REVIEW - Casio PX860 Digital Piano - new 2015 model - RECOMMENDED as a "Best Buy"

UPDATED REVIEW - August 11, 2015 - Brand new & improved Casio PX860 digital piano Privia series for 2015. The new & improved PX860 has replaced the Casio PX850 which was their best seller and most popular digital piano for the last few years. The price of the PX860 is the same price as the recently discontinued PX850 ($1099US internet price) and the features is largely unchanged with regard to cabinet design with opening sound projection lid, finish colors, control panel, internal sound system, and functions, but has notable upgrades to the actual piano sound & instrument samples and reverb effects system. PRICE UPDATE: Casio has just announced through their US dealers that the normal PX860 internet selling price of $1099 has been reduced by $100 to a new temporary price of just $999 until September 30th or when supplies run out. The piano is still a brand new model and is not discontinued but Casio has decided to offer the public a "deal too good to pass up," in their words....and I would definitely agree with them assuming this piano fits your needs.

PX860 satin black

I have played this new PX860 quite a bit already and the sound upgrades over the PX850 include more realistic instrument sounds which are taken from Casio's pro piano keyboard called the PX5s including noticeably improved strings and electric pianos and put them into the PX860, which is a very nice upgrade. Another interesting feature Casio has created is their new reverb settings call Hall Simulation which gives the stereo acoustic piano sound a more spacious effect such as you would hear in a large concert hall or church where there is natural echo that occurs when playing an instrument. It's a very good sounding feature and adds to the sonic presence of the acoustic piano sounds and makes the piano more enjoyable to play depending on the kind of music you are playing. I have heard these kinds of effects before in other higher priced digital instruments and they can add to the realism of piano playing, but these effects are not always necessary especially with pop, jazz, or other types of non-classical or traditional piano music.

PX860 satin brown oak

Finally, with regard to new features, Casio has included a new music library that consists of 10 orchestra classical songs which you can play along with using the piano sounds. The 10 songs are in an audio wav format (recorded from live orchestra) and sounds just like a real recording of the instruments as you would have in a regular CD. The new songs are independent in their sounds and format (the piano itself does not have these sounds) but you can interact with them by playing along. The 10 songs are standard classical music and although they are fun to play along with, you would need to be able to read music (or play by ear) and play along at the song skill level so that you could interact with the music properly.  You can slow down the songs, mute either right or left hand playback sound for live playalong and do a few other things with the orchestra accompaniment which are all fun to do and helpful for learning. But there certainly are other ways to do this (iPad apps, etc) and with much larger music libraries that offer a better variety of music in multiple music categories. It's a nice feature and certainly sounds good, but it did not "knock my socks off" since there are only 10 songs available and they're all in the classical category, and you pretty much have to know how to read music at a more advanced sight reading level to play them accurately.

Overall I believe the new upgrades in this PX860 are certainly good, but beyond these features in the PX860, this piano is the same as the previous PX850 in all other areas which is a good thing since the PX860 offers even more for the money than its competitors in the same price range. For a more in-depth review of the PX860 please read my review of the prior PX850 and then you'll know much of what the PX860 does from that review, and I have played the PX850 many times so I know that piano well. The PX850 was very popular because it had a big piano sound utilizing some advanced digital sound technology with 256-note polyphony processing power, a
responsive ivory/ebony feel key action that's by far the best in its price range, was fairly easy to use, had lots of cool features that most other pianos in its price range do not have, and it looked attractive in its sleek contemporary cabinet. The new PX860 retains all of those features because sometimes it's difficult to improve on successful products so why change it much if people love what it already does:). Casio kept most of the "good parts" of the PX850 piano and upgraded a portion of it to the PX860 for an improved acoustic piano experience using the new hall simulators, new concert strings, vintage electric pianos, and organ sounds as well. You will notice the control panel in the left picture which is located above the keys instead of over to the left side of the keyboard as is the case on a a few Yamaha and Kawai models in this price range. I really like when the functions and buttons can be accessed more intuitively above the keyboard as opposed to the side of the keyboard. The PX860 does a very good job of this especially considering its lower internet price.

There are other high quality digital pianos out there in other brands in this lower price range, but in my opinion for $1099 internet price, the PX860 cannot be beat for what it does and excels over its competition in many ways. This model is really for people who really want a piano and not too much else. If you really just want to play piano and enjoy piano music with a few extra features (bells & whistles) and you want to stay near $1000, then the Casio PX860 may be the perfect instrument for you. I can also help people with getting lower prices than Amazon as well as internet stores and local stores on the new PX860 and other popular brands & models. Contact me before doing anything and I will be happy to help you get what you want and give you helpful advice. Also, even with the new temporarily reduced price of the PX860, I can still help you purchase a brand new one for less money than that:). Contact me for more info if you are interested.

* Go to the following link to read my prior review on the previous PX850 which will give you most of what the new PX860 can do other than the new things that I mentioned here:
Casio PX850 review

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet, Amazon, Bundles, and store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

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