REVIEW - Yamaha YDP103 Digital Piano - Recommended - Lowest Priced Arius Model

REVIEW - Yamaha YDP103 Digital Piano - Recommended - The new entry level Yamaha Arius YDP103 is the new lowest price digital piano in the Yamaha Arius series. With the addition of the Yamaha YDP103 at $899US internet discount price, the Arius series now consists of  6 models.  With 6 pianos in the Arius series, the choice would be based on your budget (of course), your playing skill level as well as how many features & functions you would like on a digital piano.

To make matters more interesting, Yamaha makes an entry level portable digital piano called the P45. I have done a review of the P45 here on my blog and it's a nice model, especially for its low price of $449. Rather the totally reinvent the wheel, what Yamaha actually did is take their P45 portable digital piano and simply put it in a basic, more traditional cabinet with built pedals and sliding key cover and called it a new model...YDP103. If you look at the Yamaha specifications on their web site for both models you will see the features are identical. This is nothing new as Yamaha has done this before along with other digital piano manufacturers who have done it to add a new model and save money doing it that way. Using previous technology in a lower priced model and just changing the cabinet and calling it a new model saves them money and gives shoppers more choices which can be a good thing.

At $899 this new model does give Yamaha a slight advantage over the other major brands in that the YDP103 is the lowest priced digital piano in a traditional looking cabinet, although it is certainly more basic in technology than the others. The YDP103 has 64 notes of polyphony processing power instead of 128 or 192. More polyphony is better when playing more complex pieces or layering 2 or more sounds together. The YDP103 is also using an older and less realistic piano sound chip called AWM instead of their newer "Pure CF" piano sampling sound chip found in their portable model P115 as well as in other Arius models including the new YDP143 ($1099 internet price). So when priced is reduced...so are features. You usually don't get something for nothing and that's the case here. In fact if you look at pictures of the YDP103 compared to the YDP143, the YDP143 has a fuller/larger privacy panel backboard as compared to the YDP103 which some people may or may not like. But at $899 it's hard to complain.

Although the YDP103 is a bit more basic in features, has no built in recorder, no audio inputs or outputs, it does have the ability to connect with Yamaha's new "controller iPad app" which allows an iPad to control many of the internal functions of the YDP103 from the iPad touch screen. It's a cool app, looks great, and is intuitive to use. This is something that the portable P45 cannot do as far as I know and this app really does a nice job in making the user experience on the YDP103 a much better one, assuming you have an iPad and can dedicate it to the YDP103 or have use of it when you are playing the piano. The app also works on the YDP143 and YDP163 and a couple of other models including the lower price (and much better) P115 portable digital piano.

Please read my previous review of the P45 & P115 review and then you'll know all about the new new YDP103 in terms of specs and my personal experience playing those pianos. Go to the following link at: Yamaha P45-P115 Review. If it were me, I would instead purchase the Yamaha P115 ($599US price) with optional stand and 3-pedal unit because you'll get way more for the money in terms of piano chip sound quality, features, internal speaker system, and ease of us. The P115 with stand & triple pedal unit would come in at about $150 less than the YDP103, and the P115 is the much better instrument.

Yamaha YDP143

The new YDP103 is available only in darker rosewood along with small matching bench, which is attractive. But many people prefer a satin black color and as far as I know, the satin black is not available in the YDP103 but is available in the YDP143. The built-in speaker system is just OK at 12 watts total power (2x6 watts stereo), and the sound is a but thin but that's expected with weak power amps as compared to other slightly higher priced digital pianos at 16-24 watts of total power. The new YDP103 is a nice piano and I like it, but it only has one function button on it (piano) and everything else is driven by needing to go into the owners manual to see where the hidden features are located on a key map and then then pressing the function button and a specific key to access the function-features. If you are just basically going to play piano then that's fine. But if you're going to be doing more than that, then having an iPad and using the Yamaha iPad app is essential to the best possible user experience in operating the piano. If you do that then there is no problem and I recommend it. Arius models are reliable, generally will hold up for many years, and have a good 3-year warranty covering parts & labor.

Casio PX760 brown satin walnut

I would also recommend you consider the newer Casio Privia PX760 digital piano at $699US internet discount price. At $200 less, the Casio offers more built-in upgraded technology than the YDP103 including an upgraded piano sound chip with 128-note polyphony, a wider dynamic range of expression when playing from soft to loud, synthetic ivory & ebony keytops, a built-in 2-track MIDI recorder, more piano and instrumental sounds, direct access buttons to many features and more intuitive controls, a louder/fuller 16-watt internal speaker system, 3-senor key action for better key repetition recognition instead of 2-senor such as what is in the YDP103, and the piano comes in a satin black finish, brown walnut finish, and satin white finish, so there are more cabinet finish options too. The model still has the direct USB output, dual headphone jacks on the front, and a built-in siding key cover.

Casio PX860 satin black

This Casio PX760 piano has a more contemporary appearance than the more traditional look of the YDP103, so you may prefer the Yamaha in some cases. But for overall features & functions for the $699 price, I believe the Casio PX760 offers a lot more and I personally like it better and it also comes with a 3-year factory parts & labor warranty with in-home service. However the Yamaha does have the iPad controller app (very nice) which the Casio does not, and the Yamaha comes with a bench which the Casio does not. But the Yamaha bench is very basic, small, basic padding, and does not open for music storage. Amazon.com has many high quality benches that are larger/longer duet size, better padded, and open up for music storage and those benches average about $50US to purchase separately. If you purchase one of those benches then you would have the Casio PX760 and a much better bench for only $749 which is $150 less than the Yamaha...definitely something you should consider. Go to the following link to read my review of the newer Casio PX760: Casio PX760 Review. Also, Casio makes a top-of-the-line PX860 model ($999 internet price) that is substantially upgraded over the new Yamaha YDP103 for just $100 more. Apart from the Yamaha iPad controller app, the new Yamaha does not come close to the Casio PX860 in terms of function, features, and piano playing authenticity in my opinion. I do like Yamaha, but they seem to be more competitive once you get up over $2000 in their piano lineup based on my experience with their tradtional cabinet pianos. Go to the following link for my review of the Casio PX860: Casio PX860 Review

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