Kawai KDP110 vs Yamaha Arius YDP-144 Digital Piano Comparison & Demo

Introduction

In this article, we will be comparing two of the top-selling digital pianos in the world of any category. We will be doing a proper side-by-side shootout between these offerings from two of the heavyweights in the piano world: Kawai and Yamaha. Along with Roland and Casio, Kawai and Yamaha have become dominant players in the electric piano market. Today, we have the Kawai KDP110 vs Yamaha YDP-144 digital piano.

We'll be discussing some of the key differences that we've noticed. From the action to the accompanying software that each company makes, this will be a jam-packed and thorough comparison of these two top-sellers.

So, without further ado, let's get started right away with the Kawai KDP110 versus the Yamaha YDP-144.

Discontinued Model: The Kawai KDP110 Digital Piano has been replaced by the KDP120, please see our YouTube review here.

 

Kawai vs Yamaha | Overview

These instruments are so close in so many respects with price being the most obvious and the main reason why these two get compared so often. They even look quite similar (especially in the premium rosewood finish)!

They're about the same height. They have very similar cabinet designs. Really, at first glance, this looks like we're comparing the Honda Civic with the Toyota Corolla or the Honda Accord with the Toyota Camry. These are directly competing models from two of the largest piano companies in the world in the most popular price range as well. With that said, you are not going to find a better matchup than the Kawai KDP110 and Yamaha YDP-144.

 

Piano Sounds: Kawai KDP110 vs Yamaha YDP-144

We're going to start with sound as we often do. It's what people tend to respond to the most because, if you are a beginner that has never played piano before and this is your first instrument, the action is going to be something that you may need some guidance on. But, the sound is something that everybody's ear already has a pretty good judgment of in regard to what they would like to hear. You've been listening to piano on the radio and there's some reason you're drawn to the piano in the first place, so there's a good chance you've already developed (even if you don't know you have) a bit of a preference for a darker sound, a lighter sound, a more colorful sound, a clean sound, or whatever it is that you hear in your head when you consider your ideal piano tone. With that said, a sound is always a great place for us to start.

16-watts vs 40-watts Speakers

There are some specs associated with sound with digital pianos that allow us to make some determinations about what we can expect, but it doesn't always tell the full story. We'll start with the specs. On the Yamaha YDP-144, Yamaha rates its speakers at 8 watts a piece, making a total of 16 watts.

Kawai rates their KDP110 speakers at 20 watts a piece, making a total of 40 watts. Now, as some of you may already know, there is not necessarily a fixed linear relationship between decibel output and wattage. So, in other words, 40 watts is not twice as loud as 20 watts, because there's a logarithmic curve to that, and how you rate wattage can be a little bit different. But when you have that big a difference, there is no doubt for sure that you are going to get a larger, fatter sound on the Kawai than you do on the Yamaha.

There's just more juice flowing to those speakers and the speakers themselves are a little bit larger. When we play the Kawai versus the Yamaha, you can definitely hear that there is a bit of a difference down in the bass with that Kawai.

 

Polyphony

There's a second part of digital sound that we can measure with numbers and that's called polyphony. Polyphony refers to the number of notes or tones that the instrument is capable of sounding simultaneous. To quickly describe what this principle means, if you play two notes at once, you're hearing a polyphony of two, and when I play three notes at once, you're hearing a polyphony of three, and so on and so forth. Now, both of these instruments have a polyphony of 192. So, many of you are probably thinking to yourself, "well, I only have 5 fingers each on my right hand and left hand, so how would I ever use up 192?" Well, the answer is you won't.

What is the Use of Polyphony?

It is quite possible to use up polyphonies of 64 when you're playing on your own and even 96 potentially. Where 192 actually becomes useful is if you are using a layered sound, so two sounds at the same time. For instance, if you were layering a piano and a string sound simultaneously, one note is using a polyphony of two. Furthermore, if you're holding the pedal down and you're going right from the bottom to the top of the keyboard, you actually start to use up a lot of that polyphony. So, 64 and 92 may sound like high numbers, but they're not necessarily. With both the Yamaha and Kawai pianos' 192-note polyphony, you have lots of headroom and will never need to worry about the instrument not being able to sound all of the notes simultaneously.

Kawai's Harmonic Imaging Sound Engine

We've talked about the wattage on the speakers. We've talked about polyphony. Now, it's time to get a little more granular. One of the aspects of the Kawai that really made the KDP110 stand out when it came out, was that it uses individual 88-note stereo sampling via its harmonic imaging sound engine. This means that when you're playing the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand piano patch on the KDP110, which is the default piano sound, every time you play a note, it actually triggers a stereo sample of an SK-EX that's been played. That's significant because a lot of digital pianos in the lower range, and this would generally be considered lower mid-range, will actually not have a sample for every single note.

They'll have a sample for every fourth note or every fifth note and then that sample actually gets stretched a little bit to save memory and to save space in making a more efficient processing environment. But, you lose a lot of the specific character that you get on a real piano where individual notes have unique qualities depending on where it falls in the overall design of the instrument.

So, in other words, full 88-key sampling gives you richness because of all of the imperfections that 88-note sampling actually captures and humanizes.  It gives an authenticity that you miss when the sound is synthesized. That's a really interesting differentiator that the KDP110 has that the YDP-144 does not. It does, however, use the same principle of sampling by capturing the sound of a real grand piano. While it's not across all 88 keys, it is still using a CFX grand piano as its main tonal source and I do like the CFX sample a lot.

 

Yamaha's CFX

Both instruments in real life are actually quite different. Kawai's SK-EX 9-foot grand is an intensely colorful instrument with a very dynamic and lush tone. The Yamaha CFX is super precise. It has a lot of very beautifully crafted upper harmonics. I wouldn't describe it as being quite as warm in the lower ranges as the SK-EX, but it does have this sort of cannon-like bass that's quite beautiful as well. I would almost say that the SK-EX is a bit more of a European sound whereas the CFX has elements of a New York Steinway mixed in with some of the traditional Yamaha tonal aspects.

Dual Sound Modes

Both of these pianos have dual sound modes, which allow you to play two sounds or instruments at the same time. I should also mention that both of these have dual sound modes so you can play two sounds at the same time. Both instruments also allow for the ability to split up the keyboard for two players via Yamaha's "duo mode" and Kawai's "four-hands mode".

Kawai's Virtual Technician App

Kawai actually uses two pieces of software. One of the pieces of software is used to edit the piano tone, which Kawai calls the Virtual Technician app. Now, this is a really important point: this app is only available on iPad. That is a bit of a bone that I have to pick with Kawai because it would be really great if this was available on other smart devices. But, at this point, the Virtual Technician and its accompanying Smart Mode feature are only available on iPad. So, please do not assume that you will be able to have this work on an iPhone 10 or another mobile phone. It does not work.

Functions of Virtual Technician App

On the iPad app, the flexible Virtual Technician functions as a tool to access a huge number of parameters and presets that you can edit. You have the ability to edit the touch curve from very sensitive, which simulates or creates the impression in your brain that it's a lighter touch, to normal, to heavy, which means that, to get the same dynamic range, the player will be required to input a little more energy, or off, which essentially shuts off the touch sensitivity altogether. You also have a voicing parameter that changes how hard the hammer is.

There are settings for normal, mellow, dynamic, and bright and you can hear those differences vividly. For instance, with the dynamic voicing setting, the sound is darker when you play softer and much brighter when you play louder.

There is also a damper resonance parameter from which you can control key-off effect, hammer delay, top board, decay, stretch tuning, temperament, and pedal. Of course, you can also transpose. So, ultimately, you have a multitude of options to completely customize the KDP110, which is pretty incredible and a testament to the sound technology that Kawai has developed.

Yamaha Apps

Over on the Yamaha YDP-144 side, Yamaha has a very nicely laid out app. By all accounts, this is a better-designed user experience than what's on the Kawai app. However, you're getting far fewer things in which to edit. On the piano side within the editing mode, you have two samples to choose between: the CFX grand and the pop grand which I believe is a sample generated from Yamaha's C7 grand piano.

You can control the reverb and choose between recital hall, concert hall, chamber, club, or off. In addition to that, you can also adjust the touch curve.

You can also adjust parameters such as the master tuning, damper resonance, and individual key settings. So, comparatively speaking, the Yamaha YDP-144 has four adjustable settings versus over ten on the Kawai KDP110.

 

Additional Piano Sounds

Beyond the piano sound as its default, both of these instruments have the ability to edit the sound. We will stick with the piano sounds for now because once we get out of the piano sounds, and these both have sounds other than piano, your ability to edit the characteristics of the tone dramatically goes down as you are limited to a handful of global settings you can adjust like touch curve, EQ, and reverb. Neither instrument is really designed to give you that type of editing ability with other sounds such as Rhodes or strings.

It's really the acoustic piano tones that let you meaningfully alter the sound. Both companies offer partner software on mobile devices, which makes the sound design process even more fun.

In terms of other available instrument sounds, both models fall somewhere between 10 and 20 sounds. The Kawai has 15 sounds while the Yamaha has just slightly fewer than that at 10 sounds. While we've already discussed Yamaha's CFX grand sound, they also have a mellow grand, pop grand, and stage piano on the piano side of things. In addition to that, the YDP-144 features DX, harpsichord, vibes, pipe organ, jazz organ, and strings. So that is the full summary of the sounds you can get on the Yamaha.

Over on the Kawai side, there are quite a few different instruments and sounds beyond the 88-note stereo sampled SK-EX concert grand piano sound that we discussed earlier.

There's a studio grand, mellow grand, a modern piano, a few e-pianos, DX-like synth, jazz organ, church organ, harpsichord, vibraphone, strings, string ensemble, slow strings, choir, and new age sounding pad. So, while there are more sounds on the KDP110, both pianos give you a very similar selection and very similar types of sounds and instruments.

 

Wrap Up

In conclusion, there are pros and cons on both sides. The Yamaha app is definitely a more attractive app that is easier to use. Graphically, it's really clear as to what you're adjusting. However, there are very few parameters that you are able to adjust.

On the Kawai side, you have an insane amount of control and editing ability when it comes to the piano sounds, but the app is not quite as up-to-date in terms of its graphical interface. Furthermore, from a compatibility standpoint, the Yamaha is superior as you are not restricted to just an iPad.

Ultimately, the vast majority of customers for either model will be playing it as a replacement or as an alternative to an acoustic piano which is aligned with the intention of both Kawai and Yamaha, as most of the technology and effort has gone into the piano sound and the piano touch.

To summarize, we have a 40-watt versus 16-watt speaker system, both instruments with 192-note polyphony, and two beautiful acoustic piano samples on board (although the 88-note stereo sampling certainly gives Kawai's KDP110 an edge), and the ability to manipulate sonic parameters. In regard to the editing apps, the KDP110 has a greater breadth of options and precision as a result, but the Yamaha is very easy to use and a more user-friendly option. In both cases though, I love using the apps because I think it just makes the whole experience a little bit more engaging. We're used to using screens to control devices around us, so I think this just brings the piano as an instrument further into the modern age.

At this point, you've probably already developed a preference based on some of the sound descriptions and features, but, either way, we will move on to examining the action of both pianos next.

Piano Action: Kawai KDP110 vs Yamaha YDP-144

Kawai's Responsive Hammer Compact Action

Let's now jump into the keyboard action. The Kawai KDP110 features an update to an action that is actually still in production. Kawai is still making the Responsive Hammer Compact I, which still goes into the ES110.

 

Responsive Hammer Compact II

The KDP110, however, has the Responsive Hammer Compact II keyboard action and there are two main differences between it and its predecessor. The most obvious improvement is that the RHC II has a triple sensor on it. So, for people wanting to use this as a MIDI controller or in conjunction with software like GarageBand, Pro Tools, or Logic, the triple sensor makes a really big difference.

The other reason why the KDP110 has been given that extra wattage (40 watts versus the 16 watts on the Yamaha YDP-144) is that, when you have a more accurate sensor, you can give a wider dynamic range to play with without fear of those sensor inaccuracies being exposed by bigger amplifiers or bigger speakers. Because the louder you get, the more obvious it becomes if there are any "blips" present in your MIDI input. So, the triple sensor permits you to have a larger dynamic output on the instrument that it's driving.

So that's really the big update with the RHC II action. It does not have escapement, so it definitely still sits below the RH III, which is the action you find in Kawai's CN series.

Their MP7 also has the RH III as well as their Kawai ES8. Nord's Grand also uses the RH III action. It's a really gorgeous action. It has escapement, a triple sensor, and a slightly different geometry than the RHC II. So, from a weighting standpoint, the action feels slightly on the light side. It's not a super-light action, but you can definitely tell the difference between it and the RH III.

 

Responsive Hammer  III

The RH III feels like there's just a little bit more substance behind the mechanism. But what's really great about the RHII action, and something I didn't necessarily find in the Kawai ES110's RHC I action, is that when you really start to play aggressively, you do not hear a click where you have different pieces of plastic making contact laterally with each other.

They seem to have resolved that issue with this second-generation Responsive Hammer Compact action. It's a very quick, easy, fluid action to play on.

 

Key Texture

There is also a micro-texture on both the white keys as well as the black keys. I really like that balance of both grip and slipperiness on the key. I could play on these keys for hours and still feel really satisfied with the playing experience.

Yamaha's Graded Hammer Standard Action

On the Yamaha YDP-144, we have a familiar friend in the GHS action. This is an action that Yamaha has had out for a while. When comparing the actions between the KDP110 and YDP-144, I think there are a few differences that stand out to me. One is the lack of texture on the Yamaha's white keys. It makes it a little less comfortable to play in certain settings, but it does give the white keys more grip.

For people who are very used to playing on digital pianos, I don't think you'd really notice. But there are definitely certain techniques and certain playing styles where a little bit of slipperiness on the key is actually something that you need.

 

Key Texture

A matte surface does make the key a little bit more grippy. That's either going to be a plus or minus depending on the pianist and their preference. There is a texture on the black keys, which makes them just a bit more slippery than the white keys, which is great.

 

Dual Sensor vs Triple Sensor

Another important point is that the Yamaha piano has a dual sensor versus a triple sensor. In a live playing situation, I don't think that's going to create any problems at all, but where you might notice it is, if you're doing a lot of MIDI inputting, there may be some wacky notes that are just a little softer than what they were supposed to be there or a little louder than what they were supposed to be.

You may wind up doing quite a bit of MIDI editing after the fact if you're doing any sort of high-end inputting into a DAW.

Wrap Up

In summary, there is no escapement on either piano, a notable difference in key texture, and triple sensor versus dual sensor. Otherwise, from a construction standpoint, both actions feel like they're going to last the same number of years. I would put both of these actions in about the 1500 range.

To clarify, that is not a manufacturer-supplied number. That is literally just my estimate in terms of how long it takes me to wear out an action given my experience. Given that I have worn out the action of a digital piano before a few times, I've actually been able to measure this fairly well. Every single time I bust up action, it usually demands replacement keys, sensors, or contacts.

Now that we've thoroughly examined the sound and action of these two top-selling digital pianos, we will now explore one more category: non-musical features.

 

Additional Features

Both of these instruments are home digitals. We call pianos of this type home digitals when they come with their own cases and have a triple pedal on them (damper, sostenuto, and una corda).

 

Pedal System and Cabinet Design

Both of these models have a triple pedal system, built-in speakers, and easy-to-navigate control panels. They really are supposed to sit in your living room or your bedroom or wherever you happen to want your piano and, more or less, look like a nice miniature apartment piano.

They both have built-in music rest and they both have sliding key covers, which is actually something that I would suggest that everybody utilizes. No matter what brand of digital piano you're using, try to cover the keys when you're not using the piano, especially if you're in a dusty situation.

The grand feel pedal systems on both are metal. They're actually quite high-quality. They're designed to take a major beating and last, hence why both manufacturers have the confidence to supply an excellent warranty for each instrument.

USB Connections

Both pianos have USB connections so that you can hook these up to your computer as well as dual headphone ports. Neither piano has dedicated audio outputs, meaning that, when you're recording with them, you actually need some sort of an external speaker to hear them in the case that you're taking the audio sample because, as soon as you plug into the headphone jacks, you will no longer hear the local speakers. Both Yamaha and Kawai have higher-end models that offer that feature, but neither one of these models happens to.

 

Kawai's SHS Spatial Headphone Sound

Kawai's KDP110 features their SHS spatial headphone sound. For players that will be restricted to silent practice, the SHS headphone sound is definitely a massive benefit. There are even headphone type settings that optimize the player's listening experience depending on what type of headphones they are using.

 

Bluetooth MIDI

Another important feature difference to note that's somewhat musically related is that the Kawai is equipped with Bluetooth MIDI. While the Yamaha YDP-144 does not have any wireless technology on it, it does have USB-MIDI connectivity and built-in USB audio interface capability. So, in other words, when you plug this into software like Logic or GarageBand, it's able to send audio to and from the instrument, meaning that you can use these speakers as your main speakers all through a USB cable.

Naturally, there are people who are going to find that useful. It replaces the need for a small external interface or using your computer for that purpose. Of course, there's going to be a lot of time where that wireless Bluetooth MIDI actually comes in handy because it eliminates the need for a cable, but the Bluetooth is not transmitting audio information, it is transmitting MIDI information exclusively.

From that perspective, Kawai and Yamaha are looking at two very different use cases and applying two different solutions to them.

 

Kawai's "Concert Magic" Feature

Kawai's KDP110 also includes their "Concert Magic" feature with which hundreds of pre-loaded songs can be played by pressing any random keys. The correct note will still sound, but the player will have control over the tempo of the music. In other words, the player becomes the metronome or conductor.

This is in addition to the Burgmüller, Czerny, Beyer etudes, and Alfred lesson songs that are built-in.

 

Conclusions

Hopefully, this shootout comparison between Kawai's KDP110 and Yamaha's YDP-144 has shed a little bit of light on which piano might be the best fit for you. It's impossible for me to tell everybody in every context which one is better because everybody's situation is a little bit different. With that said, I hope that these insights have helped your research process and helped narrow things down a little bit more.

Shop More Digital Pianos Here.

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Kawai CN29 Digital Piano Review and Demo | Onkyo, Virtual Technician, Bluetooth®

Introduction

The CN29 offers up a huge slate of features, and in 2019 was one of Kawai's most popular digital pianos. It represents an interesting confluence of technology and value within their overall line-up. It's the lowest price point where you get the RHIII action (triple sensor, escapement / let-off), the Onkyo architecture for its main amplifiers as well as the headphone amplifiers, the Grand Feel pedal system, and the SK-EX individual-key sample set. Go one step down into the KDP series and you lose all of those features...go one step up, and and all of the feature add-ons are in non-pianistic areas (number of sounds for example).

For a $2000 digital piano, it genuinely sets a new standard for tonal clarity and sound technology, with other high-end editing functions as well like stretch tuning, reverb, spatial headphone sound control, onboard lesson function, and an excellent set of Onkyo full-range speakers.

We hope you enjoy this video + article from Stu Harrison of Merriam pianos on Kawai's CN29 Digital piano.

Kawai CN29 Digital Piano Review Video Transcription

Hi everybody, and welcome to another digital piano review here at Merriam Pianos. My name is Stu Harrison, and in this video we're talking about Kawai's brand new CN29 Digital Piano. We're going to be covering it's action, it's sound, and all of the other critical features that you get with this instrument. It's connectivity, who the perfect customer for this might be, and of course, if it's your first time to the channel, please do subscribe. We really appreciate the support. Also, be sure to check out the videos of the CN29 where all we do is play the instrument so you can take the sound in rather than listening to me talk away. Thanks so much for joining us. Let's get started right away.

Sound and Tone - Comparing the CN27 and CN29

So, let's talk about the sound on the Kawai CN29. Of course, I can't play the CN29 without referencing the CN27 because of course, it's sitting right next to us. But also, we've been living with the CN27 for about three years. We're very used to it. And I would say the CN27 represented one of the absolute best values in the entire Kawai lineup when it came to sound production. And so with the CN29, I had very high expectations. I've been in here playing it for a couple of hours this morning, just ahead of doing the review to get a fresh perspective, getting really familiar with the instrument but also also having the advantage of being able to play it side by side with the CN27. And I have to say that there are some differences that I did not figure would be there.

I knew that we were coming in with the new a control interface and display with the pixel oled for better contrast. I knew that we were coming in with a very slight update to the cabinet with a new topboard, and a refresh to their popular premium rosewood finish. And an improvement to their virtual technician functionality with some half-pedal adjustments, damper resonance, minimum touch settings, hammer delay, and a few other interesting features that I thought I'd enjoy.

But I wasn't expecting as big difference with the quality of the tone itself. And here's what I'm hearing. When I turn the CN29 all the way up to the top and I'm in their main piano sound, (which is an SK-EX Acoustic Grand Piano , which they've sampled individual note samples by the way, really exquisitely done), the Onkyo onboard processing, which the CN29 has and the 27 didn't, is providing such a beautiful clarity and control to the wave structure that there's no woofiness in the base. In fact there's no distortion whatsoever in the base. The speakers are Onkyo speakers, and so I'm hearing much tighter sound reproduction out of those speakers. And so, I guess the best way to sum up on the piano sound, what I'm hearing out of the CN29 is very tight, clear, punchy sound, which never really distorts in any way no matter what volume you're playing at it. And to be able to say at an instrument that's kind of in the $2,000, $3,000 price range, like the CN29, it's remarkable. There aren't very many instruments on the market that can do that. And that just makes it more satisfying because you wind up not thinking about having to keep the volume pulled down.

Anyone who's played a digital pianos a lot, you know, through their lifetime and certainly over the last five years knows that it's kind of an unspoken rule that you never really turn the volume all the way up because the minute that you do, if you really push the keyboard, the speakers start breaking up and the speakers start distorting. And I can say absolutely with confidence right here, you push the CN29 all the way up to max volume, play at a fortissimo level, and it's going to sound just as clear as if you had headphones on. Absolutely remarkable.

Now, as you get into the mid-range and into the top end, what I hear is a more realistic stereo field or a stereo image that you're getting between the left and the right side as you're mixing your left and right hands on the CN27 and really a lot of other digital pianos, you kind of get this hamfisted very overly simplistic, stereo image, which means like as you go down the left side, literally your ear can kind of track the sound, like just moving down to the left and moving off to the right. And you know that when you're in front of an acoustic piano, it's much more subtle than that. Because you still have sound reproduction coming from the entire soundboard using Kawai's Progressive Harmonic Imaging technology. It's not just this one little pinpoint. So, I feel like that's something that they've really nailed on the CN29 this time. And I probably need to credit as again, as we're talking about this Onkyo circuitry and the Onkyo stereo system. I've mentioned the piano sound and of course, that's the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX individual sampled notes

It's truly a very warm, very complex tone that they've loaded in there. Running through the various patches here, they've got the SK concert grand, which of course is more colourful. It's definitely got a wider tonal palette than anything they've ever really loaded into an instrument before. And it's just great to hear it presented so beautifully through the speaker system and through the processing. Also on here, they've got the EX Concert Grand Piano, which an earlier version of their concert grand, it's a bit brighter, almost kind of reminds me of like a Yamaha CFX in terms of still being a very beautiful grand piano sound, but just a little bias towards the treble and a nice bright attack. And so, we've got that right here.

Aside from the fundamental tone production, the Progressive Harmonic Imagining adds quite a few other nuances that add to the realism of the piano experience. The Key Off simulation, Fall-back noise, the half-pedal adjust function, adjustable soft pedal depth, adjustable temperament key

Again, just to hear the contrast. So, that's the SK Concert Grand and EX Concert Grand Piano. So, quite a difference. So, it's nice that you've got both to choose from when we're talking about the CN29. Then... That is an upright piano patch. Quite impressed with that as well. And then one they call studio grand. Kind of a seventh quarter sound. Compressed and more treblely. Mellow grand. So, a really wide variety of acoustic piano sounds. And I would say that they're all really high quality. But of course, the SK Concert Grand is the one that's got the individual note sampling and you can tell that it's the beefiest, it's got the most audio information when you're playing it.

The CN29 also has a fairly basic collection of quite usable electric piano sounds, sort of a Rhodes. And I believe this is the same electric piano samples as you'd find on the ES8 for people who are familiar with that model. And a pretty decent B3, and if I'm not mistaken, yeah, your una corda, your left pedal actually activates the Leslie speaker.

Church organ is...I normally wouldn't even discuss the church organ sound because it's not something that I think has a ton of application in the modern world, but there are still quite a few users out there who look for digital pianos within a worship setting or also just enjoy the sound of a church organ. So, this is worth mentioning because we review all kinds of digital pianos on this channel. We review all the Kawai's and the Roland's and the Casio's and when we have them, you know, from trader, whatever, we'll review Yamahas. And church organ sounds in this price range usually quite frankly, are abysmally terrible, especially the ones that have sort of the full range kind of pipe organ stuff. So, you've got eight foots and four foots and two foots and mixtures turned on and they always sound really distorted and fake. And I don't know why it's that difficult, but Kawai actually manages to get a pretty satisfying pipe organ sound. So, thanks Kawai for that. And of course, harpsichord, vibraphone, strings, low strings, all your kind of your normal digital piano sounds that you'd expect to be there are there. So, it's a nice collection. There are 19 voices and max 192 polyphony that you've got the option to use.

So, we've got the usual slate of instruments that allows you to use this as a piano, as an electric piano, as an organ or just as some basic pad to kind of thicken it up. And of course you've got the playing modes like a duel, which layers two sounds on top of one another, or forehands, which is really handy. That's where essentially you can break the keyboard into two halves, but have both halves have the same range. This is something that sometimes teachers really appreciate. So, you can teach on one instrument sort of having two instruments side by side.

So, a few other things about the sound on the CN29. One of the coolest parts of this if you're a piano player is the Virtual Technician functionality that they have built into this. And on the 29, there's 17 different parameters that you have the ability to go in and edit. So, we're talking about things like the touch, the damper noise, the tuning, you can have, you know, how high the lid goes, you can talk about string resonance, you can talk about the case resonance, all sorts of things. And of course, the best way to make use of this is by connecting it to an iPad or an iPhone where the Kawai Virtual Technician app will allow you to manipulate Virtual Technician completely. It is so cool and actually a lot of fun because you essentially get to build your own personal piano. It saves to it, and you never really have to edit it again. It just gives you one extra way in which to personalize the overall experience.

With all of that Onkyo circuitry we're talking about comes a few extra little gizmos that for people who use headphones, they're really going to appreciate this. So, you get to select the type of headphone that you're using. So, if you've got sort of an open back headphone versus a closed or versus an earbud, it actually changes the processing of the sound to optimize that for the type of headphone you wear. That is really cool. And then on top of that, it's also got sort of like this atmospheric spatial processing going on so you can affect the sense of space that you have with the headphone. The bottom line is this, when you plug headphones into CN29, you really start using all the features that you have at your disposal. There is not much on the market that is going to beat the level of authenticity when it comes to an acoustic piano experience playing on this instrument without getting into like a $10,000 spend. Pretty incredible value.

So, let's move on to action. But before we do, we're going to throw up all the specs on the slide so you can check them out in writing. So, thank you so much for sticking around. Action's up next.

PHAIII Action

The Kawai CN29 comes equipped with the Responsive Hammer III keyboard action. This is an update to the graded counterweight action design that Kawai has been perfecting for many, many years. But they've kind of reached a new pinnacle with this action, and that's something that's validated in the wider industry because just last year Nord selected the action for their new Nord Grand model.

So, what about it makes this so great? Well, the first thing is that it does have escapement; that's something that's becoming fairly commonplace in a lot of the better actions that you can get out there. It creates a realistic movement on the key, and for many players that have an acoustic piano background, improves the authenticity of the piano playing experience. That's, of course, that little extra little kind of nub about two thirds of the way down where on a real piano that would be the jack slipping off the knuckle. And of course, it's simulating it here just to increase the authenticity. Because why not? It's also got a triple sensor. And so, this is the kind of a feature that becomes really obvious for people who are using it's Bluetooth MIDI output capability because you can actually see in the data how accurate and how smooth all of of the data figures are as you're recording into a sequencer or something like that. It's so smooth.I find the other thing that it allows you to do to have that accurate sensor, is you don't really have to turn the volume up quite as much because you've got a wider range of dynamics to play with just at the control of your fingertips instead of really having to sort of set a narrow dynamic range with the volume slider and then you're just kind of playing within it. It's pretty satisfying actually.

It's a nice keyboard. I'm going to mention the top of the key surface because Roland is putting on this ivory texture as well, Kawai calls it their Ivory Touch key surfaces . It's kind of this micro-texture. You can see it when it glints in the light. And that's there of course to provide a little bit of friction. It's also there to absorb a bit of extra moisture. When this first came out of the box, I found it actually to be a little bit slippery. But having played it now just for even a few hours, it's now feeling the way it's supposed to feel. There's some nice grip, but it's definitely not sticky in any way.

And the action feels tight. So, not feeling a lot of lateral motion at all, I'm not hearing any clicks whatsoever. There's no mechanical sounds that you're getting. It's a very, very satisfying action. So again, this is the Responsive Hammer III keyboard action that's in the CN29 digital piano. Such a nice key touch to play on. So, we're going to throw up the specs for you on the screen right now before we move on to features. Thanks again for sticking with us.

Other CN29 Features and Connectivity

So, when we get into the features of this instrument, I guess one of the reasons I consider it to be very high value is because almost all of your dollars are going towards audio processing and the quality of the amps, the speaker system, and kind of the core sound system. But it's a little lightweight when it comes to the rest of the features. And that's either a good thing for somebody because they don't want to pay for all of that and they want most of their money going toward just the guts. Or, it may be the kind of thing where somebody looks at the Kawai CN29 and goes, "It doesn't do enough things for me. I need a higher entertainment value." Or the application that I'm thinking of just requires us to have more stuff. And that, of course, is when you can maybe get into Kawai CN39 or an instrument such as the Roland DP603, which is also kind of in and around the same kind of price range that just ups the number of features that are available to you.

But what is on here, we already made mention of this. You've got forehand mode, you've got dual mode, which basically blends the keys. It's loaded with Kawai's company-wide feature called "Concert Magic", their propriety rhythm learning module. Of course, you've got the basics like transposition. You've got metronome, which is also, you know, kind of critical, especially for practicing aid. You've got some internal memory to record some basic songs. It also has the transpose function, four hands mode, layer mode, and the ability to store a unique startup setting. I know people who use this as a practice aid as well just to hear yourself and kind of be brutally honest with what's going on or what's not going on. And then you've got Bluetooth MIDI in and out. You've got standard MIDI in and out through the USB cable and it accommodates both the quarter-inch jack and 3.5 mil jack for your headphones. Does not have a discreet audio out. So, what we're doing today is you're hearing a direct line out of the headphone jack and then that's running into an audio recorder and we're just running an auxiliary cable out of the recorder into an amplifier so that I can also hear it in the room. But otherwise, you don't have the ability to take a discreet audio line out.

In terms of the case, the Kawai CN29 comes with a bench, which is very handy, right in the box. So if you're getting this from a dealer, really is an all in one package. It's got an adjustable height music rest, which is also great. And Kawai comes...offers this in three different finishes. So, you can get this in a satin black (CN29B), satin white (CN29W), you can get it in Rosewood (CN29R), which is what you're seeing right here. I really like the Rosewood because it's kind of a chameleon color. It's dark enough that if it is in a room full of blacks, it blends very well, but there's still some warmth to the finish. And it also comes in mahogany, which is a lighter wood tone. It's a small thing, but that desk or that sort of...the key cover on this slides out really satisfyingly smooth. Sometimes you have to fight with these things or they kind of rattle their way out. Whatever they've done on that, it's a really, really nice smooth in and out.

It's also equipped of course with a triple pedal board, which includes the damper pedal, sostenuto pedal, and soft pedal (una corda). As mentioned earlier, this uses Kawai's Grand Feel Pedal System, which uses different spring tensions to properly simulate the individual weighting of the pedals just like on a real acoustic grand piano.

And not to be left out of the move towards better power consumption, it also has the Bluetooth Low Energy Midi Specification (BLE MIDI) which saves power on the connecting device.

Very last thing I'm going to draw your attention to on the CN29 is the control surface. For people who are familiar with earlier generations of the Kawai keyboards and the CN series or the KTP series, you'll know that although it's very functional, it hasn't always been the prettiest control surface that they've put off to the side. The CN29 has a brand new, completely redesigned OLED control surface and we'll make sure that we get a quick B-roll shot of it so you can see it. There is now a nice OLED display screen so you can see exactly where you're navigating and what the function is that you're on, really reduces the amount of memorizing you have to do of the shortcut keys. And they've restyled the keys and restyled sort of the icons underneath it. It's a small thing, but it just kind of makes me feel like I'm truly in front of an instrument fit for, you know, 2020 instead of something that feels more like 2010. So, we're going to just wrap up features and conductivity, through a slide up and then we'll summarize.

There's also an excellent selection of pre-loaded educational book repertoire in the CN29, including selections from:

• Burgmüller 25 (25 Etudes Faciles, Opus 100)
• Czerny 30 (Etudes de Mécanisme, Opus 849)
• Beyer 106 (Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Opus 101)
• Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1A
• Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1B
• Chopin Waltzes (1-19) lesson book

Conclusions

So, just to wrap up the review on this Kawai CN29 digital piano, I really, really liked the instrument. I mean, that's the bottom line. I think for people who are in the market for their first serious piano and they're looking at either digitals or maybe even a sort of browsing Craigslist and Kijiji for used acoustics in the $500 to $1,000 or $2,000 range. The CN29 presents a pretty strong argument for this to be the first instrument in the house. I would rather have this than a 50-year-old acoustic piano with uneven keys, temperamental tuning, and something that you're having to keep in, you know, a particular humidity range, something where you're really never going to have exactly the same sort of key technique on all 88 notes. And so, that can be really frustrating for somebody who's younger and doesn't really know how to accommodate a temperamental acoustic yet. This provides a totally consistent touch. The touch is completely inline with a basic acoustic piano. And now with the Onkyo processing onboard, you are getting an incredibly tight, clear, full-range, very colorful sound, even at max volume. Whereas that was just not the case on the CN27. You had to back off the volume a little bit. And now in comparison, the base actually sounds a bit whoofy. This sounds just so controlled. So, great tone, really great processing. We mentioned about the headphone processing. That's a cool feature as well. You've got the convenience of the Bluetooth, but bottom line, if you're somebody who is willing and ready to sort of look at the $2,000 price range and you're considering all of your options, if your main use is going to be playing piano, get to see a CN29. It is going to impress you just as much as it's impressed me.

Thank you very much for watching. It's been another review here for Merriam Pianos. Check out the CN29 in a showroom anywhere close to you. Of course, if you're in the Toronto area, come see us. We'd love to meet you. Thanks for watching. We'll see you back in another review soon.

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Kawai CN39 Digital Piano Review and Demo | Virtual Technician, Bluetooth®

Introduction

Kawai's CN39 is the latest advancement in home digital piano technology, and represents the highest-level model with plastic key action. It's equipped with a 4-speaker amplification system, GM2 soundbanks plus the Progressive Harmonic Imaging sound engine including the SK-EX Concert Grand Sample (the same type of piano found in concert halls, now comfortably in your living room). Users can record both MP3 and WAV to USB memory, enjoy popular playing modes like concert magic, four hands, split keyboard, two-layer, and SMF playback as well (up to 16 tracks). The line in and line out 1/4" ports provide excellent versatility, and the automatic mono mode for just left out is also handy for live performance. It is an authentic piano playing experience for a similar cost to a basic used acoustic piano, and will leave you more than satisfied.
We hope you enjoy Stu's video review and accompanying article.

Kawai CN39 Digital Piano Review Video Transcription

Hi, everybody, and welcome to another digital piano review here at Merriam Pianos. My name is Stu Harrison. And today, we are talking about Kawai's CN39 digital piano, a fairly new entrant to the digital piano market and something our customers are really excited about. We're gonna be talking about its action, its sound. We're gonna be covering all the connectivity options, how you can link it up to the iPad and the tablets, everything you need to know to help further your research.

Sound and Tone Engine

We are here in front of the CN39 digital piano, as we mentioned. And let's start talking about the sound on this instrument. It is, of course, the big brother to the CN29. So, often, when we're talking about CN39, I inevitably wind up comparing it to the CN29. And so, from a sound standpoint, right away, there's a few differences that are really worth noting. One of them is the speaker system on the CN39. We go up to a four-speaker system from a two-speaker system, which makes a really big difference for if you're just playing this instrument using the onboard speakers. You're not plugging into a stereo, you're not using an amplifier, you're not using headphones. This is something that you're just gonna have set up in a room, whether a practice room or a living room, and you just want to get a really great sense of piano tone directly off the instrument. Those two extra speakers are right on the back and they're facing up, they're two tweeters. And so, that's just gonna help with clarity in the treble / high frequencies and a little bit more projection may be in the mid or the upper mid. You can definitely hear way up in the treble the detail that you're getting.

Diving into the tone engine or the sound engine, the CN39 is equipped with its progressive harmonic imaging engine. It's sort of the same type of algorithm that they've been working on for many, many, many years. harmonic imaging has been around since, I think, the early 2000s. This is their latest version. And it comes with a polyphony of 256, which for a sample-based tone engine is on the high side, just basically means you're never going to run out of the ability to create new notes and have that engine simultaneously processing multiple notes. So, if I hold the sostenuto pedal down and do this, there's still lots of room for me to go back down and then back up, you know, several times, and every single one of those notes is gonna still be individually processed without maxing out the tone engine. So, that's a kind of cool bonus the Grand Feel pedal system offers. Just adds a layer of authenticity, especially for people who are playing a lot of classical. So, it's got a polyphony of 256, 355 voices including 9 drum kits. It's the progressive harmonic imaging and it is equipped with the SK concert grand sample series. That's individually sampled, 88 notes sampled off their nine-foot Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand piano, which is notably warmer and more colorful than their previous EX concert grand piano, which almost sort of had a CFX type of a sound. It's a little brighter. It's a little sharper, very dynamic. But this SK-EX concert grand is just beautifully rich, and done with unrivalled 88-key sampling.

In addition to the core sample, the Harmonic Imaging adds all sorts of nuance to the tone like let-off simulation, reverb, cabinet resonance, damper resonance, fall-back noise, key-off effect, hammer delay, topboard adjustment, undamped string resonance, as well as the ability to adjust stretch tuning, minimum touch, decay time, and half-pedal adjust and soft pedal depth. All in all, there are a full 19 parameters that you have control over:

• Touch Curve (incl. User Touch Curve)
• Voicing (incl. 88-key User Voicing)
• Damper Resonance
• Damper Noise
• String Resonance
• Undamped String Resonance
• Cabinet Resonance
• Key-off Effect
• Fall-back Noise
• Hammer Delay
• Topboard Simulation
• Decay Time
• Minimum Touch
• Stretch Tuning (incl. 88-key User Tuning)
• Temperament (incl. User Temperament)
• Temperament Key
• Key Volume (incl. 88-key User Key Volume)
• Half-Pedal Adjust
• Soft Pedal Depth

This instrument is also equipped with over 350 additional sounds that are all onboard - that includes additional grand piano sounds, but dozens of other categories as well. That's a huge leap up from what you get on the Kawai CN29. And a lot more consistent with what you're getting on some of the comparable role in product for this type of a price range, getting way up into the 300. So, you've got a set or subset of very high quality, let's call them proprietary sounds that are built-in plus the entire General MIDI 2 sound bank, which is what really runs those numbers way up into the stratosphere. So, that's pretty cool as well. In terms of the authenticity of the other sounds once you get out of the acoustic piano range, because I have no complaints whatsoever when it comes to the acoustic sound here, lots of detail, and really lots of tonal range and dynamic range. Kind of a tiny Rhode sound.
Think they've done a really nice job with their electric piano signs as well, making them very dynamically reactive. So, you're getting a really clear punch, almost a bit of a distorted sound that you get authentically on a real Rhodes. Seems to be represented here pretty well, or you let up on the velocity and you get this lovely bell sound. And, of course, you've got Wurly with a lovely tremolo on it, a DX7. So, it sort of has all of your classic EP categories covered which is great. The organ sound.

I have to hand it to Kawai when it comes to the organ sounds, both in terms of the pipe organ sounds and the electric organ sounds, like your hand and stuff. When we're in the range of the home digital pianos, so we're not getting into, like, high-end stage pianos like Roland's RD-2000 or Yamaha CP4 or anything like that. We're just talking about home digitals. For the price, I have to give Kawai the number one prize for having the best organ sounds out of the box and especially because it's pre-configured so that your left pedal acts as the on and the off switch for your Leslie speaker, sort of rotary simulator.

You've got the standards like harpsichord, and harp, and strings, and choir. They're pretty good. Actually, I'd say they're more than pretty good. And then, of course, you're into the General MIDI bank where you've got everything from helicopter sounds to synth leads and heartbeats. Whenever you need those sounds, they're there for you. Now, driving all of this between the speakers and the harmonic imaging engine, there's a step in between that is brand new to the Kawai lineup. And honestly, it's a really big difference, it's worth mentioning, and that is the addition of the Onkyo circuitry.

Onkyo is a Japanese company, and they're known as a high-end audio file company. They make amplifiers, they make a lot of spatial / audio processing circuits for the industry. They sell them OEM. They do them through their own product. And so, this has a whole bunch of Onkyo's stuff under the hood, which is adding some, I guess, just sort of structuring to the waveform as it's coming out. It also gives you the ability to set the type of headphone that you have, and how much sort of a sense of space around (they call it specifically "spatial headphone sound"), or your perception of space when you have the headphones on, so it's got some really cool headphone processing. But again, just when you go back and forth between the previous CN37 and the currency CN39, or same thing on the CN27 and 29, there is a distinct clarity and a structure to the sound. And I have to assume that that's a good part of the Onkyo that's bringing that value. So, we've covered all the sound on CN39, we're gonna move on to the action next. But before we do, we're just gonna hit you up with some of the critical specs on the screen.

RHIII Piano Action with Counterweights

The CN39 is equipped with Kawai's RH3 action, it stands for Responsive Hammer III Keyboard Action. And it's the third generation, they've been at this now for about 10 years they've been working on this design, and it's the third iteration. It comes with escapement or lead off sometimes is what it's referred to. That's that little kind of hiccup that you feel about two-thirds of the way down, simulates what happens on an acoustic piano where the jack lets off of the knuckle as you're pressing down - true realistic movement. So, it's still a little puzzling to me why they're doing this in the digital world since on the acoustic side, you were never really supposed to feel that in the first place, it was kind of just a mechanical anomaly that they never really found a solution for. And, of course, you don't feel it at all when you're playing at kind of a medium velocity or higher. It's really only something that shows up when you're playing in the lower volume ranges on acoustic. Anyway, all the digitals are starting to simulate this now, of course, it does add to the authentic feel of you being on an acoustic but it's sort of weird that it's an imperfection that's being mimicked, go figure. Anyway, so it's got that. It also comes with a triple sensor. That is just kind of increases the accuracy of the MIDI put, whether you're using this to trigger a sound on a computer or piece of software, or even just its own internal sound, you're gonna notice that the accuracy is super high. And you're never really gonna get a note that's just kind of sticking out for no reason or you think you played it hard enough, but for whatever reason, the sensor, the single sensor didn't pick it up properly. So, you've got these three sensors that are sort of constantly talking to each other and making sure that it's really nice accurate readout that it's getting. It also features counterweights within each of the black and white keys to help lighten the touch of the keyboard.

There's also a texture on the key, Kawai has obviously made the decision on the CN series to include their famous ivory touch key surfaces. But this is more close to what they've done on the acoustics with NEOTEX, where it's a micro-texture, but the micro-texture is not trying to look like ivory at all. It's actually just looks like a porous material that's there to absorb a bit of moisture, and also just to create a little additional texture, other than just giving it a nice, completely clean sheet of white plastic. So, that's what you've got here. And that's on both the white and the black keys. The RH3 (Responsive Hammer III Keyboard Action) is something that the industry has really embraced as one of the best designs out there. How do we know this? Well, the RH3 is now shown up on the Nord grand which is a brand new product that everybody is just going, you know, crazy about and the action is definitely something that they've been talking a lot about in regards to the Nord grand. The RH3 is also something that you find on the CN29. And I expect whenever the ESA replacement shows up, it will also be equipped with an RH3, the MP7 I believe has the RH3, could be the RH2. Anyway, it's a beautiful action. And now you've got the rundown. Triple sensor, we've got a nice textured feel on both the black and the white keys. And, of course, we've got escapement and just a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful responsive feel overall, I really love the weighting.

Yeah, it's a nice action to play on. Okay, so let's move on to features and conductivity. But first, we're going to splash up just the critical features of the action so you can get a quick visual of it.

Other CN39 Features and Cabinet

Let's get into the features of the Kawai CN39 digital piano because there's some really cool stuff here and some of which people kind of skip over or go months and months or sometimes their whole ownership of an instrument like this and never really realize that it can do this thing. So, let's just start at the top of the list of stuff that I find...or I really appreciate the Kawai's included here and we'll just go down the list. One of them might seem basic, but it's worth noting there is on the bottom here, and you won't be able to see it, but, you know, if you were in front of one, it's easy to see, there are stereo quarter-inch audio line ins and line outs (these act as both stereo jacks as well as mono if required). This is really great because if you've got some type of a small mixer, let's say you're in a home studio or you're in a classroom, and you've got some audio inputs coming in from an electric car or some sort of an auxiliary audio input, who knows, anywhere you've got audio that was just going through some piddly little set of speakers or headphone, you can use the onboard speaker system, take advantage of that Onkyo processing that's there. Fact that it's like really high fidelity four-speaker system and 40 watts, which if you're in a relatively small space is plenty of juice. I know some amplifiers, guitar amps, and bass amps that are only 30 watts and producing all kinds of sound. So, 40 is gonna give you a lot.

Bluetooth Audio

On top of the physical audio jacks that you've got underneath this also receives Bluetooth audio from your portable smart device. And I've got my phone here, it's an Apple phone. And just to kind of show you just how easy it is to take advantage of this feature. So, I just have the Bluetooth screen up here. And if I go into the Bluetooth devices CN39 audio is one of the devices that's sitting here waiting for me to connect. So, I'm just gonna press that right now. And now CN39 is connected. That means now I can go into my music app and select something to play. Yeah, why not? Let's play some Bill Evans. And there we go.

And so, I've just turned my Kawai CN39 into a really high-end wireless stereo. And the range on that Bluetooth is quite good, I can be completely on the other side of the room. I've tested this up to like 60 or 70 feet through a wall, and it's working just fine. So, if this is sitting in your living room, and let's say it's a room that your TV is not in and you don't have your main stereo there, you can actually use this as your main, like an entertaining stereo when you've got company over or whatever. Of course, tons of obvious applications within a lesson, or when you're practicing by yourself, if you don't have an audio cable, you can just be playing along with an audio track of your choice using that Bluetooth connection. Now, I'm gonna mention something that's really critical because we get this question a lot. If you can send Bluetooth audio in, can you send Bluetooth audio out, i.e. can you use a set of wireless headphones? No, you cannot do this. Do not buy a set of wireless headphones, you know expecting this to work just because it says words Bluetooth and audio on the spec sheet, it doesn't work like that. One of the issues with Bluetooth audio is there tends to be a latency issue. And so, for something with it involves immediate live playback where there's not an ability to buffer a little bit, what you're gonna find is you're gonna press that note, and then you'd be hearing the note like a split second later, it virtually makes it unusable. So, I am not at this point aware of any digital piano company that is making...giving the ability to use wireless headphones off a piano. That might change in the future as the technology improves, or the speed of the process has improved, but at this point, not a thing. But certainly in terms of sending Bluetooth audio in, there's no issue at all, and it's a great feature.

Wireless Apps

While we're on the Bluetooth MIDI front, Kawai also makes two apps themselves which utilize the BLE protocol (bluetooth low energy midi specification). Those apps are named "Sound Museum", as well as "Virtual Technician". Now, Sound Museum allows you to basically remote control the instrument. So, we're just going to pull that up right now. So, connecting the Sound Museum essentially allows me to get a visual of all the onboard sounds. And there are a lot as we've mentioned. It also allows you to put it into split-mode, to dual-mode. Dual-mode, of course, meaning that you've got two sounds at once, split mode, meaning that the two instruments are split between the left and the right hand. You can also have two-player mode where the top and the bottom are the same range, really good for students and teachers if you've got one instrument. And so selecting the sound is very, very, very simple. You just pull it up, of course, I'm not sure if you can see that. But we'll try and get some B roll of that just to quickly show you, but very, very easy to select between the various sounds.

Super easy to use, and it's also nice and visual. I think they've done a nice job. At this point. I think it's only available for iOS. That's an important question because we will, of course, get some comments asking whether it's for Android. At this point, whatever it is, we're in October of 2019, not a thing, but could be a thing literally any day, I know that it's something that they have been working on releasing.

The second app is their Virtual Technician app. And that gives you control of 19 different parameters. That's something that you can control onboard, but you can also use the app to do it. And the Virtual Technician app works really, really well. I know on the iPad, it's particularly well suited, so clear exactly what all the parameters you're editing. This would be like how far the lid is open, the string residence, how much you hear the damper noise when it comes back and touches the string, like all these tiny little microscopic elements that our ear detects as a you know, a difference between an authentic piano sound and you know, digital piano sound. It's all there, which is really great because I think 19 parameters from them is close what you get even with the Roland V-Piano, with all of their parameters, and that's a full modeling engine, whereas this is sampling with some modeling on top. So, we've got the apps, we've got the Bluetooth audio, we've got the audio jacks in and out, which is a really great feature, we have things like the transpose, the dual-mode, the split-mode, of course we've already covered the sounds. You can access more of the Kawai CN39's music apps from the 128x64 pixel OLED display such as the metronome function or integrated piano lessons from Czerny, Burgmüller, Beyer, Chopin or Alfreds Basic Piano Lesson Book.

The complete list includes:

• Burgmüller 25 (25 Etudes Faciles, Opus 100)
• Chopin Walzer (1-19) lesson book
• Czerny 30 (Etudes de Mécanisme, Opus 849)
• Czerny 100 (Hundert Übungsstücke, Opus 139)
• Beyer 106 (Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Opus 101)
• J.S. Bach: Inventionen
• Sonatinen Album 1
• Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Lesson 1A
• Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Lesson 1B
• Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1A
• Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1B
• Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course Lesson Book Level 1

The CN39 is also equipped with a USB Audio Recorder similar to the ES8

Cabinet

And last but not least, let's talk about the cabinet. The Kawai CN39 comes in three different colors. The one you see here is called premium rosewood. It's beautiful. I mean, we sell all three colors, which is the mahogany, the satin black, and the rosewood. The rosewood by far is the most popular amongst our customers anyway. I think because of its versatility. In a room where it's a lot of warm tones, the browns kind of seemed to come out. And in a room where it's surrounded by more cool colors. It does seem to feel neutral. So, it's a bit of a chameleon. It's great. But the satin black is available, as well as mahogany, which is a lighter tone wood, goes really well with cherries and maples and oaks and things like that. It also comes with a dust cover. And it's actually a really...like it feels substantial. This is not a flimsy little piece of wood that feels like it's gonna break every time you move it. It rolls really nicely. It's pretty satisfying. And then you've got legs on the toe block.

So, very, very sturdy. And it comes with a bench right out of the box. You don't have to worry about picking the bench up. So, it's kind of a complete package straight out of the box. And then, of course, we've got an adjustable music rest. So, we're just gonna review the features right now and then we'll be back in a quick second with the comparables and of course a final sum up of what we love about the CN39.

Conclusion

So, the instruments the CN39 is going to kind of compete directly against, on the Roland side this is going to really from a wattage standpoint, polyphony standpoint, quality of the piano sound, quality of the action, the DP603 is a really good comparator on the Roland side. It's one that we sell quite a bit of as well and the CN39 and the DP603 often get compared to one another. I know on the Yamaha side, there's gonna be some CLP products, some of the entry-level Clavinovas starting to creep into the mid-range. Clavinova is gonna be often compared to this. Again, with any of these, try to make it into a showroom so that you can compare the action and you can compare the sound. The sound is starting to get so good on all of these that there is no such thing as a bad digital piano when you're ready to drop $2,000 or $3,000. But the differences are becoming nuanced. They're becoming subtle. And so I think people's expectations are becoming higher. And it's worth spending the time to really figure out what's gonna give you the most satisfying experience.

For me, the CN39 is essentially the CN29 with all of the frills that they've kept off the 29 to keep the price lower. You're getting substantially more sound, you're getting a beefier amplifier, you're getting the two tweeters for added definition, all of your in and out ports, you're getting the Bluetooth audio, which is a really great feature. And you're also getting a slightly nicer looking cabinet. But you have to get into a showroom, you have to try these things side by side.

Who's the ideal customer for this? Well, I think an advanced student who doesn't have the space or desire to maintain an acoustic piano, I think everyone except maybe an advanced classical student is gonna be thrilled with an instrument like this. I could see an adult who's had an acoustic piano and sort of plays at a hobbyist level, their downsizing, could see them being very, very satisfied with the CN39. And, of course, one thing that I didn't mention but for educators who are using the CN39 as not just a practice instrument, but as a teaching aid within the lesson, this is equipped with 12 different book series, all programmed in so that you can playback the repertoire within those books series as reference points as you're going back and forth between the books, I could see that being a really big benefit.

So, a super-wide audience for this CN39. Very versatile instrument, very well made instrument, and something that's been evolving over many, many years. So, virtually no kinks left to be ironed out of a piano like this.So, thank you, very, very much for stopping by, and supporting us by watching, supporting us by subscribing. I hope you've enjoyed this look at the Kawai CN39 digital piano. And by all means if you're in the Toronto area, and you have a minute to come and say hi, we're open seven days a week. We'd love to meet you. Thank you so much for your support. Happy shopping. We'll see you soon.

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