Best Sub $1000 Digital Piano?! Kawai ES120 vs Yamaha P-125A

Kawai and Yamaha both create fantastic pianos and keyboards. One of the funnest comparisons is the competitive market in the sub $1000 range. Yamaha has a new revision of the Yamaha P-125a available while Kawai just released the new ES120. Ted puts these two fantastic digital pianos through the tests to see which one comes out on top!
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[@Instrumental-Covers]

Some corrections on the specs: 1) The P-125a is the same instrument as the P-125 minus the audio interface, so not an upgrade. Probably intended to replace the P-45. The successors of the P-125, P-121, and P-515 are likely to be released next year, and they will likely come with an audio interface. 2) The P-125a does not have 4-inch woofers. The ES120 does not have 5.25" woofers. Both the ES120 and P-125a have 12 cm woofers facing down, which is 4.72" (commercially rounded to 4.75" speakers). As Ted mentioned, the P-125a also has tweeters facing up. 3) Kawai does not put their top of the line sample in the ES120. In fact, they put their lowest tone engine in the ES120. Kawai has 4 engines: Harmonic Imaging, Progressive Harmonic Imaging, Harmonic Imaging XL, and Rendering. If you play the different engines side by side, you can see there is a BIG upgrade when you jump to the SK-EX Rendering, which is only found in the CA701 and above. Everything else, in person, sounds kind of mediocre. For example, the difference between Harmonic Imaging and Progressive Harmonic Imaging is, according to Kawai: "...uses a larger tonal “database” than regular Harmonic Imaging to provide greater tonal details throughout the dynamic range" So, you apparently get more samples... What about the Harmonic Imaging XL (Extra Large)? According to Kawai: "HI-XL extends the length of the critical attack portion of the sound by up to 120%, articulating the characteristics of each note more clearly and organically" So, you get slightly longer samples in the HI-XL. Kawai samples all the 88 keys (Yamaha too, as well as having multi-samples), but that doesn't mean they sample the note until full decay. So, no one really gets an un-looped, full decay sample. Way too much memory is needed. This means you get the character of the note, but the decay is artificial... so you really don't hear the SK-EX recording in full in any Kawai digital piano. Real pianos may take longer than a minute to fully decay... digital pianos don't last that long.

[@MERCEDES-BENZS600GUARD_V12]

Are both these instruments sub 1,000 dollars? Or just the P125A?🎹🎶

[@ErwinvanAsperen]

The SK EX rendering is on the 120, if Im not mistaken? (Ive got the 120 and there are two piano models labelled as sk ex or is that different? As far as I know now the same samples are used as the bigger 520 and 920. Just the functionality, speakers, action is different, and amount of samples. Just stripped down version.

[@Instrumental-Covers]

@@MERCEDES-BENZS600GUARD_V12 At least here in the US, the ES120 is $899 and the P-125a is $699... the Yamaha is $200 cheaper.

[@Instrumental-Covers]

@@ErwinvanAsperen Hello. No, the SK-EX Rendering is only available on the CA701, CA901, and Novus series. These are the details: 1) The SK-EX Rendering uses 5 microphone positions. It is a multi-channel sampling technique. The sample is made up of 5 individual recordings mixed down to create a 2-channel stereo sample. 2) The SK-EX in the other engines use, from what Kawai implies in some descriptions, an X/Y microphone with a narrow stereo image. The sample is made up of 2 recordings. Think of one of those handheld recorders from Tascam or Zoom. To me, and since I have played the 4 levels of Kawai engines, the biggest difference is that the SK-EX Rendering sounds much more authentic than the other samples. Something similar happens when you play a Yamaha AvantGrand piano: the quality of the sample is superior than any Clavinova, Arius, or portable pianos.

[@MERCEDES-BENZS600GUARD_V12]

@@Instrumental-Covers good to know. In there first vid on the ES120 I heard Ted say it was about over a thowsand dollars. Regarding the other comment personaly I don't care that much if Kawai used an EX or an S K EX for the sound sample because to me they almost sound the same at least on the ES120, and you can't expect that much for the price🎹🎶

[@islandtony5009]

Hey there; great playing and comparison Ted (you're a fantastic musician). Just need to comment on a couple of things: the P-125A is not an upgrade from the P-125; it's actually a downgrade. It is the identical instrument as the P-125, except they have removed the audio interface from the USB to host port (so on the 125A you can no longer stream audio into the piano, and you cannot stream audio direct out to a device anymore). Also, the P-125 has always had L/R lineouts (the P-45 does not, it only has headphone outs).

[@paulcaskey]

They also downgraded the Kawai. Higher price, junk pedal.

[@docjun3588]

i have a kawai es100. on a portable stand the sound is great but when i put it on top of wooden stand, the lower keys sound is not heard well due the speaker is downward. Yamaha is better as you can place it anywhere and still hear the front speakers

[@AndrewL]

how about the key action? which one better?

[@גליהגבירצר-ב2ח]

Hi how does px 160 casio compare to es 120? We have the cn29 at home but we need another one that will be portable to play at school. Till now the cassio px 160 was ok for playing in the class but since we had the cn29 at home my son don't like to play the cassio at school at all. We wonder if the es120 can be more satisfying to play in school than the old cassio px 160

[@Zoco101]

I don't think there currently is a PX-160. Maybe there was. There is a CDP-S160. CDP sounds are a bit weak compared to the models in this review, but are perfectly good for beginners or as hobbyists' instruments, depending on the hobbyist. The P-125a is being phased out because of the P-225. From Casio it is now better to compare the PX-S1100 to the ES120 and P-225 if you want a realistic comparison. Casio PX-S1100 snd 3100 seem to be good buys, though I'd probsbly opt for Roland FP-30X & FP-60X if I wanted an instrument in thise price brackets. The most portable piano featuring a graded weighted action is the Yamaha P-121 with 73-keys, 10kg - it's great value! Sadly, Yamaha doesn't make a truly portable piano around the 1100 US dollar mark. This leaves the FP-60X unchallenged, except perhaps by its stablemate the RD-88 and of course the Casio PX-S3100.

[@malthus101]

Nice comparison - they both LOOK beautiful and professional. Do you know... can they be used as MIDI controller keyboards? To run synths, go into a DAW etc? Thanks.

[@alexgoriatchenkov]

Can you Please point what kind upgrades new P125A received ? Some people here complained to this new model. Clear please. Thank you.

[@ayrtoninchejanampa6874]

El P125a no transfiere audio por usb a diferencia del P125 que si lo hace

[@nikolaynikolov05]

How is the Kawai ES120 different from the KDP120 apart from being portable?

[@josephj6521]

Good question Nikolay. 👍

[@Instrumental-Covers]

KDP120 adds: - Triple sensor hammer detection - 3 pedals - 20 Wx2 instead of 10 W x2 amplifiers - Concert Magic 40 songs ES120 adds: - String Resonance (not listed on KDP120) - Damper Noise - Key-off effect - Fall-back noise - 25 voices instead of 15 voices - Presets effects - 4 registration memories - Startup setting - Speakers on/off - 1 extra sound demo - 100 rhythm patterns - Bluetooth (Ver. 5.0; GATT compatible) instead of Bluetooth (Ver. 4.1; GATT compatible) - Bluetooth Audio (Ver. 5.1; A2DP compatible) - Line out - 15,000 notes internal recorder instead of 10,000 notes memory - EX recording in addition to the SK-EX recording

[@josephj6521]

@@Instrumental-Covers thank you. You can get the ES120 with 3 pedals if you get the package with the stand (at a higher price). Looks like the ES120 may have the better sound but as for action, dunno? I’d need to test.

[@Instrumental-Covers]

@@josephj6521 Hello. I included the triple pedal to emphasize that it is a standard feature in the KDP120 rather than something extra that doesn't come with the ES120. Technically, you don't get the triple pedal with the ES120 itself: you need to buy either the F-351 pedal board and HML-2 designer stand, or the GFP-3 triple pedal unit. Both have the same tone generator, which is the Harmonic Imaging HI. This is the most basic tone generator of all 4 offered by Kawai. You get the same 12 cm speakers on both, but the KDP120 has a large box that allows the speakers to work better. In speaker design, the box is as important as the speakers themselves. The KDP120 will still sound better than the ES120 in person, as it is designed to be a piano replacement. The string resonance feature is typically overrated and contributes to very little, particularly using built-in speakers like the ones offered in these models (facing down, so you will not hear much audio resolution anyway). The ES120 stuff is really extra and not needed to play piano, and may have more relevance for a gigging musician or somebody who wants a portable instrument with a few connectivity options. People looking just to play piano and nothing else will slightly benefit from the KDP120 concept design. The action on the KDP120 has a triple sensor. It is called "Responsive Hammer Compact II action" while the ES120 has the "Responsive Hammer Compact action".

[@nikolaynikolov05]

Thank you for replying! Now I'm convinced that the KDP120 is what I'm looking for playing mostly at home. One more thing though - how loud should I expect 2 x 20 W speakers to be at full volume on the KDP?

[@willo7979]

0:41 That’s a Yamaha ‘downgraded’ P-125a

[@abath07]

3:51 vs 11:10 ... it's not a tough comparison. It's like expensive mics vs cheap mics.

[@malthus101]

you favour the Kawai I take it?

[@evanever]

You left the same comment on another comparison and I still can't tell which is supposed to be which.

[@Persun_McPersonson]

I don't see how the Kawai speakers are better. The chord at 4:08 sounds distorted while 11:28 isn't.

[@harrylikas]

3:51 vs 11:10

[@rtobin1374]

The P125A is not an upgrade. Yamaha stripped out the audio interface and added nothing to this “new improved” version. Please stop deceiving people to sell more pianos or at least do some research so you know what you’re talking about.

[@joewger]

The 125A is a downgrade and doesn't have an interface anymore. You didn't mention that, but then you are trying to sell pianos by being deceptive.

[@shaolin95]

The Yamaha sounds like a toy in comparison.

[@alexgoriatchenkov]

The speakers playing down better ? They all toys. At least Yam have better sound quality with 4 dedicated speakers.

[@spada60]

Toy? ur a frikin funny guy who has no idea what a piano sounds like.