REVIEWS / Digital Pianos Under $2500 / Dec 7, 2019 / Top Picks!

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - December 7, 2019 - BEST DIGITAL PIANOS under $2500 down to $1000 including the Kawai ES8, Casio AP470, Yamaha YDP164, Roland RP501R, Casio AP700, Yamaha CLP625, Kawai CA48, and a few others. For a recent review of new digital pianos under $1000 go here: New Digital pianos under $1000 My name is Tim Praskins and as an expert digital piano consultant to many people throughout the world, I like to share my knowledge of digital pianos with people just like you. There are SO many choices when it comes to new digital pianos these days and people obviously want the best piano tone and touch they can get (with some other nice features) for the lowest price possible that fits within their budget. The variations of digital pianos can make it confusing because they can come in nice full size furniture cabinets, smaller slimline modern cabinets, lighter weight portable pianos with built-in speakers and optional manufacturer built stands & pedals, and also portable pianos with no built-in speakers. There are a number of digital piano configurations because people have different musical tastes and needs such as being used for home, church, school, stage, recording studio, gigging, or other venues.

Kawai ES8

A variety of models from the top manufacturers including Roland, Kawai, Yamaha and Casio digital pianos are very good with a few being better than others. The Kawai ES8 portable digital piano (left pic - $16499US internet discount price - furniture stand & triple pedal lyre optional for about $450 more) is one of my favorites for great piano sound and key action in a portable model along with flexibility to make it a very enjoyable piano own.  The ES8 plays very smoothly with an organic piano feel and tone that even a pro can appreciate. I would consider the key action touch weight on this piano to be medium (as opposed to light or heavy) which gives the player excellent control over piano dynamics for the softest tone to the loudest...and everything in between. The ES8 is fairly easy to operate and has enough cool features for making music in ways that will enhance your overall playing and music enjoyment experience. So if you want a more compact digital piano with good looks, excellent key action, piano sound, and pedaling along with some useful digital technology to help your playing, the Kawai ES8 would be my personal favorite under $2500.

Kawai also makes a pro stage piano called the MP7SE which can also play back General MIDI song arrangements. This feature also allow the player to mute out specific instruments so that you can play those parts along with the song for full accompaniment enjoyment. The MP7SE is mainly built for superior grand piano tone and a quick realistic key action touch along with some very impressive instrument sounds including vintage electric pianos, symphonic strings, B3 jazz organs with digital drawbars, guitars, brass, flutes, synths, and more realistic instrument tones. And I am very particular when it comes to some of these sounds and the Kawai MP7SE certainly passes my test with flying colors. If you are an experienced piano player, advanced student, very particular in wanting an impressive piano tone & key action touch, or are a beginner and just want what the MP7SE has to offer (and don't care about cabinet and built-in speakers), in my opinion this would be the perfect digital piano in that "under $2500US price range" if you don't mind an instrument with no internal speakers and would need to connect to external monitors which makes it sound great. Below is a link to my review on the MP7SE with more details on this fine piano. Obviously this instrument is not in a cabinet so that can be a downside for some people and then you would need to look at something else like the ES8. 

The Casio Privia AP470 digital cabinet piano (left pic) is also a great choice in a lower price range and is pretty amazing for its low internet price of $1499US because the piano has most of the features of the more expensive pianos have like 40 watts of stereo audio power, ivory feel keys, USB direct output, realistic hammer weight & graduated key action touch, and more. It also has features that many of the higher priced pianos do not have such as 256-note polyphony piano sound chip, four internal speakers instead of two, USB flash drive audio wav file recording and playback, a lift top lid for sound expansion, and other cool features. Considering all of the possibilities out there right now for a great digital piano buy in a compact furniture cabinet, I would highly recommend this new Casio AP470. Go to my review to read more about this impressive piano: Casio AP470 Review *Casio also has a model called the PX870 in the lower price range of $999 internet discount price. It's definitely worth looking at and has some very cool features and I would recommend you read my review of that model at the following link: Casio PX870 Review

Korg G1 Air - brown-rosewood

Korg of Japan which is famous for making top quality professional digital pianos & keyboards for many years has 2 new models of impressive home digital pianos called the C Air and G1 Air. Both piano are designed in  slim, contemporary cabinets that can fit into smaller spaces and yet still look attractive, Available in 3 attractive colors, both the Korg C1 Air and G1 Air offer a noticeably natural piano key action, stereo piano sound, responsive pedaling, and a list of digital features that are useful and also fun. But both models focus especially on the "piano playing experience" offering some of the most authentic reproduction of an acoustic piano in their price ranges. The C1 Air sells at discount price on the internet at $1399US and the G1 Air sell at $1599US discount price. The most impressive thing about both of these Korg pianos is how big and full the piano sound is coming out of their respective speaker systems. I have heard these in person and compared to Roland, Yamaha, and other brands in this price range, in my opinion the C1 Air and G1 Air could easily take 1st place when it comes to what you are hearing, whether you are playing it yourself or listening to them from a distance...pretty amazing actually. Please read my detailed reviews of these models at the following links to learn more: Korg G1 Air Review    Korg C1 Air Review

The Kawai piano company has a new and impressive furniture cabinet digital piano under $2500 called the CA48 which is part of their Concert Artist series of home pianos. It comes in two matte finishes including matte darker brown-rosewood and matte black with the rosewood at $2099 internet price and the black at $2199 internet price. The CA48 has actual grand-piano style wooden piano keys (no one else has this feature in this price range) and a very realistic sounding acoustic piano tone using 192-notes of polyphony along with having many useful educational features in an attractive cabinet. This piano far surpasses anything that Yamaha has under $2500 at this point in piano playing authenticity and digital features. The CA48 also has very intuitive user controls for the main functions of the piano when using a proprietary iOS (iPad/iPhone) app through wireless Bluetooth connectivity. When not using the app then the piano itself has a LED display screen to see what's going on when you press a button. With 4-speakers, 40 watts of power, and a beautiful cabinet design with front support legs and sliding key-cover, it's hard to beat the CA48 for what it does and how it plays in its price range.

Kawai CN39 satin white

Kawai also makes another model called the CN39 (left pic in white) which has an internet/store discount price of $2699. Even though this discount pricing is over that $2500 price range, it's close enough. It's a great piano for someone who wants a good looking cabinet design, lots of digital features, helpful built-in educational software & functions, and a very smooth and dynamic piano hammer style (plastic, not wood) key action with realistic acoustic piano sound using a 256-note polyphony chip. This model also has 16-track GM MIDI playback from a menu of 324 instrument sounds along with audio wav & MP3 recording & playback. So the CN39 has lots of things you can do with it and it sounds and plays good too. For a price very close to $2500, in my opinion the CN39 offers a very good bang for the buck in this price range for a traditional furniture cabinet model digital piano even as compared to what Yamaha or Casio has to offer in that same price range.

CN39 control panel

The Kawai CN39 is plenty loud enough with its 40 watt full range speaker system. But when it comes to the Kawai brand, the lower priced CA48 with wooden grand-piano style weighted & balanced keys is in a better price range and offers enough upgraded features to satisfy many families who are looking for best possible key action feel and response in this price range. Kawai also offers a compact furniture model digital piano called the ES8 ($1649 internet discount price without optional furniture stand & triple pedals). This model has a few similar features as compared to the CN39 but in many other ways is upgraded including an improved piano sound chip for even more realistic piano sound authenticity. This model is equal in piano sound realism to the top of the line Kawai CS11 which sells for over $8000. So when it comes to Kawai pianos under $2500 the ES8 and CA48 are definitely at the top. Go to the following link to read my review of the ES8: Kawai ES8 Review

Yamaha YDP164

The Yamaha Arius YDP163 cabinet piano ($1499US internet price - left pic) is now discontinued and replaced by the newer YDP164 at the same price of $1499. The YDP164 is a fine piano overall with very nice piano sound and has many features including 192 note polyphony, ivory feel keys, 40 watts of power, layer & duo, a smooth key action (although a somewhat heavy to the touch), and a more traditional cabinet. Yamaha makes a complete series of the Arius models up to the YDP184 at $2199 which should also be a consideration. Click on the following link to read my review of the top-of-the-line YDP184. Yamaha YDP184 Review. Yamaha also has the Clavinova series digital pianos with it basic model called the CLP625. The CLP625 is a new current model and is similar to the YDP164 with some exceptions and sells in US piano stores for about $2000US. Go here for my review on the CLP625: Yamaha CLP625 Review

The Roland company is well known for making some impressive home & professional digital pianos over the years and they have a few new models called theF140R ($1199 internet price, RP501R ($1499 internet price), DP603 (starting at $2399US internet price) and the HP701 (approx piano store discount selling price $2000US - left pic) that has a nice 3-part key sensing system and smooth acoustic piano style key action along with continuous detection pedaling sustain and some very useful technology features. I think these models are quite impressive for their compact size. I would recommend you consider these pianos because the overall piano sound realism and tone quality rivals the Kawai CN39 in some ways and in my opinion competes well with the new Yamaha CLP625 and Yamaha CLP635. I have done a blog review of the DP603 at the following link: Roland DP603 Review and also Yamaha CLP635 at this link: Yamaha CLP635 Review

A person can spend a bit more than $2500 and have some other great piano choices such as the newest Roland HP704, Yamaha CLP645, Casio-Bechstein GP300, Kawai CA58, and others. So there are plenty of very nice digital pianos for even more money, up to $22,000 for a few Digital Grand Pianos. But most families I speak with want to be under $3000, and any of these pianos mentioned here would be enjoyable to own. Based on my experience both past & present, I recommend that people stay away from the off-brand names like the Williams brand which is a Guitar Center house brand and is only sold by the Guitar Center company and it's subsidiaries. Also I would be careful with pianos from Suzuki& Artesia sold primarily in the US by Guitar Center & Costco. Most of these off-brands just don't qualify to called real "pianos" in my opinion. It's all about having realistic key touch action, proper dynamics, smooth key volume response, realistic piano tone up and down the entire 88-keys, no unreasonable key noise, and proper pedal response. There are basic minimum standards that pianos need to have and these off-brand pianos usually fall short.

Also, the off-brands or house brands (in many cases) are not actual piano manufacturers but simply created names produced by relatively unknown Asian factories with (what I consider to be) low quality technology and parts for a low price. Their names sound American to give you the impression that they are somehow as good or better than the Japanese brands, but they are not. They are all made in China and although generally speaking product being made in China is not an issue as far as I'm concerned because many of the top brands now have factories in China. It's what the product actually is, how it's made, the parts and construction that is used, and the quality control provided that counts. I have played all of the off brand pianos offered in the US that I have mentioned here and would not recommend them to anyone if they are looking for a good piano playing experience and long term investment (no matter what the price is). The piano cabinets themselves, extra sounds, and other features offered in these digital pianos are only important if the primary functions & features of the piano passes the test. Low price and an attractive furniture style cabinet alone is definitely not a good way to judge piano quality, although unfortunately many people do. You will likely purchase a piano that you'll want to keep for a while so be sure you do your homework and get something that is a good instrument from one of the name piano brands, you'll be glad you did.

One of the more surprising digital piano options to me under $2500 is the Casio Celviano AP650 digital piano which sells for $1899US discount price on the internet. Not only does this piano look great in its upgraded furniture cabinet, but I was impressed by how good it plays & sounds as a piano along with having lots useful digital features. The AP650 has a powerful built in stereo sound system which does a very good job projecting its piano sound in a way that makes you feel like you are playing a larger acoustic piano. The user interface is fairly easy to use and is located directly in front of you above the keys. So when it comes to a full furniture cabinet style digital piano for less than $2000, I would recommend the Casio AP650 as offering the "best bang for the buck in a traditional furniture cabinet" under $2500US.

I know it's difficult for most people to judge these various brands and models on their own when they don't have the experience & expertise. It can also get even more confusing when different piano and music instrument stores tell you different things depending on the brands they're selling. That's why I am happy to help people who wish to contact me and I will answer your questions about what might be best for you based on the actual facts about what these pianos can actually do and what you budget and musical goals are. Even though the choices I have talked about here for my top digital piano picks are good ones, there may be other options for YOU depending on your particular price range and specific needs & wants. I am committed to helping people get good digital pianos, playing good music, having good piano instruction, and enjoying the entire experience . I don't work for piano manufacturers nor do I have a favorite brand or model not do I link you to Amazon to purchase a piano just so I can make an affiliate commission off of your sale. I do it because this is my passion and I care about your (and your family's) musical well being. Go to the link below to see what music involvement should be like in the lives of children and why you should should get your children and/or yourself involved in music.
Why Kids Should Play Piano!

If you want more info on these and other pianos and lower prices than internet, Amazon, Bundles, or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.comor call direct at 602-571-1864