UPDATED REVIEW - January 29, 2017 - Kawai ES110 Digital Piano - Recommended - The Kawai piano company (international headquarters in Japan), which is well known around the world for building home and professional acoustic upright and grand pianos along with a vast array of home and pro digital pianos, has just come out with its new upgrade to the former ES100. The 2017 model ES110 ($729US internet price not including optional furniture stand and triple pedals) looks pretty much identical to the prior ES100, but don't judge a book by its cover:). Kawai's goal was to improve the piano playing experience on this portable piano along with better connectivity to external devices, and after personally playing this new piano many times, in my opinion they have achieved both goals.
My opinion of the recently discontinued ES100 was that is had been the best portable digital piano under $1000 with regard to focusing on piano playing. That is, I felt it offered the most realistic piano playing experience in key action, piano sound, and pedaling of any portable digital piano from any piano brand under $1000. It wasn't a "perfect" digital piano and had a few downsides as do all digital pianos in one way or another, but overall Kawai designed the ES100 in a way that made you feel like you were playing a piano more so than the other brands and models in this price range. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Kawai had made some noticeable improvements to the ES100 and I recently got a chance to play this new ES110 and the key action was more responsive, quicker and even more enjoyable to play, the dynamic range of the piano sound along with its overall tonal qualities were improved in a noticeable way and are better than any other brand in this price range in my opinion (and that is saying a lot), and the damper sustain pedaling response with long sustain decay time just made the whole thing come together in a harmony of piano playing elements that really "floated my boat" so to speak.
However, it is the new key action now called RHC (Responsive Hammer Compact) that really made it obvious to me that the ES110 was on another higher level than any portable piano before it in this price range. Even though the keytops don't have the simulated ivory/ebony feel that some other portable and cabinet models do, the ES110 keytops resemble more the acrylic feel of actual acoustic pianos for the last 40 years since real ivory and ebony haven't been used on real pianos in decades. I do like the simulated ivory/ebony keytops of other digital pianos but that doesn't mean I have to have it or that it is a reason not to buy the ES110. The keys feel great, move great, and make you want to continue to play the ES110 for long periods of time...a real winner.
Put all that together and have it run through the vastly improved internal speaker system of this new model and the piano sound you hear is more "alive and organic" and projects more naturally through its own internal speakers. There are obviously many good portable digital pianos under $1000 including Yamaha P115, Yamaha DGX660, Casio PX160, Casio CGP700, Casio PX360, and Roland FP30, Roland F20, and even though all those models definitely offer some good features and you can certainly play piano on them, in my opinion the new Kawai ES110 is a superior instrument if you are mainly focused on playing piano and want the most realistic piano playing experience in a portable digital piano under $1000. For those of you who actually play piano already, if you had all these pianos side by side lined up next to each other and played them (or listened to someone else play them) in my opinion you could immediately tell the difference with the ES110 being the "standout" among those models for playing piano. If you do not play piano and are really just a beginner in the world of piano, then you could likely be happy on any of these digital pianos I mentioned as they are all good in their own ways. But when it comes to especially the acoustic piano sound, no other portable in this price range comes close in my opinion. Kawai still uses its proprietary 88-key sampling method where they sample every note independently (instead of stretch-sampling) for all 88 keys so that every time you play a song that piano sound is as natural as can be for every note and the transition of one note to next is more evenly distributed. No other portable digital piano under $1000 has 88-key individual sampling.
So when it comes to selecting a portable digital piano under $1000, in my opinion the Kawai company has "hit a home-run" again with their ES110 piano just like they did with their previous ES100. The other new features on this model that the prior ES100 did not have is the addition of separate audio outputs to connect to external sound systems, amps, and speakers. On some other digital pianos there are no outputs so you would need to use the headphone jack to accomplish a outside connection. However, headphone jacks output the sound in stereo and this can sometimes be problematic with trying to send that signal out to a mono sound system or two mono speaker monitors which is normally the case. A stereo signal can create phasing problems trying to convert to mono so the addition of two 1/4" audio output jacks is a very welcome feature in this new model. As far a MIDI connectivity goes, there are two standard MIDI connectors in the piano as before, however I would have much preferred a USB to external host instead but Kawai decided to stay with standard MIDI connections. That's fine for some old MIDI products when connecting to a digital piano but not practical when connecting the piano to current tablet and computer hardware. I think Kawai blew it on this one when they opted to keep the old MIDI connectors unless they would have done both.
However, to their credit, Kawai made up for the lack of USB connection by including a new Bluetooth function that allows the ES110 to wirelessly connect a MIDI signal to an iOS or Android tablet for working with educational and instrument apps without having to connect a cable to the piano. This is a great feature and works well as long as the app/function you want to connect with on your tablet/phone is Bluetooth compatible. The ES110 Bluetooth function does not stream a wireless audio signal like a few other digital pianos do even though I would have wanted that feature as well, I think the Bluetooth wireless MIDI connection is very useful and something that I would take advantage of considering I do a lot of teaching/music education in my studio and use my iPad quite frequently to interface with some exciting music apps that add to the joy of learning and playing piano.
In the world of lower priced portable digital pianos, there has been demand for these instruments to be as lightweight as possible so that it is easier to carry or transport. The prior ES100.was 33lbs in weight while the competitive Yamaha and Casio portable pianos were 26 lbs each in weight models with the competitive Roland model being 31 lbs in weight. However Kawai has been able to reduce the weight of this new ES110 to just 26 lbs in weight which then lines up with the other brands with the exception of the Roland which is still at 31 lbs in weight. Apart from weight they are all fairly easy to carry with regard to size dimensions but having the piano at just 26 lbs in weight means that Kawai has finally given people something that is lightweight to carry, especially in a carry-case.
In terms of instrument sounds on the ES110 there are a total of 19 "voices" which includes 8 acoustic piano sounds, 3 electric piano sounds, 2 organ sounds, 2 string ensemble sounds, 2 bass sounds, a harpsichord, and vibraphone bell tone. There have been noticeable upgrades to these instrument sounds where they are more natural and authentic than on the previous model and it shows. Simply outstanding for each and every sound and far more realistic than any other portable digital piano in this price range...absolutely no comparison. If you think I am being overly "gushy" or positive about these sounds as compared to the competitive models, then you would be wrong. I am just stating what I know...the competitive models are good, but with regard to these specific types of instrument sounds, Kawai has definitely gone past the "other guys." Adding to the realism of these sounds are very nice reverb effects which open up those sounds so that they have even more "body" to them than other reverb effects systems on other brands and models in this price range. Kawai just did a very good job in offering quality effects that when used on these sounds make everything that much more real.
The quality and ability of the acoustic piano sound and playability to be of higher quality is partly due to the amount of polyphony that is in the sound chip that is in the piano. The ES110 has 192 notes of polyphony which is a large amount of polyphony processing power, and that higher polyphony does make a positive difference when playing the piano especially when layering or splitting two instrument sounds at the same time, especially if those sounds are in stereo which they are on the ES110. Other popular brands of portable digital pianos such as Roland and Casio have 128 notes of polyphony while Yamaha also has 192 notes of polyphony like the Kawai ES110 on their portable models. So when it comes to polyphony (how many notes can be played at one time including pedaling sustain and any layers), the ES100 has the highest in its class tied with Yamaha.
The pedaling ability of this piano is equally impressive especially for those who already play piano and know how important damper pedal response can be to the music you are playing. The ES110 (like its predecessor) includes a very realistic looking and feeling damper sustain pedal that also triggers a half-damper pedal effect which simulates the way a real acoustic damper pedal works. Kawai also offers an optional triple pedal furniture attachment that connects to the ES110 optional furniture stand to make the piano look and function like a small acoustic piano. For most people the ES110 can simply be played on an inexpensive metal stand that can be purchased on-line or in a local store and the included metal piano sustain pedal is all that most people will need for pedaling purposes.
So what other interesting features does this new model have? Sometimes when the previous model has some good things on it you want to see those things carried over into the new model and this is the case for the ES110. It retains some of the nice sound editing features of the previous ES100 which include being able to split and layer 2 instrument sounds at one time, to change transpose key, reverb settings, key temperaments, tuning, touch sensitivity adjustments for key action sound response, metronome settings including tempo, time signature, and volume along with having 100 drum rhythm patterns for fun tempo training including a variety of jazz, rock, Latin, blues, country, and other drum patterns.
Beyond those editing functions, the ES110 has a vast array of piano "virtual technician" features to enable you to customize the piano sound by editing organic elements of that sound which include being able to select and adjustment the damper resonance, hammer (sound) voicing, hammer fallback noise, damper noise, and sound brilliance. All of these piano editing features allows for customizing the acoustic piano sounds in a way that may be even more authentic to your ears so that you can have and hear the organic elements of the acoustic piano sound in ways that other digital pianos cannot do. However, the 8 preset piano sounds on the ES110 are more than enough for most people who just want to turn on the piano and play piano music without editing or doing anything else to the sound. So whether you just want to play the piano sounds exactly the way they are or you are a bit more curious and technologically motivated, "you can have your cake and eat it too" as the old saying goes when it comes to having and playing really impressive acoustic piano sounds on the new ES110.
It is important to not that when trying to use the editing features on the ES110, like the ES100 before it, those features are not necessarily intuitive to use and it does require using a chart in the owners manual to access those functions by way of pressing an editing button and then pressing specific keys on the keyboard which then triggers that function/feature. There is no LED or LCD display screen to indicate what function you have selected or if it is really on or off or modified in some way. The only way you can tell is to listen with your ears to hear if the change has occurred or not and that you selected the correct one. For me that kind of process is unintuitive, somewhat cryptic, and not user friendly. Unfortunately many digital pianos use this method of sound editing and I do not particularly like it. The way around this is to include a display screen of some type on the control panel or have an iPad app that displays the control panel and lets the user interface with an iPad to control functions on the piano through an easy to use app. Some piano brands including Kawai (on higher priced models) have apps like this but not on the ES110. So if there is a negative for the ES110 it's the process they use to edit and use some of the internal features of the piano settings. But at least the features are there and with the owners manual you'll be able to figure it out.
The ES110 has a recording and playback feature that allows you to record up to 3 songs of your own and save them in the piano. You can then play them back to hear what you did and how it sounded. The recorder is 1-track only which means you cannot record left and right hand independently as some other digital pianos allow you to do. I would have preferred 2-track recording but most people who record their practice songs on the piano play with both hands at the same time so having just 1-track will likely be sufficient. There is no USB flash drive port for saving and loading songs so that is a feature I would like to have seen. But at least the ES110 can record and playback a few songs at a time until you erase those songs and start over, and that may be enough for you.
One of the more interesting and useful educational features on any of the good portable digital pianos in this price range is what Kawai offers on the ES110. With cooperation from the famous Alfred Music Publishing company, Kawai has built into this piano 2 of Alfred's most popular lesson book lesson book song libraries called Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1A and 1B along with Burgmüller 25 Etudes Faciles, Opus 100. The way this educational feature works is that you purchase optional lesson books for this built-in song library and then you can play these songs back at any speed (slowing it down when learning) and hear those songs play both left and right hand piano parts while looking at the music in the optional book(s). Beyond that you can play back the left and right hand parts of the songs separately one part at a time to isolate those parts to hear how the left and right sound when played back by themselves which is very helpful for practicing those songs which include titles such as happy Birthday, Jingle Bells, Old McDonald, Yankee Doodle, Oh When the Saints, Sonatina, and many more. Also while playing back either the left or right hand part of the song by itself, you can play the opposite part "live" along with the part that is playing back so you have something to play against like you would with a teacher and it helps with rhythm & timing and makes you sound better than you are:). The Burgmuller Etudes (an Etude is a short instrumental musical composition of considerable difficulty and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill) song library includes songs such as Arabesque, Ave Maria, Tarentelle, Pastorale, and others.
Additional useful features and functions on the ES110 include being able switch on and off the internal speakers, having the ability to save your favorite sound and feature setup so that when you power up the piano that memorized setup is what you get until you change it to something else. If you ever. Something that I use all the time in digital pianos is registration memories. This feature allows you to save up to 4 of your favorite sound setups including layers, splits, and other sound setups and then select them from a touch of a button on the control panel. This is great feature when playing live music in a church, venue, or even at home when you do not want to search for another instrument sound on the piano or do additional sound editing and you just want to play your favorite sounds and switch to them quickly while you are playing, so I like that feature very much and some digital pianos do not offer registration (sound setup) memories.
In the final analysis, given the fact that the new Kawai ES110 sounds great, has a very enjoyable piano weighted/graded key action that moves quickly and smoothly, has realistic pedaling response with included full size damper sustain pedal, offers improved external connectivity including dual stereo headphone jacks, has auto-power shut off control that shuts down the power (which you can set for time) of the piano if you leave it on by mistake, has a long 3 year parts/3 year labor factory warranty, and has an attractive case with nice clean lines, solid, easy to use control panel buttons, and is lightweight and easy to carry, what more could you want for the internet price of $729US?:). In my opinion Kawai has pretty much jumped ahead of the pack again and my suggestion is if you want to get a lower price portable digital piano closer to $500 and stay under $1000 that focuses on piano playing, you should do yourself a favor and get this new Kawai ES110 because in the long run it will be more than worth the price and you'll have something than even an advanced player can enjoy as well as a beginner and you can keep it for a long time. This is not to say that you cannot enjoy playing on other good digital pianos in this price range or that the ES110 offers near as much of an authentic piano playing ability as a portable digital piano in the higher price range such as the Kawai ES8 ($1999US internet price), but for what it offers and the upgrades put into on this model, Kawai has again hit a "home-run" in this price range for a very satisfying piano playing experience that will make you smile when you hear it and play it as I have.
If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.
My opinion of the recently discontinued ES100 was that is had been the best portable digital piano under $1000 with regard to focusing on piano playing. That is, I felt it offered the most realistic piano playing experience in key action, piano sound, and pedaling of any portable digital piano from any piano brand under $1000. It wasn't a "perfect" digital piano and had a few downsides as do all digital pianos in one way or another, but overall Kawai designed the ES100 in a way that made you feel like you were playing a piano more so than the other brands and models in this price range. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Kawai had made some noticeable improvements to the ES100 and I recently got a chance to play this new ES110 and the key action was more responsive, quicker and even more enjoyable to play, the dynamic range of the piano sound along with its overall tonal qualities were improved in a noticeable way and are better than any other brand in this price range in my opinion (and that is saying a lot), and the damper sustain pedaling response with long sustain decay time just made the whole thing come together in a harmony of piano playing elements that really "floated my boat" so to speak.
However, it is the new key action now called RHC (Responsive Hammer Compact) that really made it obvious to me that the ES110 was on another higher level than any portable piano before it in this price range. Even though the keytops don't have the simulated ivory/ebony feel that some other portable and cabinet models do, the ES110 keytops resemble more the acrylic feel of actual acoustic pianos for the last 40 years since real ivory and ebony haven't been used on real pianos in decades. I do like the simulated ivory/ebony keytops of other digital pianos but that doesn't mean I have to have it or that it is a reason not to buy the ES110. The keys feel great, move great, and make you want to continue to play the ES110 for long periods of time...a real winner.
Put all that together and have it run through the vastly improved internal speaker system of this new model and the piano sound you hear is more "alive and organic" and projects more naturally through its own internal speakers. There are obviously many good portable digital pianos under $1000 including Yamaha P115, Yamaha DGX660, Casio PX160, Casio CGP700, Casio PX360, and Roland FP30, Roland F20, and even though all those models definitely offer some good features and you can certainly play piano on them, in my opinion the new Kawai ES110 is a superior instrument if you are mainly focused on playing piano and want the most realistic piano playing experience in a portable digital piano under $1000. For those of you who actually play piano already, if you had all these pianos side by side lined up next to each other and played them (or listened to someone else play them) in my opinion you could immediately tell the difference with the ES110 being the "standout" among those models for playing piano. If you do not play piano and are really just a beginner in the world of piano, then you could likely be happy on any of these digital pianos I mentioned as they are all good in their own ways. But when it comes to especially the acoustic piano sound, no other portable in this price range comes close in my opinion. Kawai still uses its proprietary 88-key sampling method where they sample every note independently (instead of stretch-sampling) for all 88 keys so that every time you play a song that piano sound is as natural as can be for every note and the transition of one note to next is more evenly distributed. No other portable digital piano under $1000 has 88-key individual sampling.
So when it comes to selecting a portable digital piano under $1000, in my opinion the Kawai company has "hit a home-run" again with their ES110 piano just like they did with their previous ES100. The other new features on this model that the prior ES100 did not have is the addition of separate audio outputs to connect to external sound systems, amps, and speakers. On some other digital pianos there are no outputs so you would need to use the headphone jack to accomplish a outside connection. However, headphone jacks output the sound in stereo and this can sometimes be problematic with trying to send that signal out to a mono sound system or two mono speaker monitors which is normally the case. A stereo signal can create phasing problems trying to convert to mono so the addition of two 1/4" audio output jacks is a very welcome feature in this new model. As far a MIDI connectivity goes, there are two standard MIDI connectors in the piano as before, however I would have much preferred a USB to external host instead but Kawai decided to stay with standard MIDI connections. That's fine for some old MIDI products when connecting to a digital piano but not practical when connecting the piano to current tablet and computer hardware. I think Kawai blew it on this one when they opted to keep the old MIDI connectors unless they would have done both.
However, to their credit, Kawai made up for the lack of USB connection by including a new Bluetooth function that allows the ES110 to wirelessly connect a MIDI signal to an iOS or Android tablet for working with educational and instrument apps without having to connect a cable to the piano. This is a great feature and works well as long as the app/function you want to connect with on your tablet/phone is Bluetooth compatible. The ES110 Bluetooth function does not stream a wireless audio signal like a few other digital pianos do even though I would have wanted that feature as well, I think the Bluetooth wireless MIDI connection is very useful and something that I would take advantage of considering I do a lot of teaching/music education in my studio and use my iPad quite frequently to interface with some exciting music apps that add to the joy of learning and playing piano.
In the world of lower priced portable digital pianos, there has been demand for these instruments to be as lightweight as possible so that it is easier to carry or transport. The prior ES100.was 33lbs in weight while the competitive Yamaha and Casio portable pianos were 26 lbs each in weight models with the competitive Roland model being 31 lbs in weight. However Kawai has been able to reduce the weight of this new ES110 to just 26 lbs in weight which then lines up with the other brands with the exception of the Roland which is still at 31 lbs in weight. Apart from weight they are all fairly easy to carry with regard to size dimensions but having the piano at just 26 lbs in weight means that Kawai has finally given people something that is lightweight to carry, especially in a carry-case.
In terms of instrument sounds on the ES110 there are a total of 19 "voices" which includes 8 acoustic piano sounds, 3 electric piano sounds, 2 organ sounds, 2 string ensemble sounds, 2 bass sounds, a harpsichord, and vibraphone bell tone. There have been noticeable upgrades to these instrument sounds where they are more natural and authentic than on the previous model and it shows. Simply outstanding for each and every sound and far more realistic than any other portable digital piano in this price range...absolutely no comparison. If you think I am being overly "gushy" or positive about these sounds as compared to the competitive models, then you would be wrong. I am just stating what I know...the competitive models are good, but with regard to these specific types of instrument sounds, Kawai has definitely gone past the "other guys." Adding to the realism of these sounds are very nice reverb effects which open up those sounds so that they have even more "body" to them than other reverb effects systems on other brands and models in this price range. Kawai just did a very good job in offering quality effects that when used on these sounds make everything that much more real.
The quality and ability of the acoustic piano sound and playability to be of higher quality is partly due to the amount of polyphony that is in the sound chip that is in the piano. The ES110 has 192 notes of polyphony which is a large amount of polyphony processing power, and that higher polyphony does make a positive difference when playing the piano especially when layering or splitting two instrument sounds at the same time, especially if those sounds are in stereo which they are on the ES110. Other popular brands of portable digital pianos such as Roland and Casio have 128 notes of polyphony while Yamaha also has 192 notes of polyphony like the Kawai ES110 on their portable models. So when it comes to polyphony (how many notes can be played at one time including pedaling sustain and any layers), the ES100 has the highest in its class tied with Yamaha.
The pedaling ability of this piano is equally impressive especially for those who already play piano and know how important damper pedal response can be to the music you are playing. The ES110 (like its predecessor) includes a very realistic looking and feeling damper sustain pedal that also triggers a half-damper pedal effect which simulates the way a real acoustic damper pedal works. Kawai also offers an optional triple pedal furniture attachment that connects to the ES110 optional furniture stand to make the piano look and function like a small acoustic piano. For most people the ES110 can simply be played on an inexpensive metal stand that can be purchased on-line or in a local store and the included metal piano sustain pedal is all that most people will need for pedaling purposes.
So what other interesting features does this new model have? Sometimes when the previous model has some good things on it you want to see those things carried over into the new model and this is the case for the ES110. It retains some of the nice sound editing features of the previous ES100 which include being able to split and layer 2 instrument sounds at one time, to change transpose key, reverb settings, key temperaments, tuning, touch sensitivity adjustments for key action sound response, metronome settings including tempo, time signature, and volume along with having 100 drum rhythm patterns for fun tempo training including a variety of jazz, rock, Latin, blues, country, and other drum patterns.
Beyond those editing functions, the ES110 has a vast array of piano "virtual technician" features to enable you to customize the piano sound by editing organic elements of that sound which include being able to select and adjustment the damper resonance, hammer (sound) voicing, hammer fallback noise, damper noise, and sound brilliance. All of these piano editing features allows for customizing the acoustic piano sounds in a way that may be even more authentic to your ears so that you can have and hear the organic elements of the acoustic piano sound in ways that other digital pianos cannot do. However, the 8 preset piano sounds on the ES110 are more than enough for most people who just want to turn on the piano and play piano music without editing or doing anything else to the sound. So whether you just want to play the piano sounds exactly the way they are or you are a bit more curious and technologically motivated, "you can have your cake and eat it too" as the old saying goes when it comes to having and playing really impressive acoustic piano sounds on the new ES110.
It is important to not that when trying to use the editing features on the ES110, like the ES100 before it, those features are not necessarily intuitive to use and it does require using a chart in the owners manual to access those functions by way of pressing an editing button and then pressing specific keys on the keyboard which then triggers that function/feature. There is no LED or LCD display screen to indicate what function you have selected or if it is really on or off or modified in some way. The only way you can tell is to listen with your ears to hear if the change has occurred or not and that you selected the correct one. For me that kind of process is unintuitive, somewhat cryptic, and not user friendly. Unfortunately many digital pianos use this method of sound editing and I do not particularly like it. The way around this is to include a display screen of some type on the control panel or have an iPad app that displays the control panel and lets the user interface with an iPad to control functions on the piano through an easy to use app. Some piano brands including Kawai (on higher priced models) have apps like this but not on the ES110. So if there is a negative for the ES110 it's the process they use to edit and use some of the internal features of the piano settings. But at least the features are there and with the owners manual you'll be able to figure it out.
The ES110 has a recording and playback feature that allows you to record up to 3 songs of your own and save them in the piano. You can then play them back to hear what you did and how it sounded. The recorder is 1-track only which means you cannot record left and right hand independently as some other digital pianos allow you to do. I would have preferred 2-track recording but most people who record their practice songs on the piano play with both hands at the same time so having just 1-track will likely be sufficient. There is no USB flash drive port for saving and loading songs so that is a feature I would like to have seen. But at least the ES110 can record and playback a few songs at a time until you erase those songs and start over, and that may be enough for you.
One of the more interesting and useful educational features on any of the good portable digital pianos in this price range is what Kawai offers on the ES110. With cooperation from the famous Alfred Music Publishing company, Kawai has built into this piano 2 of Alfred's most popular lesson book lesson book song libraries called Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1A and 1B along with Burgmüller 25 Etudes Faciles, Opus 100. The way this educational feature works is that you purchase optional lesson books for this built-in song library and then you can play these songs back at any speed (slowing it down when learning) and hear those songs play both left and right hand piano parts while looking at the music in the optional book(s). Beyond that you can play back the left and right hand parts of the songs separately one part at a time to isolate those parts to hear how the left and right sound when played back by themselves which is very helpful for practicing those songs which include titles such as happy Birthday, Jingle Bells, Old McDonald, Yankee Doodle, Oh When the Saints, Sonatina, and many more. Also while playing back either the left or right hand part of the song by itself, you can play the opposite part "live" along with the part that is playing back so you have something to play against like you would with a teacher and it helps with rhythm & timing and makes you sound better than you are:). The Burgmuller Etudes (an Etude is a short instrumental musical composition of considerable difficulty and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill) song library includes songs such as Arabesque, Ave Maria, Tarentelle, Pastorale, and others.
Additional useful features and functions on the ES110 include being able switch on and off the internal speakers, having the ability to save your favorite sound and feature setup so that when you power up the piano that memorized setup is what you get until you change it to something else. If you ever. Something that I use all the time in digital pianos is registration memories. This feature allows you to save up to 4 of your favorite sound setups including layers, splits, and other sound setups and then select them from a touch of a button on the control panel. This is great feature when playing live music in a church, venue, or even at home when you do not want to search for another instrument sound on the piano or do additional sound editing and you just want to play your favorite sounds and switch to them quickly while you are playing, so I like that feature very much and some digital pianos do not offer registration (sound setup) memories.
In the final analysis, given the fact that the new Kawai ES110 sounds great, has a very enjoyable piano weighted/graded key action that moves quickly and smoothly, has realistic pedaling response with included full size damper sustain pedal, offers improved external connectivity including dual stereo headphone jacks, has auto-power shut off control that shuts down the power (which you can set for time) of the piano if you leave it on by mistake, has a long 3 year parts/3 year labor factory warranty, and has an attractive case with nice clean lines, solid, easy to use control panel buttons, and is lightweight and easy to carry, what more could you want for the internet price of $729US?:). In my opinion Kawai has pretty much jumped ahead of the pack again and my suggestion is if you want to get a lower price portable digital piano closer to $500 and stay under $1000 that focuses on piano playing, you should do yourself a favor and get this new Kawai ES110 because in the long run it will be more than worth the price and you'll have something than even an advanced player can enjoy as well as a beginner and you can keep it for a long time. This is not to say that you cannot enjoy playing on other good digital pianos in this price range or that the ES110 offers near as much of an authentic piano playing ability as a portable digital piano in the higher price range such as the Kawai ES8 ($1999US internet price), but for what it offers and the upgrades put into on this model, Kawai has again hit a "home-run" in this price range for a very satisfying piano playing experience that will make you smile when you hear it and play it as I have.
If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.