DIGITAL PIANO REVIEWS for 2013: Pianos UNDER $1000 - GO HERE for the latest info!

Digital Piano Reviews - The Best Digital Pianos of 2013

UPDATED REVIEW - December 2, 2013

Best Digital Pianos under $1000US

Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, Casio, Suzuki, Korg, etc...which one is best and which one should you buy?! Greetings to everyone shopping for a digital piano! My name is Tim Praskins and I am a digital piano expert and have been teaching & playing on them for over 40 years (started teaching as a young teen:) and have taught 1000's of students during my extensive music career. I play acoustic concert grand pianos, digital pianos, and pro keyboards professionally and do free digital piano consultations for schools, churches, piano teachers, studios, and families all over the world to help you decide what piano might be best for you in your price range. There are some people out there who say they specialize in digital pianos orhave had some experience on them, but that does not necessarily mean they know what they are talking about. However, I do know what I am talking about when it comes to hundreds of different models of digital pianos now and in the past, and I am willing to share that info with you at no charge and explain it on your level and give you free personal advice.  I do not have a retail store or warehouse because as a teacher & pro musician, I work out of a music studio and offer advice without needing to "sell" pianos.

There are 4 brands of digital pianos that I recommend right now which, in my opinion, are acceptable as good 88-key piano type weighted key action brands in the lower price range under $1000US. Those brands are Yamaha, Casio, Kawai, and Roland. There are other brands in the lower price range, but at this point don't have what it takes to make my acceptable list. There are some specific 2013/2014 models under $1000 internet discount price that are currently available which I especially recommend. You can certainly get a good piano playing experience in this lower price range and it may not be necessary for you to spend more money (over $1000) on a digital piano, even if someone tells you you need to spend more money. However, if you do have the budget to spend more than $1000 (up to $2000), the quality of piano sound & key action reproduction in a few of those models are really good and can be even more enjoyable to play, especially if you have a higher playing skill level or just want a piano that sounds and plays even more like a real acoustic piano. *If you would like to learn more about the best digital pianos between $1000-$2000, go to my review of those pianos at the following link:  
New Digital Pianos under $2000
 
Casiooffers 7 models of piano type weighted key digital pianos under $1000 selling price including the basic CDP120 ($349US), the Casio PX150 ($499US), Casio PX350 ($799US), PX750 compact cabinet model ($799US - lower left pic), PX780 compact cabinet model ($999US internet discount price), and the AP250 full size cabinet model ($999US internet price - above left pic). Casio also offers a new Pro Digital Stage Piano called the PX5S at $999US internet price which is not really a "traditional digital piano." It has no built-in speakers and is primarily for people who want to perform on stage, church, in studio, etc, and will be using their own powered monitors or speakers, but want something a bit more flexible in terms of live instrument sound and effects along with controlling capabilities. Go here for my full PX5S review: Casio PX5S Review.

Yamaha offers 7 models including the P35 ($449US internet price), P95 ($349US - just recently discontinued), P105 ($599US - left pic), as well as the DGX640 ($699 - now replaced by the new DGX650 at $799US), YDPS31 (same as YDP135R but in compact cabinet), P155 portable piano ($999US internet price not incl stand, pedals, or bench), and the YDP135R ($999US). I recommend all of the Casio's and Yamaha's mentioned here although the Yamaha P35 and Casio CDP120 models are quite basic and use a lower priced key action, piano sound chip, speaker system, and pedal system. But they can be adequate for awhile depending on the need and budget. 

Korg SP170S

Korg offers two models under $1000 including the SP170S ($499US) and the new SP280 ($699US). I really don't recommend the Korg SP170/170S (left pic) because I just don't like the key action, dynamics, and velocity sound response (although the regular piano sound itself is good), and these are the most important aspects in picking out digital pianos. Also, I don't like the sound selection system it uses and the case/cabinet is a bit plastic looking as compared to the Yamaha & Casio. The new SP280 is the replacement of the older SP250 and is better in some ways than the SP250.  The SP280 has an upgraded internal speaker system although it is using a newer but downgraded key action (which I do not like) and I am still not a big fan of the piano sound which is quite similar to the less expensive SP170 in the way that it plays as compared to the other brands. So in reality, the best options are either the newer Yamaha or Casio pianos. Some of the Yamaha & Casio pianos I recommend are portable so you would need to purchase an optional furniture style stand (or cheaper metal stand), pedals, and bench to make it complete. But even that expense should not put you over (or much over) $1000 if that's where you need to be.

Kawai ES100 w/opt stand & pedals

Kawai offers one new 2014 model that just came out which is called the ES100 portable digital piano at $799US internet discount price (not including optional 3-pedal crossbar unit and furniture stand). This is the first time the Kawai piano company has had a digital piano available in the US for under $1000 and I must say that it is very impressive. The ES100 hammer weighted action and acoustic piano type sound is excellent in it's price range and just may be be the best in its class. The ES100 is designed to be a lightweight portable piano replacement because of its minimalistic design and lack of some of the "bells & whistles" other pianos have. But if you don't need or want much in the way of extra features and just want a great piano playing experience in a low price range, the Kawai would be one to pick. It is better overall in my opinion than the Casio PX150 & Yamaha P105, (and also the higher price P155 - $999US), but the ES100 is also $200-$300 more than the Casio PX150 and Yamaha P105. But as they say, you don't get something for nothing in this world (unless you're the U.S. government:). Go to the link below to read my ES100 review.

Roland F20 with optional stand

Roland also just came out with a new 2014 portable digital piano with weighted key action which is the first one they've had under $1000, and it's called the F20 ($899US internet price) and has an optional furniture stand that's not included. It comes in two colors which are black & dark walnut (not available in the US) and also has a minimalistic control panel design with function buttons on the left side above the keys. The Roland F20 is loosely based off their F120R/RP301R digital pianos which have been out for a couple of years and the F20 has many of their features including the same key action and piano sound, same USB output and flash input, many of the same cool functions including wireless capability, but in a compact portable cabinet with a smaller internal speaker system including a nice metal damper/sustain pedal. At $899 the new F20 is Roland's lowest price digital piano and a much better product than the slightly higher priced F120 ($1299 internet price) in my opinion. However, I am not a fan of the F20/F120/RP301 key action that Roland calls Ivory Feel-G keyboard. I have played that key action many times in other Roland models and it feels sluggish, a bit unbalanced, and the key action is quite noisy (clunky going down) when you press the keys harder and more aggressively. The knocking noise that it creates when the keys hit bottom is quite distracting, especially at lower speaker volume. To me the key action is the single most important thing to get and that's where this piano primarily falls short (not a good place to fall short), but this new model does have some very nice features.

Adagio digital piano

All of these brands & models mentioned here are the piano style weighted 88-key digital pianos, although the key action movement will be slightly different from one model to another. They all have built-in speakers although the power & quality of the speaker system vary, and overall all of my recommended pianos are acceptable depending on your musical goals and experience. However, there are other brands and models out there in the lower price ranges as well, but I recommend against them because they are of much lower quality (in my experienced opinion) are not up to my minimal student practice or recreational playing standards for key action, piano sound, and pedaling. These brands include Adagio, Suzuki, Williams, Adams, Robson, Artesia, as well as any spring key action digital pianos such as the Yamaha DGX505, Yamaha YPG535, Kurzweil SP4-7, etc, so be careful when looking for inexpensive pianos because what you see on the outside may not reflect what's actually on the inside. I have even seen some owner recommendations on-line and on large popular music store web sites for these "off-brand" pianos, but in my opinion they are only a POS (piano shaped object) and in few other ways resemble what an acoustic piano should play and sound like. But if you don't know what you're talking about and have little experience playing real acoustic pianos, it might be easy to imagine you have purchased a good instrument when in fact, it's not goo and will create and foster bad playing habits. The Suzuki & Adagio brands (which I do not recommend) are normally found primarily at Costco on-line in the US, but that does not mean they are good musical instruments just because they are sold there. Nice, attractive exterior cabinets (which some of them do have) does not always mean those digital pianos are good for playing music correctly...even at minimum standards. Just because a digital piano is attractive on the outside does not make for a good inside with regard to key action, sound, realism, electronics, reliability, etc. I would suggest you stay away from these  brands if you want a good piano playing experience.

Yamaha YDP135R

Of the four brands mentioned in the lower price range I believe Casio overall offers a noticeably better piano playing key action experience than Yamaha or Korg, although Yamaha has some very nice models at $1500US and above. The lower priced Yamaha P105 & DGX650 are also quite fun to play and certainly worth looking at and I do like them, but the new Kawai ES100 portable piano key action and piano sound is better in my opinion than Roland, Yamaha, Korg, and Kurzweil portable pianos under $900. But ultimately, all of these models I mentioned here would be fine, although everyone I talk to pretty much wants the closest reproduction a regular piano as they can get for the least amount of money. For many beginner or recreational piano players and students, it can be difficult for them to determine which piano actually does do the better job in terms of the piano touch, tone, and pedaling realism because sound and touch are normally a subjective thing. Also, to make matters more difficult, it's not likely you'll find all of these pianos in one place at one time to try them out, or even find some of them locally at all. One of the best things to do in my opinion is to your research and then listen to an experienced expert like myself and then you'll get a better idea of what might work best for you and your family.

With regard to  beginner piano students and their music education, as a long time private & group piano & keyboard teacher, this is something I know a lot about. It is never too early or too late to start piano lessons and enter into the exciting & rewarding world of playing music. I teach and have taught students from 4 years old to 94 years old. Whether you play piano as a recreational hobby, or go on to do it professionally as many of my friends and some students have done, it's always a tremendous blessing for me to see people at any age enjoy the piano playing experience and bring music into their lives in a very personal way. The little girl in the left picture (she's my granddaughter:) is involved in piano lessons and she loves it whether she's playing on a big concert grand piano such as the Steinway 9' grand she is sitting at (above left pic), or whether it's at a digital piano utilizing iPad apps to further enhance the learning and playing experience.

If you want important info on the best way to proceed as far as lessons and learning go as well wanting to be sure you're getting the right instrument for your needs and budget, please contact me and I'll be happy to answer your questions. Also, click on the links below to read my reviews on these pianos under $1000.

Casio AP250 Review
Casio PX150  Review
Casio PX350 Review
Casio PX780 Review
Casio PX750 Review
Korg SP170S Review
Korg SP280 Review
Yamaha P105 Review
Yamaha YDP135R Review
Yamaha DGX650  Review
Yamaha P155 Review
Roland F20 review
Kawai ES100 review

Casio PX780

Of all the digital pianos out there under $1000 I would say overall my favorite new cabinet piano under $1000US internet discount price right now is the 2013 model Casio Privia PX780 at $999US internet discount price (left pic). This piano really surprised me for its low price after I played it because it has a nicely designed compact cabinet with the 3 built-in full function pedals and slide out key cover, and it had a pretty big sounding acoustic piano tone with a wide dynamic range. The key action has a three sensor key technology not normally found in less expensive cabinet digital pianos until you get above $1600 in other brands (the Yamaha Arius series does not have this in any model). The Casio PX780 also has the synthetic ivory & ebony keys (normally found on pianos in higher price ranges), 128-note polyphony piano memory (which is more than sufficient in most cases), half-pedal recognition damper sustain pedal (a good feature for piano students and players), fairly realistic acoustic piano hammer (graded piano weighted) key action, direct USB output for instant connectivity with laptop and iPad (go to the following link to learn more about iPad apps: iPad Apps and learning piano), and hundreds of useful built-in educational features. 

iPad app

There are some people who equate the name Casio and its lower prices with lower quality, and it is true that sometimes lower price CAN mean lower quality (especially in key action & piano sound) such as what I have experienced with the Williams, Adagio, and Suzuki digital pianos. When it comes to recognizable & respected brand names in the acoustic piano world, Yamaha & Kawai pianos have always been known to be in that recognized group and many pianists, piano teachers, churches, schools, and families do own Yamaha & Kawai acoustic pianos. But competitive Yamaha & Kawai digital pianos right now cost far more money than the new Casio pianos depending on the model. Casio actually is a highly respected Japanese technology company which has been in business approx 60 years (that's a very long time) having produced millions of electronic products including keyboards & digital pianos for about 30 years. Casio is not necessarily my favorite digital piano company because I don't actually have a favorite. Kawai, Roland, Yamaha, & Casio are all my favorites but each one does better in different price ranges and it also depends on your musical goals and budget as to which brand and model will be best for you.

Casio PX780 digital piano

In my opinion any of these name brand recommended pianos I mentioned under $1000 would be fun to own and play, but the Casio company has really outdone themselves with their new PX780 at $999US internet price and the only downside to the PX780 right now is that it seems to be selling out in the US quite fast based on what I am seeing lately and it's difficult to find one in person to see. However from the response I am getting from people who own them, it looks like this model is a "home run."But...even with all that being said, the Casio PX780 still may not be the right instrument for you. There may be a better option depending on your particular needs & musical goals so contact me before you make a piano purchase anywhere and I will give you free expert advice. Go to the following link to read my recent review on the Casio PX780: Casio PX780 review. Also, for just $100 more you might want to take a look at the Casio PX850 at $1099US internet discount price which I also recommend and is very popular throughout the US. You can read my review of that model at the following link: Casio PX850 review.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: If you plan on getting any of the popular lower priced pianos under $1000 for Christmas, do not be surprised if dealers run out of stock of them soon! This seems to happen almost every year about this time and this year may even be more difficult (or impossible) for buyers trying to get one if they wait until the last minute, so don't do that! If you want help then please contact me before you make a decision and I can also help you in finding the best model and at the best price:)

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