REVIEW-Yamaha AvantGrand N1X, N2, N3X Digital Piano Hybrids -

UPDATED REVIEW-  July 20, 2019 - Yamaha AvantGrand Hybrid Digital Pianos N1X ($8999 internet discount price), N2 ($10,999 internet discount price), and N3X ($16,599 store discount price) - Recommended - I've have played various professional brands of acoustic grand & upright pianos for a very long time including Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, Baldwin, Mason-Hamlin, Bosendorfer, and many others. The drawbacks to playing large acoustic pianos in your home is that they are obviously big, they're always loud (or louder), they're very difficult to play at soft volume...and of course they need regular tuning & maintenance. Also, with all of the useful computer/iPad music technology out there these days for educational and music playing purposes, it is much easier to connect to that world through a digital piano as opposed to a traditional acoustic piano.  Good acoustic pianos can still be an amazing instrument to play and if all you want to do is play piano, you are not concerned or bothered by the loud volume of an acoustic piano, and you are fine with spending money every year on maintaining the acoustic piano, and you can afford a top brand acoustic grand piano at a minimum of $15000 on up to $100,000 or more, then I would recommend you purchase an acoustic grand piano because there is nothing like the real thing. However, if you are like me and need a good high quality piano with a smaller "footprint," you don't like playing a piano that's out-of-tune often which can be the case depending on the climate you live in, you would like to play the piano very quietly at times so you don't disturb others in the house and you know you cannot do that on a regular acoustic piano, and you would like to easily connect with technology including an external computer, tablet, etc, then the Yamaha AvantGrand series of Hybrid digital pianos may be the perfect instrument for you to consider because it offers all of those desirable features without the size, cost, and maintenance of a full size acoustic grand piano.

It's was approximately 8 years ago when I did a review of the previous AvantgGrand series which included the N1, N2, and N3. This was the 1st ever truly hybrid digital piano that combined a great Yamaha acoustic piano key action in contemporary polished pianos cabinets with all digitally sampled piano sound from real acoustic pianos along with other digital technology. These 3 models have been popular ever since for people who wanted as close of a grand piano playing experience as they could get but without all the inconveniences and costs associated with a real full size grand piano. But after over 8 years of being on the market, Yamaha has "improved" the AvantGrand "N" series pianos and come out with a new versions of the N1 which is now the N1X and a new version of the N3 which is called the N3X. It is interesting to note that so far Yamaha is keeping the previous N2 in the lineup "as is" with no changes...so far other than the selling price going down a bit. Whether Yamaha makes any changes to the N2 or even discontinues it is yet to be seen. In my opinion, of the 3 previous models the N2 was considered by many to be the one most people wanted to get because it had the much nicer cabinet (over the N1), much more advanced internal speaker system over the more basic N1, it took up a lot less room than the N3 4' deep grand shaped version while otherwise being the identical piano (with the exception of cabinet & internal speaker system), and it was definitely less money than the N3. So if someone wanted a big, full, resonate piano sound along with a big bass response (which most piano players love) and you wanted the actual grand piano key action playing experience (the real hybrid action), the N2 was the one to go for. I would have thought that Yamaha might have upgraded to N2 to the specs of the N3X by now, but as I just mentioned so far they have not done that. Then is it worth "dropping down" to the newer N1X to get the "upgraded" piano sounds and newer digital features but. at the same time, giving up the bigger and better internal sound system and the much nice cabinet design and construction...maybe it is and maybe it isn't. There are reasons to consider both sides of that question since the two models are only $1000 apart and yet the N2 is way less money than the newer N3X at a difference of $5600.

What makes the AvantGrand series of pianos unique is that they have Yamaha Grand piano key actions in them...actual all wood fully implemented original parts with the exception of the felt hammers which are instead metal rods that trigger optical sensors which are located at both the hammer portion of the key action as well and the keys themselves. As the "hammers" move back & forth when striking a key, they trigger that special advanced optical sensing system which causes the piano sound chip to make the piano sound. The sound you get is also relative to the velocity of the keys that are moving and the optical sensors can tell how fast or slow the keys are going in fractions of a second at any given time. There are no strings in the piano or acoustic wooden soundboard like you would find in a real acoustic piano. So the thing that makes the AvantGrand series of pianos be referred to as "Hybrid" is the fact that they have a real fully functional (but without hammers) acoustic key action which is ultimately what most piano players are primarily concerned about...key action, followed by piano sound and pedaling response...and then cabinet design and structure. The N1X, N2, and N3X all have the same acoustic "grand piano" key action in them including the let-off/escapement feature that is found in real grand pianos. The key actions are not patterned after upright type pianos but the actions comes from actual Yamaha acoustic grand pianos and then slightly modified (in size) for the AvantGrand series. This means that no matter which model AvantGrand that you would purchase, the key action movement and response will all be the same...and that's a very good thing. The key action really is a joy to play, especially for those people who have had experience playing full size acoustic grand pianos and this key action gives you a great range of sensitivity which allows you to get a full dynamic range of tonal expression out of the piano sound. All three pianos have smooth, lifelike pedaling allowing the nuances needed for all kinds of music (although the piano keyboard does not physically move laterally when pressing down the "soft pedal like it would when using the una corda/soft pedal on a real acoustic grand, but it doesn't have to..it's a digital piano after all. All AvantGrand models have the same sampled sound source (Spatial Acoustic Sampling), a large 256 notes of polyphony, as well as 5 instrument sounds incl the piano sound. Five sounds is obviously not a lot, specially as compared to other digital pianos, but then again, an acoustic piano only has 1 instrument sound, right?:).

N1X

The AvantGrand series is obviously not intended to be a digital piano with a vast array of built-in technology & features (it doesn't even have a USB computer output - just MIDI) let alone many extra instrument sounds, layering, splitting, drum patterns, etc. These digital instruments are made to replicate an acoustic grand piano with cutting edge digital technology in beautiful (and very contemporary looking) polished ebony cabinets designed to replace the acoustic grand piano experience whether in an upright configuration or baby grand style configuration. Do they actually completely replace that acoustic grand experience for everyone? No they do not because different people have different musical standards, tastes, and musical experiences. So for some, this piano will not do it, and for others it's more than they dreamed of having. It just depends.

Yamaha's 256-note polyphony sound chip (polyphony is important when more notes and damper pedaling are used at the same time in a piece of music) is still very high in today's digital piano standards A good digital piano reproduces an acoustic piano sound that is recorded in stereo on a chosen acoustic piano with multiple microphones placed near or inside the acoustic piano, and that recording is what you hear in the digital piano. In a stereo piano sound (not mono), each part or side of the stereo recording takes up separate polyphony so that 88 keys really needs a minimum of 128 notes of polyphony per side. On top of that, if there is damper resonance coming from the damper/sustain pedal and this would also require polyphony memory. Also, in my opinion the AvantGrands should have been made to allow the player to mix or layer two stereo instrument tones together which is a more common feature of other digital pianos that have many more instrument sounds including strings, choirs, organs, etc. Even the more basic Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos have many more instrument sounds that I personally enjoying listening to and playing. I am guessing Yamaha did not do that because maybe they just didn't think people would care to layer 2 sounds together in these new AvantGrand models (such as harpsichord & piano or piano & strings (although there are no strings in these models) because the pianos are marketed to people who just mainly want to play piano, but I would disagree with that thinking.

All three pianos have a digital transpose/modulation feature, 1-track recorder (not much), and the upright style N2 (and N3X) has a concealed sliding drawer (left pic) that pulls out from under the piano keyboard to expose the instrument control buttons needed to change sounds and functions. This is a very nice way to hide the controls to make the piano look more natural. However, the buttons are very small on the control drawer. The buttons on the N1X are exposed on the front side panel of the piano and those buttons are unusually hard to push down although the N2 buttons are different and a bit easier to use...but not by much. Why Yamaha chose to have two different sets of control buttons on the N1X, N2/N3X doesn't make sense to me, but no doubt it saves them money. You'd only want to push the buttons when changing sounds and maybe for a couple other features like recording, and for many people the grand piano sound is the main reason why someone would buy one of the AvantGrand digital piano models. However, I will go on record and say that I personally do not like the small, hard button user interface on these pianos. Tucking away a sliding drawer is a great idea, but not at the expense of such a clunky interface, especially in this day and age of more advanced user interface technology. With this in mind, Yamaha does have a very good "work-around" to this clunky interface that is on the N1X and N3X and it's a proprietary app called "Smart Pianist." This app allows you to take an iPad and use your color touch screen to control the piano functions and features. It works well, it's fun to use, and it gets the job done in a more intuitive way. All you need is an iPad, a cable connection to the USB output of the piano, or an optional wireless device to allow you to connect with wireless MIDI connectivity. Unfortunately because the N2 model is from the previous generation AvantGrand series, the Smart Pianist app does not work with the N2...bummer! But...if you mainly just want to play piano and occasionally use another sound here and there and maybe do a basic recording, then the slide-out drawer should be enough, especially because there are only 5 instrument sounds on the N2.

The Yamaha Smart Pianist App has a number of specific advantages to using the physical control buttons on the piano or in that slide-out drawer.

N3X

As with many of the Clavinova CLP models, Yamaha only offers a basic red letter LED display on all three piano control panels which doesn't give much info as compared to a backlit LCD display, but this piano doesn't do much either, except basically try to replace an acoustic grand and that's what these instruments are all about. The biggest major difference (although there are some others) among these pianos besides cabinet structure, is the on-board sound system. Each piano is different and the sound system was designed to give the player the spacial feeling of playing a real acoustic piano. We're talking about a lot of speakers, a lot of dedicated power amps, and about strategic placement of these speakers and power amps to give the player the sense of playing the real thing. That has always been one of the main problems and downsides with digital pianos; spatially and environmentally that mostly don't emulate the organic nature of sound coming out of a good acoustic piano. However, Yamaha has done an excellent job with trying to solve this dilemma and it shows. Overall the key action feels great to play (yes it is like playing a real grand piano) and the grand piano sound is overall also satisfying, but let's not lose sight of the fact that there is no standard for "greatness" when it comes to grand piano touch and tone in any good grand piano. Everyone has different expectations and experiences and so these pianos will either blow you away, or you may be slightly disappointed when comparing them to what you "think" a grand piano should feel and sound like. It's quite subjective, especially if you happen to play at a higher skill level like I do, but I happen to like these instruments a lot and they are a joy to play for me. But as with all things digital, there are a few things I don't like about them which mostly has to do with the user interface "slide-out drawer," as I already mentioned.

With regard to the other things these pianos can do when it comes to extra digital features, the AvantGrand pianos have some useful things they do, but they are relatively basic as compared to the lower priced "standard" Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos which have many more features than do these much higher priced AvantGrand "N" series hybrid pianos. There is no doubt that Yamaha was thinking that their AvantGrand pianos were designed to give you the best piano playing experience in a digital piano for any price and that including lots of "bells & whistles" were just not necessary and would only raise the price even further. So instead of giving you LCD display screens, hundreds of instrument sounds, and multi-track recording functions, Yamaha built these pianos to be "minimalistic" in the way they look and they way they work. I think some people will like that and others will not...it just depends on your point of view on that subject.

N2

If you're using a good set of headphones in the AvantGrand pianos, which is great to do, then all of the spacial speaker placement and cabinet resonation are not relevant and do not work at that point. Then what you have remaining is that great key action coupled with the piano sound chip. It is interesting to note that the N1X and N3X piano sound chip (with the CFX & Bosendorfer piano samples) is identical to the piano sound chip used in other Yamaha digital piano models included the Yamaha Clavinova CLP series and the NU1X upright key action hybrid model. Therefore, if you'll be using headphones a lot, then you're not taking big advantage of the very upgraded built-in speaker system Yamaha has developed for these AvantGrand models such as the one in the N2 (above left pic). So my advice is to think real long and hard before you spend the big bucks that these models are demanding right now. If you have the extra disposable income and you love playing a real grand piano, then you should buy one of these AvantGrand because you'll enjoy the grand piano experience in a beautiful cabinet without the hassle of having to tune it and worrying about keeping the volume down when there are others in the home doing things (sleeping, watching TV, etc). Also, for places other than homes such as churches, schools, studios, and other larger venues, the AvantGrand pianos will allow you to easily connect to an external sound system to further amplify the sound to a larger audience.

To sum up my experience with the AvantGrands, I really do enjoy playing them and the key action, and knowing you can turn down the volume and also use headphones for private practice, is why people buy this series of pianos, as well as the impressive speaker systems putting out some convincing sound. If you have the disposable income and like what they do, how they sound & play, and are impressed with their cabinet designs, then buy one and enjoy!

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