I played one today, against a Yamaha P-515, and Roland PF90-X... I felt the Kawai had the best action, most natural and that bounce is very common on a lot of acoustic pianos so it's a more realistic experience, in the end I have ordered the Kawai and I was in the store for 3 hours moving back and forth on all three pianos.
I was convinced to buy an ES-920 but the bouncing issue came up in so many posts. The P-515 is dated so the Roland FP-90X became more and more interesting the more I read about it. At the time, the FP-90X was pretty much sold out all over Germany but I called my local (still a 1 hour drive) dealer. To my surprise, they had two FP-90X available so I went there to try it out. Unfortunately, they had just sold their last ES-920 but they had a used MP7SE with the same action. It took me less than 5 seconds to realize the RH-3 is the wrong action for me. Not that it's bad, but it felt too lightweight and the wobble instantly annoyed me. I ended up buying the FP-90X and never regretted it. The action feels awesome, the velocity range is amazing, especially in combination with the physical modeling engine (and as a controller for Pianoteq). I only wish, Roland implemented both of their latest physical models, not just one.
Great!! Thanks Steven!! I don't think it's bad as everyone is saying.... And classical pianists seem to think the action feels great! I think I'm going to go with this!
For me, the key bounce and noisy action on the Kawaii is a deal breaker. In my opinion, the heaviness of the Yamaha P-515 more closely feels like the action on their grand pianos.
With the speakers turned on or headphones, this would be an non-issue. Unless you like to listen to Rhapsody in Blue performed on a piano with no strings ;-) Steven - I'd be very interested to hear your take on comparing this ES920 to the MP11SE if you ever played it. I'm sure both sound great, but my guess is that the MP11SE action would be a bit nicer. Even with a better action I think I'd still prefer the ES920 as it has a nice sound with it's own built-in speakers and it's very portable. Thanks for posting your video!
Shame about the mini drum roll after each and every keystroke. Especially when playing pianissimo. Kawai tell me The ES920 features the Responsive Hammer Action III which includes counterweights and weighted hammers in order to create as realistic response as possible in an instrument of that size/specification. As with mechanical actions in real acoustic pianos, the weighted and moving components do generate noise when played (when keys are pressed and released), this is unavoidable due to the nature of piano actions - however in acoustic pianos the volume is not adjustable, so the notes often ‘drown out’ the mechanical sound of the action. In digital pianos the volume can be reduced, allowing the action noise to appear more prominent, this will be accentuated in pianissimo passages. As this action has been designed to be as authentic to an acoustic piano experience as possible for the specification, the action is responding as it is designed and this is not a fault with your instrument. Setting the volume at 80-100% and placing the ES920 in a solid wood stand (such as the HML-1) will set the closest conditions to a piano and offset some of the mechanical action sound, placing the stand on a rug or carpet will reduce this further as solid floors can accentuate mechanical noise further. Sooo, that's all well and good but is the key bounce noise still irritating? - Hell yeh. I can even hear it over my headphones. Wish I'd gone for the P-515 instead
Hey, Steven, this is great, thanks for sharing. Have you checked the sound through headphones? I'm wondering if there is any quality loss or something like that. I own a P515 and the binaural sampling on the CFX through the headphones is quite nice (though one needs to like the CFX in the first place anyway). Thanks.
@@stevenwyatt4632 great, Steven, many thanks. On the P515, the Bösendorfer (for most people it is either the CFX or Bösendorfer on the P515) through the headphones is rather weak and poor, whereas through the speakers it sounds quite awesome to me.
@@stevenwyatt4632 Thanks for reply, and which key action is faster, more confortable and more high end between Kawai and Roland?, because Yamaha is out of consideration due to the painful heaviness in that keybed that hurting hands and wrists.
@@stevenwyatt4632 Thanks friend!, but please tell me, is PHA in FP fatiguing or weird feeling and noisy?. What do you think about Yamaha P515 wooden keys, are really a big upgrade in feeling high end due the wood or is only cosmetic and a pure marketing thing?.
@@ferdearmas8732 Stricly from key action point of view, the Rolad's FP is top notch. Is not that loud and is verry well built and more durabile than Kawai's. On the other hand, Kawai's samples are top quality samples. If you play with headphones you wont be bothered by the loudness key action of kawai, but the other person in the room will be verry annoyed, especialy if you play fast classical pieces. When i bought my piano, it was between Roland FP60 and Kawai ES8. I chose Kawai for the samples and it came with a key in the lower register with repetition problems. From what i gathered over the internet, It's more likely to have key problems with Kaway ES series than with Roland FP series. Dont think that the new ES are built differently, cause they are not. I think they have the same old keys. If i had to choose all over again i'd go with the FP 60. Heck i was even thinking to sell my ES8 and buy an FP60. Roland samples are not that bad (you can modify them) and you can always find good samples over the internet keeping in mind that the FP has bluetooth midi/audio (send/recieve) connection. P.s.: In your case i'd chose between Yamaha P515 and Roland FP90X. Yamaha P515 may have better sounding samples but the key action and the durability is still higher on the Roland's side. I'd go in a store and test them both personaly. I mean are not exactly cheap and you want it to last at least 5 years with no problems. So yeah, test them personaly.
It's such a shame that they didn't address this. Kawaii has one of the best triple sensor systems for fast repeating notes and one of the best escapement technology. But the lightness and loudness of the keyboard is an issue.
@@stevenwyatt4632 i agree the initial weight of the P515 is too heavy. But it still feels closer (weight wise) to a real grand piano. Roland's keys feel very unresponsive to me compared to either Kawai or Yamaha. Cant Kawai and Yamaha make a baby?... I am looking forward to go and test the ES920 though. I am curious to that new speaker system. On the third hand, I dont think the Kawai will be 300 eur better than the Yamaha, which is the price difference over here..
Like an old typewriter... seriously... get a cheap yamaha or roland and it is quiet. This thing is so loud it is hard to enjoy playing. Why? Well... fanboys called it 'a feature' in ES110 and ES8 so Kawai did nothing to fix it.
