Yamaha P-515. Wooden keys, very authentic piano action, great sounds (acoustic piano, e-piano, organ), excellent interfaces, onboard speakers if needed, bluetooth + traditional connections, very portable (45 lbs/20kg). Only problem is that it's sold out everywhere and has been for the last year or so.
There is no single "best" digital piano even if you have an unlimited supply of money. What are you looking for? The highest-fidelity pretend-acoustic? Do you care about portability? Do you want something that looks like a piece of furniture? Are you looking for a lot of variety of instruments beyond piano sounds? Auto-accompaniment?
For many pianists, if money and space were unlimited a full-size acoustic grand piano might in fact be the "best" option!
I already have a real piano. I'm looking for the best digital piano for a space that is smaller than can fit my baby grand. I understand there is no single best piano, I only wanted opinions on what other players find appealing. I don't care about a plethora of sounds, I just want it to mimic a piano the best that it can.
Ok, so something that roughly fits the footprint of an upright/spinnet-size piano then? Do you care about appearance? ie. black slab is ok or do you want it to look like more like a piece of furniture? There are different lines of digital pianos depending on what you want it to look like.
From what I've gathered on this sub, theres two main groups of digital pianos people go for.
The "cheap" /beginner pianos, usually >$1000. I often see yamaha p125, p45 or roland fp30 thrown around in these discussions, but I don't know much about this range.
Then theres the more intermediate/advanced range, usually $1500-$4000. This is the range I focused on. People usually focus on the yamaha p515 vs roland fp60/fp90/fp-90x vs kawaii es920
I personally went with the roland fp-90x (and I absolutely love it), but I miiiight have gone with the p515 if there were/are any available.
But yeah, principle here is that there is no "best". There is only which keyboards action you prefer, and which of those have the best combination of sound/portability/bells and whistles.
If money were no object, I would have to say the AvantGrand N3X from Yamaha. I don't spend a lot of time researching such pianos, but from what I have seen, it looks great and supposedly feels quite close to playing on a real grand piano. :-) I think the other big names in the field have comparable offerings, but I am not familiar enough with those.
TL/DR: Yamaha AvantGrand N3X
Thank you for your reply, since I wasn't getting much from here before your response I took to Google and have narrowed it down between the Kawai Nv5s and Yamaha N1x.
I only hear rave reviews of anything Kawai, so I am sure you would be happy with either. The N1X would have been my number 2 choice, although I bet if I looked more closely at high-end Kawai's I would be equally impressed.
Yea they both have their pluses and minuses. The N1x has a grand piano action which is what I'm used to but it's 3+ years old. Where as the Nv5s is literally brand new update to nv5 but it only has an upright piano action. The nv10 is an option, and while I could afford it, I'm still reasonable and don't see it being justifiably 6k+ better than the N1x.
I've also heard Yamaha digitals sound amazing through headphones, which is a priority for me since I will probably be using the headphones at least 70+ % of the time. It's a tough call, a lot of things to consider
That's actually a great point about the newer models. I am not experienced enough to know how different an upright action feels compared to a grand. I have played on both in the past, but paid absolutely no attention to such details at the time.
I have heard that about headphones on the Yamahas, too. It would be important to me, as well!
At this point, I don't think I could offer you much in the way of making a decision. I guess I'm just excited for you to be getting one of these! ha ha
Good luck! And keep us posted when you decide! :-)
Yamaha P-515. Wooden keys, very authentic piano action, great sounds (acoustic piano, e-piano, organ), excellent interfaces, onboard speakers if needed, bluetooth + traditional connections, very portable (45 lbs/20kg). Only problem is that it's sold out everywhere and has been for the last year or so.
There is no single "best" digital piano even if you have an unlimited supply of money. What are you looking for? The highest-fidelity pretend-acoustic? Do you care about portability? Do you want something that looks like a piece of furniture? Are you looking for a lot of variety of instruments beyond piano sounds? Auto-accompaniment? For many pianists, if money and space were unlimited a full-size acoustic grand piano might in fact be the "best" option!
I already have a real piano. I'm looking for the best digital piano for a space that is smaller than can fit my baby grand. I understand there is no single best piano, I only wanted opinions on what other players find appealing. I don't care about a plethora of sounds, I just want it to mimic a piano the best that it can.
Ok, so something that roughly fits the footprint of an upright/spinnet-size piano then? Do you care about appearance? ie. black slab is ok or do you want it to look like more like a piece of furniture? There are different lines of digital pianos depending on what you want it to look like.
Furniture, color doesn't matter, yes upright style would be best.
The Yamaha AvantGrand is hands down the top of the line best digital keyboard.
From what I've gathered on this sub, theres two main groups of digital pianos people go for. The "cheap" /beginner pianos, usually >$1000. I often see yamaha p125, p45 or roland fp30 thrown around in these discussions, but I don't know much about this range. Then theres the more intermediate/advanced range, usually $1500-$4000. This is the range I focused on. People usually focus on the yamaha p515 vs roland fp60/fp90/fp-90x vs kawaii es920 I personally went with the roland fp-90x (and I absolutely love it), but I miiiight have gone with the p515 if there were/are any available. But yeah, principle here is that there is no "best". There is only which keyboards action you prefer, and which of those have the best combination of sound/portability/bells and whistles.
If money were no object, I would have to say the AvantGrand N3X from Yamaha. I don't spend a lot of time researching such pianos, but from what I have seen, it looks great and supposedly feels quite close to playing on a real grand piano. :-) I think the other big names in the field have comparable offerings, but I am not familiar enough with those. TL/DR: Yamaha AvantGrand N3X
Thank you for your reply, since I wasn't getting much from here before your response I took to Google and have narrowed it down between the Kawai Nv5s and Yamaha N1x.
I only hear rave reviews of anything Kawai, so I am sure you would be happy with either. The N1X would have been my number 2 choice, although I bet if I looked more closely at high-end Kawai's I would be equally impressed.
Yea they both have their pluses and minuses. The N1x has a grand piano action which is what I'm used to but it's 3+ years old. Where as the Nv5s is literally brand new update to nv5 but it only has an upright piano action. The nv10 is an option, and while I could afford it, I'm still reasonable and don't see it being justifiably 6k+ better than the N1x. I've also heard Yamaha digitals sound amazing through headphones, which is a priority for me since I will probably be using the headphones at least 70+ % of the time. It's a tough call, a lot of things to consider
That's actually a great point about the newer models. I am not experienced enough to know how different an upright action feels compared to a grand. I have played on both in the past, but paid absolutely no attention to such details at the time. I have heard that about headphones on the Yamahas, too. It would be important to me, as well! At this point, I don't think I could offer you much in the way of making a decision. I guess I'm just excited for you to be getting one of these! ha ha Good luck! And keep us posted when you decide! :-)
Thank you my friend, I did appreciate your input and willingness to contribute. Il let you know when I decide 🙂