used as a piano, not for discreet connectivity. I suspect the output is probably fairly consistent between instruments, and actually it is more down to consumer expectations whether it sounds great or not... subjective opinions. That said, there are times when James is playing where I do think "that sounded pretty good" so the NV5S output isn't what I would call poor. It just seems to have particular frequencies where there's uncomfortable... spikes, and a bit of distortion. Part of it is down to the EQ, the sample used and the environment effects.
Thank you, for me it's a great relief to hear that sound via headphones is good since this is what I'll be using most of the time. I also hope that you're right about sound experience in nv5s being subjective as I don't have hifi standards :) From what I could hear, listening to your son playing, other than the pieces are beautiful and it's a delight to listen to his talent, given it's a recording, the nv5s sounds pretty nice (produces the kind of sound I hear in other youtube reviews). Well, hopefully, it's not covid times anymore and maybe we will soon enough see better hybrids by kawai/yamaha (maybe nv5s successor??) so you could actually try it on store and maybe if it would worth it, sell the nv5s and get the better one :) Again thank you so much for your detailed replies!
No problem at all 😊 My main advice to you would be that if you are initially not very happy with distortion, we found that it can be improved considerably by setting a totally "flat" EQ, and keeping the environment effects to a fairly low level. Good luck and have fun 👍
If you have the space, absolutely go for the K300/K500. There's still a lot of compromise in hybrids IMO. On the positive side, the pedals are now ok as is the action so our NV5S is now something my son can practice on without issues.
Thank you DeckardWill for documenting your entire journey with the nv5s.
I am very happy to hear that your talented son can practice without issues.
I've ordered and waiting for my nv5s to arrive.
May I ask if after resolving your issues, despite being able to practice properly, are you happy with your nv5s?
Does it sound beautiful? (of course it's still a digital and may never sound like a real acoustic)
Or does it feel like some sort of a compromise to your son and you?
Thanks Oron for the reply and kind words. We still have the NV5S, and my son is now taking some time learning pieces he enjoys before working towards his Grade 7.
We have very mixed feelings about the NV5S. On one hand, the upright action and small footprint make it the only real opportunity for my son to progress further.
On the other, we feel that the sound produced (both amplification and samples) could and should be a great deal better for the money spent. We also continue to believe the build quality should be a little better than it is.
The hybrid/top end digital market is probably so niche that manufacturers (Yamaha/Roland included) likely know that they are able to get away with maximising profits and not really investing the R&D and components to build the instruments they are capable of.
@@DeckardWill It's great that your son enjoys the nv5s now that most issues are fixed, I guess kids are less picky than us, adults :)
May I also ask how is the sound quality when using headphones?
That being said, I completely agree with you, I had my kawai mp11se and had the feeling that samples are kinda poor, after trying to connect it to pianoteq it was a day and night difference. the pianoteq modelling produced far better and pleasant sound.
As I really don't want to deal with extra equipment such as laptop, audio interface and cables (so many moving pieces!) I went for the nv5s with the hope it's going to deliver far better sounds as it has a sound engine that is several generations ahead of the mp11se.
It also seems like different people have different experiences with the nv5s, some find it amazing in all aspects (including sound) right out of the box and some get disappointed with it. So it really seems like a bad quality control where getting a good unit is a luck.
This is totally unacceptable for a flagship product with such price.
Then I ask myself, what would be the alternative for people like us (probably most people) who cannot afford a real acoustic piano due to size and the ability to practice with headphones?
As it seems there isn't a perfect hybrid out there so at least we can get the action and maybe compensate sound with a good VST and external amplification (as annoying and unfair as it is).
The sound via headphones seems pretty good - having said that, we don't really use headphones as the piano is never used late night (and we have understanding neighbours!).
Yes we were the same - we hoped the sound would be a very high standard and that there would never be any need for external amplification. The outputs are on the front of the instrument so it really is designed to be used as a piano, not for discreet connectivity.
I suspect the output is probably fairly consistent between instruments, and actually it is more down to consumer expectations whether it sounds great or not... subjective opinions.
That said, there are times when James is playing where I do think "that sounded pretty good" so the NV5S output isn't what I would call poor. It just seems to have particular frequencies where there's uncomfortable... spikes, and a bit of distortion. Part of it is down to the EQ, the sample used and the environment effects.
Thank you, for me it's a great relief to hear that sound via headphones is good since this is what I'll be using most of the time.
I also hope that you're right about sound experience in nv5s being subjective as I don't have hifi standards :)
From what I could hear, listening to your son playing, other than the pieces are beautiful and it's a delight to listen to his talent, given it's a recording, the nv5s sounds pretty nice (produces the kind of sound I hear in other youtube reviews).
Well, hopefully, it's not covid times anymore and maybe we will soon enough see better hybrids by kawai/yamaha (maybe nv5s successor??) so you could actually try it on store and maybe if it would worth it, sell the nv5s and get the better one :)
Again thank you so much for your detailed replies!
No problem at all 😊
My main advice to you would be that if you are initially not very happy with distortion, we found that it can be improved considerably by setting a totally "flat" EQ, and keeping the environment effects to a fairly low level.
Good luck and have fun 👍
With all these issues known, do you think you made a good decision with the piano? Or would it be better to buy an upright k300 or k500
If you have the space, absolutely go for the K300/K500. There's still a lot of compromise in hybrids IMO. On the positive side, the pedals are now ok as is the action so our NV5S is now something my son can practice on without issues.
So in the end nothing is maintenance free...so seems Acoustic pianos are still the best option