REVIEW - Yamaha YDP142, YDP162, YDPS51 Digital Pianos - Recommended - Very nice improvments

UPDATED REVIEW - May 5, 2013 - Yamaha YDP142, Yamaha YDP162, Yamaha YDPS51 Arius Digital Pianos - RECOMMENDED - Yamaha is a great music company and has been producing acoustic & digital pianos for a very long time. Professionals, teachers, studios, churches, and families own Yamaha pianos. Yamaha makes two mainstream lines of digital pianos, one is called the Clavinova series and the other is the lower priced Arius series. The Arius models have been out for many years and are sold in music stores and internet stores for under $2000US while the Clavinova series are priced at over $2000US and beyond $10,000US. The latest Arius models that recently came out are the YDP142 ($1099US internet price), YDP162 ($1499US internet price), and YDPS51US ($1699 internet price). With the exception of cabinet design, internal sound system, and key action, all three new models are identical with regard to their features and digital technology and all come with a matching bench. The YDP142 and YDP162 are offered in both a satin black walnut & dark brown rosewood color and the YDPS51 is offered in satin black and satin white. All of the pianos a quite attractive as far as color goes, although I am not a big fan of the YDPS51 cabinet design and the way it looks with the key cover lid opened. I like the YDP142 and YDP162 cabinet design much better but that's just my opinion.

Yamaha YDP142 dark rosewood

The new YDP142 (left pic) uses the same standard GHS key action as in the previous YDP141 as well as the same audio power (12 watts total) along with the same speakers. The YDP142 has the biggest upgrade over the other models in that the previous YDP141 had only 64-note polyphony piano memory chip and the new YDP142 has 128-note polyphony along with 10 nice, but basic instrument sounds including harpsichord, strings, organ, etc, instead of the six sounds on the previous model. At $1099 that's a big improvement for Yamaha as compared with their other low priced previous models. The YDP142 volume knob & power button placement and design (as well as on the other two models) has also been changed and those things are definite improvements too.

All of these three new YDP models now have 128 note polyphony, improved piano sound sample chip (called pure CF sound engine) with noticeably more realistic piano sound than before along with some cool features not previously found on YDP pianos. Some of these new features include USB connectivity to iPad & computer instead of standard midi ports (it's about time!) and duo/duet play for two people playing simultaneously. The YDP142, YDP162, and YDPS51 have the previous model ability to layer two sounds together, transpose, have half-pedal sustain control and good overall pedal feel experience, reverb, MIDI recording and playback on 2 independent tracks with storage of one song, metronome, 3 level touch sensitivity control, and key cover.

Both the YDP162 and YDPS51 use the better Yamaha GH graded hammer key action (as opposed to the standard GHS action in the YDP142) which is weighted much more like an acoustic piano and is also more solid and less noisy than the YDP142 standard GHS action. Also, although the speakers themselves are the same on all models, the YDP162 & YDPS51 each have 40 watts of audio power as compared with 12 watts total on the YDP142, so the that extra power allows for a much fuller, deeper tone which is definitely a nice thing in a piano. The Yamaha YDP142 piano sound is a bit thin as compared to a 40 watt system, especially in the bass keyboard range. Yamaha also has a newer digital technology they call "acoustic optimizer" which is supposed to further make the piano sound better in all the new cabinet models. Whether or not you can personally detect this optimized sound as being better is somewhat subjective but it's always good to have more helpful technology as opposed to less. The YDP142 also has this same optimizer and is good as far as overall sound, but as I said, the 12 watt amplification in the YDP142 is a bit on the low side and the 40 watt audio power is a big upgrade on the other models and that's what I prefer.

Yamaha YDP162 with bench

The new YDP162 may be the most popular of the three new models because it is slightly under $1500 and is only a $400 jump up from the YDP142 but has much better features in my opinion. It has a very nice, new, redesigned cabinet from the previous YDP161 and looks classier in its new cabinet...definite improvement there. The older YDP161 looked just like the YDP141/YDP142 and now the new YDP162 looks distinctively better then the YDP142 especially with its higher profile of more than an inch taller. Also, the YDP162 does not have the name "Arius" stamped on the music rack anymore and instead has the name "Yamaha" in 3D letters just above the keyboard...a very nice change and looks good. The YDP142 also took the name Arius off the music rack and replaced it with the name Yamaha in the same place...not as visually nice as the YDP162. The YDP162 also has something new that no Yamaha pianos have had yet under $3000 and that new feature is the "ivory feel" key tops on the white keys. Previous to this the lowest priced Yamaha piano to offer this feature is the Clavinova CLP440 which sells for about $3000 at local Yamaha stores. The ivory feel keys give the fingers a key surface that is supposed to be better for a smoother and less sticky key playing experience. However it just depends on what is important to you and how your fingers feel playing a regular white plastic feel key like the YDP142 or the YDPS51, but I happen to like the ivory feel keys.

YDPS151

These new Arius models are big improvements over the old ones in many ways and because of this, the discontinued models that are still in stores are being discounted at Yamaha dealers to sell them off. For some people the older models might be fine at a reduced priced (while they last) but the new ones have such good improvements in them (piano realism, USB connectivity, etc) that I would recommend spending the additional money to get a new model because they are worth it in my opinion and if you plan on keeping the piano for awhile then getting the latest in piano realism is generally a better thing to do.

If there is a downside to the Yamaha Arius series it would be the lack of dynamic range of piano sound while playing the keys. Good dynamic range of piano sound allows you to express your music more fully and is the ability of the piano to produce a broader range of piano sound changes (more or less brightness, mellowness, timbre, string vibration reproduction, overtones, etc,) which occur when you strike the keys lightly on a regular acoustic piano and then playing the keys with increasingly more finger power. The Arius series has a rather limited dynamic range compared to digital pianos that use the 3-sensor key action like Yamaha uses in its Clavinova series. The Arius series does not use the more advanced 3-sensor key action and I was a bit disappointed that the new Arius models did not incorporate the 3-sensor GH3 key action. If Yamaha had done that then they would have had little or no competition with those models in my opinion. To experience piano dynamic range for yourself, just plug in a pair of good headphones (so you can hear this dynamic range more closely) to any of the Arius models and press a key in the middle of the keyboard (where most people play) from light finger pressure to increasingly heavy pressure and listen to how it sounds (especially if you know what a real acoustic piano sounds like). If you were to then do the same thing on a digital piano that uses the 3-sensor key action, you would hear more "musical color and range" in the music which is made possible by the 3 sensor key action. Not only the does Yamaha use this 3-sensor key action technology which they call GH3 (under each of the 88 keys), Kawai & Roland also have this technology, but all of the 3-sensor pianos are over $2000 in those brands.

Casio 3-sensor key action

However, Casio, which is also a very good brand, is now using 3-sensor key action technology (left pic) in all of its pianos under $2000 and this even includes their lowest price portable digital piano called the PX150 ($599 internet price). In fact, Casio has 7 different models under $2000 that use the 3-sensor key action technology (which is very cool:), along with a graded hammer weighted key action that some people think is better than the Yamaha GH action. If you plug in a pair of headphones into any of those new Casio models (the new PX "50" series) and compare to the new Arius series, you should definitely hear what I am talking about. The difference is quite noticeable and it really does make a song come to life in a much more realistic way having the 3-sensor key action. So...do you absolutely have to get a digital piano with with 3-sensor key action such as the lower priced Casio's or higher priced Yamaha Clavinova's, Kawai's, or Roland's...well, no....especially if you are a beginner or just playing at a lower skill level. But...if you like a larger palette of "musical color" (like colors on a painting or in your iPad/iPhone pics, or when listening to good piano music on a CD/MP3, etc), or you want to be able to properly grow in your piano playing, then you'll get way more "musical colors" with a digital piano using the 3-sensor key action, along with the ability of being able to play more advanced music or simply having a more realistic playing experience.

Yamaha P105 with stand & pedals

You should also know that Yamaha recently came out with a portable version of the the Arius models back in October 2012 called the P105 (left pic - $599 internet price without optional furniture stand & 3-pedal unit). I have done a review on this model and you can go here to read about it: Yamaha P105 piano review. The interesting thing about the P105 is that in a number of ways, it has better features and more of them than the new Arius cabinet models (with the exception of GH action), which is quite odd to me. This is because normally (but not always) a manufacturer will upgrade their digital pianos from one to the next as they go up in price, but this was not the case with the P105 as compared to the new Arius models. Although the P105 has the same standard GHS action as the YDP142 as I just mentioned, the additional and nicer features the P105 has that none of the new YDP's have are as follows:
- 10 nice sounding drum patterns for rhythm training and play-along
- 14 instrument sounds instead of just 10
- 10 piano chord-style accompaniments for fun play and song style learning
- Individual control panel buttons across the top instead of a left side plus-minus control
- Stereo audio outputs for connectivity to external speakers
- A four speaker sound system instead of just two
- 14 watts of total power instead of just 12 watts in the YDP142

Yamaha P105 control panel

The P105 is surprisingly full sounding and loud in its own portable case through its internal speaker system so it may even be a better option than the new YDP142. You can also purchase an optional furniture type stand and 3-pedal unit to turn the P105 into more of an attractive furniture cabinet so it has a better appearance. The only electronic function that I am aware of that the P105 does not have (which the others do) is the "acoustic optimizer" function, but that is because the P105 piano is not in a bigger cabinet and therefore that function would not really be necessary or as effective.  I would like to have seen Yamaha include all of the extra P105 features on the new Arius series pianos too, but unfortunately rather than keep those features, for some reason Yamaha took them off. Was it to save money?...maybe, but they couldn't have saved much if anything based on what I have seen other manufacturers do in the past. Sometimes these manufacturers make what seems to be strange decisions and in my opinion, this is one of them. Oh well I guess you can't have everything:)...but those extra features definitely would have given the new Arius models an extra edge and a "coolness factor" they didn't have before.

Casio Privia PX850

The only other brand I would recommend in the lower price range under $1500 is Casio and that company also recently came out with a very impressive line of new models called the Privia PX series. I would recommend you read my blog reviews on these new models at the links below because the new Casio Privia's are better in some ways than these new Yamaha models and are quite a bit less money too. Kawai & Roland also make some great pianos but only Roland has one of its newer pianos under $1500US (F120) and it has been out for over a year and not at all competitive with the new Yamaha's & Casio's in my opinion.

When it comes to these new Yamaha Arius models, as I have already mentioned, they have very nice improvements over the older models. They look good, feel good, sound fairly realistic as compared to a real piano with their new piano sound and nice piano sound decay time, and have some new, useful features. Of the three new models, I recommend the YDP162, YDP142, and then the YDPS51 in that order because of features, price, and cabinet design. I like Yamaha very much and do recommend them and have been playing Yamaha music products for many years. The bottom line is that in the under $2000 price range, you can probably be happy with any of these instruments,  and that's what counts, your musical happiness. But before you spend your hard earned money, I would advise you to also check out the new Kawai & Casio digital pianos that just came out under $2000 and compare them to what Yamaha has to offer. Once you do that then you'll be able to say you made the right buying decision...no matter what that decision is:). Playing music and enjoying it as a child or adult is such incredible experience and I recommend it to people as strongly as I can. It's a wonderful way to express your deepest emotions while also being a relaxing, calming experience as well. Also, when you want to take out your frustrations on something, well then a good, fast, big piece of classical music on a piano can make that happen for you too! No matter where you are in life, whether a person is 3 years old or 93 years old, it is never too early or too late to play music. Music is everywhere you go in the world and is integrated into our lives in so many ways. Be a part of it and power up a good digital piano, turn up the volume, and play as soon as possible, and make sure you do it on the best instrument you can:)

Go to the following links for comparable Casio digital piano reviews:

Casio PX150/350 portable piano review
Casio PX750 piano review
Casio PX850 piano review ($1099 internet price - comparative model to Yamaha YDP162) 
Casio AP250BN traditional furniture model ($999 internet price)