Love your reviews Stu, you have really enlightened me when it comes to digital pianos. Before I started watching your UA-cam channel I had no idea about them. It has made choosing a piano both easy and hard, my budget has now just gone up.🙄
As much as I love Kawai, the Roland has a gorgeous sound...such an authentic tone. I usually prefer sampling over modeling, but the Roland is stunning.
Roland travels to the beat of their own drum. They match all of their components for the best sound, including cabinets which I think are also the best looking. Add to their exceptional design a 10 year warranty and you have the best in the business!
this is difficult to choose between! The Roland has such a cool night club sound to it... The Kawai I think would work better with Japanese styled arrangements than Jazz. I love both, but I think on this one I would have to go with the Roland for sound!
Thank you -again . Each time I learn more and that hooks into what I think I am hearing but don’t know why! Much, much appreciated ‘ you get what you pay for ‘👍👍
Very polite but good review. It resonates a lot with my feelings about both. Kawai is incomparably closer to the acoustic piano both in sound and action (especially in technical pieces).
I've been using Roland's FP-10 for a year now and I am currently at early intermediate level and I am only interested in the beautiful piano sound and action, I don't have much experience with an acoustic piano but would love to buy one someday and currently I am in love with the PHA4 action as its heavy for my liking and after watching this lovely comparison I really liked the sound of Kawai but I am afraid that RHIII might be too light for me that now I've been practicing on my FP-10. What do you think is the RHIII lighter than the PHA4? Which one would you pick if you have action as priority and you are on the journey to become a classical pianist?
Hi! Brent from Merriam Music here! Thanks for tuning in! Roland's PHA4 action provides an exceptional touch and value (particularly in the case of the FP10 given its price point). I would personally say that it is a little heavier than the RHIII and has a more prominent escapement sensation. At the end of the day, it really is a matter of preference and our recommendation is to make your way to a showroom to try both options to see which one you connect with. :)
Hi@@magicofkeys5504 @MerriamPianos, have you already made your choice? Because I feel PHA-4 is more comfortable in my fingers, but in my country it is very difficult to find roland models like HP702/704/LX705/LX706. After I tried Kawai CA49/CA59, the sound is beautiful, but too light. maybe here I can find an answer that can help me to make a choice. Thank you
Hi! Brent here! Thanks for the suggestion! The only issue is that the warranty terms vary from market to market sometimes. Given the fact that our audience is quite global, we wouldn't want to cause confusion with warranty terms that might not be applicable in a viewer's region.
I think i will go with the Kawai because it is cheaper and the piano tone is better in my opinion. The action is more complex and satisfying I think and i am not going to use the other sounds as much.
Stu said that the Roland is good in the 50-80% range, and the Kawai is better for the more extreme touches. I would be really interested to know whether this changes if you use a VST. In other words, is the Roland's touch sensitivity an inherent limitation because of the Roland hardware in the key sensors, or is it just the way the software is set up, so the sensitivity could be improved by using a VST. It's not clear from his review but it would help me make a decision...
Hi! Brent from Merriam Music here! That is a very good question and one that we have been asked by a few community members. Unfortunately, I do not have any personal experience with using either of these two models as a MIDI controller in conjunction with VST piano plugins. However, we will do our best to tackle this topic in a future video. Perhaps, some of our helpful community members here have used the CN29 and/or HP702 in this way and will be able to offer some insights. :)
@pj1gm hi can you please share if you got the answer to this somehow, and/or whatever other useful info you have about these and other digital pianos? (in the
@@tashatomic4893 I haven't got a direct answer myself, but I am still hoping that MerriamPianos can shed some light on this. I have an acoustic piano and am looking for a digital piano that will give me a dynamic range equivalent to that acoustic, as I play classical music, much of which is 19th century early romantic and romantic music to a reasonably high level, which demands a wide dynamic range. As a digital piano would be only a backup to the acoustic that I can play at times when others do not want to be disturbed, I am looking for a cost effective solution. A cheaper digital and possibly combined with a VST is a potentially attractive solution, but I have no way of testing this without purchasing, which is why I asked the question of MerriamPianos, as they have the equipment to test this. In the reviews of digital pianos on UA-cam, there is not much discussion of the differences between digital pianos and their dynamic range, so it is difficult to know whether a higher end digital piano will be better at handling the subtleties of dynamics than a lower cost digital piano, possibly with a VST. I have seen this discussion online which may help, as long as you have a digital piano to use to test the suggestions in the discussion. forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2926550/1/dynamic-range-on-digital-piano.html My only direct experience is a half day at a digital piano store, testing 5 or 6 cheaper digital pianos. I found the lower Rolands with PHA4 action to be lacking at the pp end of the range. A Yamaha YDP 164 was better.
The warmth and colourful sound of the Kawai samples are definitely amazing. Roland's modelling tone engine is very different of course, but it is also exceptional and offers a tremendous amount of versatility. :)
Just the fact that the Roland HP702 has a 10 years warranty, which is double that of the Kawai CN29, shows the massive difference in build quality and durability between the two pianos.
@@midnight4109 I recently just purchased the Yamaha p515. When I do upgrade, it will either be a Yamaha CLP or Roland HP/LX, not a Kawai, build quality just seems not comparable to Yamaha’s or Roland’s
And now Kawai has a partnership with Onkyo, which became insolvent and was purchased by Voxx ealier this year... Onkyo speakers, Onkyo motherboard, Onkyo amplifier... not sure if that's a good idea. At least Yamaha and Roland are independent companies, who build everything themselves. Yamaha has professional audio in studios, stadiums, churches, etc. And Kawai? They barely build digital pianos (aside their acoustic pianos). Half of the piano is not theirs . Yamaha and Roland have professional synthesizers, arrangers, stage monitors, and much more.
In this video, I prefer the sound of the Roland over the Kawai. When I tried the PHA-4 action in an FP-10 at Costco, I thought it was terrible. Not sure why others like it and say it is very piano like.
I did the exact same thing! I rushed to the Costco in our area two weeks ago. I called before coming to make sure it was on the floor. When i tried it I thought it was sub par, even at the relatively low price. I just don’t understand why people like it. To each his own, but I couldn’t see any redeeming qualities. I think maybe some people feel that the weight is a plus because it feels heavier like an acoustic? I’m not sure.
I went to a Guitar Center yesterday and there was a Yamaha P125 at the player's level and a Roland FP10 on top of it (upper rack). It was disconnected, so I couldn't play it with sound, but I tried its action. The action is not new to me, because I had the Roland home piano RP140R before, which has the same action. The PHA-4 action that these pianos use (both the RP140R and FP10) feels and looks like an old piano action. It is noisy going up, but it does look like a piano action, just not a modern piano. It has this feeling of a worn-out piano action, not smooth and pleasant. But if you are used to an old piano, you will probably like it. The Yamaha P125 below had such a remarkable sound authenticity to it when played using its built-in speakers. I also had the Roland FP50 before, so this FP10 is a more modest version a piano I used to have. The FP10 looks cheap and spartan, I am not saying it is built cheaply, but it looks uninspiring. The Yamaha P125 is better looking with its stylish speaker grills, but the Roland FP10 doesn't have speaker grills because it doesn't have speakers on top. It does have speakers on the bottom, so don't expect definition from the sound, which requires tweeters to deliver the upper harmonics, and this piano doesn't have them, unlike the Yamaha P125.
…wenn man von einem akustischen Piano kommt fühlt sich nicht nur die Tastatur vom Kawai eher wie bei einem akkustischen Piano an sondern auch der Klang/Ton! Ein Roland Piano klingt niemals wie ein akustisches Piano! Jeder Pianist erkennt sofort ein Roland Piano am Klang! Es klingt einfach immer Digital! Wenn man dies akzeptiert ist es ein Instrument das einem vieles bietet! Aber man darf nicht den Klang eines akustischen Pianos erwarten…!
Ich denke, Ihre Wahrnehmung von Digitalpianos muss sich von der einfachen Nachbildung des Klangs eines Akustikpianos unterscheiden, von denen viele eher schlecht sind. Ich denke, man muss ein Digital nach seinen Leistungen beurteilen. Wenn mir der Sound einer bestimmten Digitalkamera gefällt, ist es mir nicht wichtig, dass er genauso klingt wie eine Akustik, mit der ich vertraut bin. Ich weiß nur, dass ich in diesem speziellen Video den Klang des Roland über den Kawai ziehe, beides Digitalpianos.
The Kawai CN29 (and, more recent, CN201) is a fantastic digital piano on all fronts in my opinion! With that said, the Roland HP702 is as well. The decision between these two mid-tier powerhouses will ultimately come down to the tonal and touch preferences of the player. :)
So basically I've bought a crap piano .. great. Wish I would have watched this before buying the Roland. Hated moving to digital from acoustic and really wanted authenticity. Serves me right for buying without a more thorough review. I would definitely not have bought the Roland after watching this.
The Roland HP702 is an excellent digital piano, but some players definitely have a hard time moving from acoustic to digital. At the end of the day, even the very best digital pianos are emulations of the real thing.
My LX708 was already delivered over a week ago, yet I'm still coming back here to hear Stu talk even more about pianos. Got me hooked
LX 708 is my choice. Now I have to find one.
@@midnight4109 in my opinion the Yamaha Clavinova CLP 785/CLP 795 sound way beter🎹🎶
@@MERCEDES-BENZS600GUARD_V12 That's a tough call. I guess that the prices are similar too.
@@midnight4109 that I don't know🎹🎶
I just love the sound of the Kawai...sounds so beautiful and glorious.
The CN29 and new CN201 models are fantastic pianos that present some of the best value on the market in my opinion! :)
Love your reviews Stu, you have really enlightened me when it comes to digital pianos.
Before I started watching your UA-cam channel I had no idea about them.
It has made choosing a piano both easy and hard, my budget has now just gone up.🙄
As much as I love Kawai, the Roland has a gorgeous sound...such an authentic tone. I usually prefer sampling over modeling, but the Roland is stunning.
Roland travels to the beat of their own drum. They match all of their components for the best sound, including cabinets which I think are also the best looking. Add to their exceptional design a 10 year warranty and you have the best in the business!
@@midnight4109 Unfortunately, their design with all the controls in front of the player is pure crap
@@argi0774 I went with CLP785.
@@argi0774 tend to agree
@@ianhodges5451 How often do you need the controls? All the time? However, it is extremely ugly. It is a piano and not a keyboard
The ES 920 is the only model in the ES series that has the RHIII action. The ES 520 has the RHC2 and, the ES 110 has the RHC🎹🎶
Hi Stu, this was a Sunday treat for me, thank you :)
this is difficult to choose between! The Roland has such a cool night club sound to it... The Kawai I think would work better with Japanese styled arrangements than Jazz. I love both, but I think on this one I would have to go with the Roland for sound!
Thanks for going into such details about both actions. That was very helpful.
Thank you -again . Each time I learn more and that hooks into what I think I am hearing but don’t know why! Much, much appreciated
‘ you get what you pay for ‘👍👍
Great review. very helpful thank you. I'm leaning towards the Roland to purchase very soon
Nice one again Stu.
Very polite but good review. It resonates a lot with my feelings about both. Kawai is incomparably closer to the acoustic piano both in sound and action (especially in technical pieces).
Thanks so much! They are both wonderful instruments that offer something a bit different musically. :)
Thank you for probably the most plain honest AB comparison. God bless you!
I've been using Roland's FP-10 for a year now and I am currently at early intermediate level and I am only interested in the beautiful piano sound and action, I don't have much experience with an acoustic piano but would love to buy one someday and currently I am in love with the PHA4 action as its heavy for my liking and after watching this lovely comparison I really liked the sound of Kawai but I am afraid that RHIII might be too light for me that now I've been practicing on my FP-10. What do you think is the RHIII lighter than the PHA4? Which one would you pick if you have action as priority and you are on the journey to become a classical pianist?
Hi! Brent from Merriam Music here! Thanks for tuning in! Roland's PHA4 action provides an exceptional touch and value (particularly in the case of the FP10 given its price point). I would personally say that it is a little heavier than the RHIII and has a more prominent escapement sensation. At the end of the day, it really is a matter of preference and our recommendation is to make your way to a showroom to try both options to see which one you connect with. :)
@@MerriamPianos Thanks a lot you guys are the best! I will be moving to Canada soon and once I do all my pianos would come from you❤️
Hi@@magicofkeys5504 @MerriamPianos,
have you already made your choice?
Because I feel PHA-4 is more comfortable in my fingers, but in my country it is very difficult to find roland models like HP702/704/LX705/LX706.
After I tried Kawai CA49/CA59, the sound is beautiful, but too light. maybe here I can find an answer that can help me to make a choice.
Thank you
Something I think would help in these reviews would be to add a section discussing the warranty that each piano comes with standard.
Hi! Brent here! Thanks for the suggestion! The only issue is that the warranty terms vary from market to market sometimes. Given the fact that our audience is quite global, we wouldn't want to cause confusion with warranty terms that might not be applicable in a viewer's region.
@@MerriamPianos Gotcha. Makes sense.
The Roland LX 705 uses the updated "Pure Acoustic" model, not the "SuperNATURAL" one.
I think i will go with the Kawai because it is cheaper and the piano tone is better in my opinion. The action is more complex and satisfying I think and i am not going to use the other sounds as much.
Did you end up getting this model, or something else, any good advice to share if you don't mind?
Stu said that the Roland is good in the 50-80% range, and the Kawai is better for the more extreme touches. I would be really interested to know whether this changes if you use a VST. In other words, is the Roland's touch sensitivity an inherent limitation because of the Roland hardware in the key sensors, or is it just the way the software is set up, so the sensitivity could be improved by using a VST. It's not clear from his review but it would help me make a decision...
Hi! Brent from Merriam Music here! That is a very good question and one that we have been asked by a few community members. Unfortunately, I do not have any personal experience with using either of these two models as a MIDI controller in conjunction with VST piano plugins. However, we will do our best to tackle this topic in a future video. Perhaps, some of our helpful community members here have used the CN29 and/or HP702 in this way and will be able to offer some insights. :)
@pj1gm hi can you please share if you got the answer to this somehow, and/or whatever other useful info you have about these and other digital pianos? (in the
@@tashatomic4893 I haven't got a direct answer myself, but I am still hoping that MerriamPianos can shed some light on this. I have an acoustic piano and am looking for a digital piano that will give me a dynamic range equivalent to that acoustic, as I play classical music, much of which is 19th century early romantic and romantic music to a reasonably high level, which demands a wide dynamic range. As a digital piano would be only a backup to the acoustic that I can play at times when others do not want to be disturbed, I am looking for a cost effective solution. A cheaper digital and possibly combined with a VST is a potentially attractive solution, but I have no way of testing this without purchasing, which is why I asked the question of MerriamPianos, as they have the equipment to test this. In the reviews of digital pianos on UA-cam, there is not much discussion of the differences between digital pianos and their dynamic range, so it is difficult to know whether a higher end digital piano will be better at handling the subtleties of dynamics than a lower cost digital piano, possibly with a VST.
I have seen this discussion online which may help, as long as you have a digital piano to use to test the suggestions in the discussion. forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2926550/1/dynamic-range-on-digital-piano.html
My only direct experience is a half day at a digital piano store, testing 5 or 6 cheaper digital pianos. I found the lower Rolands with PHA4 action to be lacking at the pp end of the range. A Yamaha YDP 164 was better.
May Yahweh bless you brother we love you and you are the King of talking about pianos 🎹
Thank you for tuning in! I will be sure to pass on the well wishes to Stu for you. :)
12:43 vs 18:30
:)
Kawai better and best Roland artificial digital sound....Yamaha sound beautiful but Kawai sample natural
The warmth and colourful sound of the Kawai samples are definitely amazing. Roland's modelling tone engine is very different of course, but it is also exceptional and offers a tremendous amount of versatility. :)
Just the fact that the Roland HP702 has a 10 years warranty, which is double that of the Kawai CN29, shows the massive difference in build quality and durability between the two pianos.
I find the HP702 a bit more inspiring but the HP704 is well worth the higher price.
@@midnight4109 is this because the HP704 has the PHA50 action?
@@factbasedcomrade Yes plus the upgraded sound make it better but Roland is great in either market.
@@midnight4109 I recently just purchased the Yamaha p515. When I do upgrade, it will either be a Yamaha CLP or Roland HP/LX, not a Kawai, build quality just seems not comparable to Yamaha’s or Roland’s
And now Kawai has a partnership with Onkyo, which became insolvent and was purchased by Voxx ealier this year... Onkyo speakers, Onkyo motherboard, Onkyo amplifier... not sure if that's a good idea. At least Yamaha and Roland are independent companies, who build everything themselves. Yamaha has professional audio in studios, stadiums, churches, etc. And Kawai? They barely build digital pianos (aside their acoustic pianos). Half of the piano is not theirs . Yamaha and Roland have professional synthesizers, arrangers, stage monitors, and much more.
In this video, I prefer the sound of the Roland over the Kawai. When I tried the PHA-4 action in an FP-10 at Costco, I thought it was terrible. Not sure why others like it and say it is very piano like.
I did the exact same thing! I rushed to the Costco in our area two weeks ago. I called before coming to make sure it was on the floor. When i tried it I thought it was sub par, even at the relatively low price. I just don’t understand why people like it. To each his own, but I couldn’t see any redeeming qualities. I think maybe some people feel that the weight is a plus because it feels heavier like an acoustic? I’m not sure.
I went to a Guitar Center yesterday and there was a Yamaha P125 at the player's level and a Roland FP10 on top of it (upper rack). It was disconnected, so I couldn't play it with sound, but I tried its action. The action is not new to me, because I had the Roland home piano RP140R before, which has the same action. The PHA-4 action that these pianos use (both the RP140R and FP10) feels and looks like an old piano action. It is noisy going up, but it does look like a piano action, just not a modern piano. It has this feeling of a worn-out piano action, not smooth and pleasant. But if you are used to an old piano, you will probably like it. The Yamaha P125 below had such a remarkable sound authenticity to it when played using its built-in speakers. I also had the Roland FP50 before, so this FP10 is a more modest version a piano I used to have. The FP10 looks cheap and spartan, I am not saying it is built cheaply, but it looks uninspiring. The Yamaha P125 is better looking with its stylish speaker grills, but the Roland FP10 doesn't have speaker grills because it doesn't have speakers on top. It does have speakers on the bottom, so don't expect definition from the sound, which requires tweeters to deliver the upper harmonics, and this piano doesn't have them, unlike the Yamaha P125.
CN29 vs RP701
Watch video😎
…wenn man von einem akustischen Piano kommt fühlt sich nicht nur die Tastatur vom Kawai eher wie bei einem akkustischen Piano an sondern auch der Klang/Ton! Ein Roland Piano klingt niemals wie ein akustisches Piano! Jeder Pianist erkennt sofort ein Roland Piano am Klang! Es klingt einfach immer Digital! Wenn man dies akzeptiert ist es ein Instrument das einem vieles bietet! Aber man darf nicht den Klang eines akustischen Pianos erwarten…!
Ich denke, Ihre Wahrnehmung von Digitalpianos muss sich von der einfachen Nachbildung des Klangs eines Akustikpianos unterscheiden, von denen viele eher schlecht sind. Ich denke, man muss ein Digital nach seinen Leistungen beurteilen. Wenn mir der Sound einer bestimmten Digitalkamera gefällt, ist es mir nicht wichtig, dass er genauso klingt wie eine Akustik, mit der ich vertraut bin. Ich weiß nur, dass ich in diesem speziellen Video den Klang des Roland über den Kawai ziehe, beides Digitalpianos.
Very well said. Kawai is clear winner for those used to play acoustic piano.
How do you take the direct audio out form Kawai?
I see that It has no audio output
You can use the headphone output as an audio output as well. :)
@@MerriamPianos Ok I was wondering just about that. Thank you for reply!
the kawai looks better, sounds better and plays better in my opinion.
The Kawai CN29 (and, more recent, CN201) is a fantastic digital piano on all fronts in my opinion! With that said, the Roland HP702 is as well. The decision between these two mid-tier powerhouses will ultimately come down to the tonal and touch preferences of the player. :)
So basically I've bought a crap piano .. great. Wish I would have watched this before buying the Roland. Hated moving to digital from acoustic and really wanted authenticity. Serves me right for buying without a more thorough review. I would definitely not have bought the Roland after watching this.
The Roland HP702 is an excellent digital piano, but some players definitely have a hard time moving from acoustic to digital. At the end of the day, even the very best digital pianos are emulations of the real thing.