UK Piano Page Piano Forum

Right, I'm looking for a new Digital Piano, I've been learning to play on a Yamaha PSR230 which has 61 keys, and the limitation of the sound, action and low amount of keys is becoming painfully obvious.

I've been playing for around a year and a half on and off and consider myself a moderately ok player. I used to play on an acoustic upright piano fairly regulary and had no problem transitioning to the action and feel of it.

Now, I'm a college student, so I'm not at all made of money. I've really got £500 MAX. If theres some piano that's AMAZINGLY better, then I'll consider going over budget for it. But please bear in mind that I can't spent ridiculous amounts on this. So I need to get the absolute best for my money.

I've pretty much narrowed my choices down to 2 Digital Piano's, which both cost the same;

Yamaha P85 With Stand: £500
Casio PX320 With Stand: £500

I've tried the Yamaha P85 at my local music shop, and while I thought the action and feel of the piano was nice, the main piano sounds were quite 'hollow' and lacked any depth in my opinion. Also, even on max volume, it was surprisingly quiet (about as loud as my PSR230 on half volume) which is quite disappointing.

I asked my local music shop if they could get in the Casio PX320 for me to try out but they said no as they believe yamaha's are vastly better. Which I'm reluctant to believe as theyre a biased Yamaha dealership.

So unfortunately I am UNABLE to try out the Casio PX320, but I'm currently leaning towards purchasing the PX320 as it has more features, and from recordings from people who have a Casio PX320, it sounds MUCH 'fuller'. Maybe I'm wrong, as I said, I haven't actually tried the PX320 for myself so I can't say for sure.

One thing I think is worth mentioning, if I were to buy the Casio PX320, the place I'm buying it from offers a 14 day no hassle money back guarentee. So even if I bought the Casio, and it turns out I actually liked the Yamaha more, I could just return it within the 14 days (postage at my expense but it wont cost that much) and then get the Yamaha after. Correct?

What are peoples opinions on this, What do you think I should do? Thanks in advance.

Cyph3r wrote:One thing I think is worth mentioning, if I were to buy the Casio PX320, the place I'm buying it from offers a 14 day no hassle money back guarentee. So even if I bought the Casio, and it turns out I actually liked the Yamaha more, I could just return it within the 14 days (postage at my expense but it wont cost that much) and then get the Yamaha after. Correct?

Double check this with the retailer via e-mail or phone call. Personally, I like to clarify details about these returns policies. You would need to be clear if the 14 day money back includes return carriage delivery time or not. Usually the 14 days starts from the day you sign for the package on delivery and then goes from there.

Return delivery is just a bit of hassle but not overly expensive.

As for tone, I feel that the Casios are just have a more mellow voice than the Yamaha's - slightly more bass and less top-end than Yamaha's piano tone.