Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum MY NEW PIANO or KEYBOARD! - Share Your Story! My K300-AURES. A trip from digital to acoustic (sort of!)

Dear PW community,

First of all a quick "hello!" and "thank you!" to everyone here. I've been an avid reader of this forum for the last year and a half, ever since I've started thinking of upgrading my piano, and I've picked up a lot of information that has been a huge help towards making my decision. This is why I've finally decided to participate and write my first post in the forum.

So, here's my story, which I hope might turn up to be useful to someone else, especially if thinking about buying the Kawai K300-AURES.

A bit of background: I started learning the piano at 12, and played and took lessons until about 19 when college took away most of my free time. At my parents house we had an upright Petrof, and later a baby grand. I'd say I reached an intermediate level playing, which I sort of maintained since. After landing a nice job and finally moving to my own apartment I decided to buy a Clavinova CVP-503 to keep playing. I opted for a digital piano because I knew I would move often (and in fact I did on 5 occasions), plus I didn't want to disturb the neighbors and played mostly at night after work. I thought the bells and whistles of the CVP would invite me to play more often. Also my dad plays the violin and we used to play along, and I thought a midi capable instrument would allow me to keep playing those pieces with the right accompaniment. The truth is that most of the time I just played normal piano but yes, the fact that I could play along with all the rythms and extras, it was easy to move, 0 maintenance, always in tune, and playable any time of the day, were factors that kept me happy.

Years went by and I eventually got married, found a more stable job, and my 12 year old digital piano began to feel very outdated. So I started looking for options. My first idea was to upgrade to a newer and better digital piano. I looked at hybrids (Kawai Novus or Yamaha AvantGrands), but the more I investigated, read on forums and played different pianos at every piano shop I could find, I convinced myself that it was time to go back to an acoustic piano. However well-made the new digital pianos are right now, I do feel that some expression is lost by the "perfection" of the digital sound. It's just a personal opinion, but there is something about real hammers hitting real strings, slightly out of tune strings, or how the sound comes out of a wooden board instead of speakers, that somehow digital pianos have not been able to reproduce, at least for me.

However I still have some of the same issues or wishes from my previous piano, such as playing at any time of the day, introducing midi/wav tracks to play along, which I didn't want to lose. From what I read on many forums, the most logical solution would have been getting an acoustic, and keeping the old digital. However, space is a factor as I still live in an apartment and I can't keep both pianos. Therefore, and after lots of reserach, thinking, trying out at stores, I decided that a "real" hybrid was the solution (main options were Kawai Anytime ATX or Yamaha TransAcoustic TA technology). Meaning those pianos which are actual acoustic pianos but with the technology of a digital inside. As I see it, it's the best of both worlds. Yes, I know some people say the action is not actually the same since the keys need to be regulated to accomodate the digital part. That the digital part will become obsolete inside the piano and the reselling value is worse than a standard acoustic. The repetition in an acoustic is not like a grand action, even a simulated one. The pricing of course is a bit exaggerated, you can buy both a new upright acoustic and a very good digital piano for a less of what I paid - but due to space in my living room that wasn't an option. There's so many more comments that I took into account, and I do appreciate all the feedback and info I obtained from this forum.

So I finally decided that for my level of playing, and hoping that this instrument will last for a very long time, the most attractive option was the Kawai K300-AURES. For those who are not familiar, the AURES option is what makes the regular K300 upright be able to reproduce digital sounds not only through headphones but also directly through the soundboard, as if they were speakers. It's quite an achievement in technology if you ask me, and it really does feature, from my point of view, the best of both worlds of a classical acoustic piano, and the benefits of the latest models of digital pianos.

The new piano was delivered a week ago and I have to say that to this day, I couldn't be happier. The K300 is in itself a wonderful acoustic piano. Sleek design, nice warm tone yet rich and deep (surely enough for my apartment floor!), and a very responsive action. No doubt a huge upgrade from what I was playing, which now seems it was just a toy! I just keep coming back to the piano anytime I have some spare time, it's a joy to play and I even feel I just became a better player since I can now provide so much more expression to the music.

About the "AURES" part, I have to say I was hugely surprised... in a good way! I've probably seen ALL the videos of Kawai AURES demos on youtube, of course also from Yamaha's TransAcoustic pianos which is the main competitor in this field. I had a chance to try the piano and a few of the options in the store. But I have to say that once I really had the time to sit down and try all the settings, options, playing all sorts of music, trying out the different sounds/instruments and demos that are installed, I have to say this is way better than I expected. There was even a pleasant surprise of very good and comfortable Kawai headphones included with the piano, which I had not read about and even the seller at the store had not explained. They feel and sound amazing. Another great surprise was playing any sort of music through the piano's bluetooth connection, with your phone, iPad, whatever... the sound coming out of the sound board is absolutely amazing. It's hard to describe but how the piano reproduces not only classical music for any other sort, it introduces a richness in sound I have honestly never heard before in a living room. Of course, nobody will buy a piano just to act as "speakers", but this feature is really outstanding and worth taking into account if you are a music lover.

In conclusion, I have to say that I am really happy with my new piano. I can say without a doubt that I am glad with the decision I made, which is quite something after more than a year of thinking and rethinking and looking around at all the possible options. Purchasing a piano is such a personal journey, and each person will have different preferences depending on so many factors, but I would just like to say to anyone thinking of getting an ATX/AURES Kawai upright, that you will not regret it. For me the extra money was well worth it.


If you made it this far, thanks for sharing this trip with me towards my second "piano youth". By the way I just restarted taking piano lessons again to hopefully keep improving and making the most of my new piano!

Cheers from sunny Spain,

Nice story. Thanks for sharing.

I currently own an N1X, but I can see the next logical step is some sort of real hybrid piano like you bought. However, I don't see that happing anytime soon. Maybe when my kids are out of the house (another 10 years) because then I might be able to afford it.

Congrats on the beautiful purchase. Enjoy.

God Bless,
David

Congratulations on the new piano. I’m very much leaning towards a K500/K300 Aures as my next piano and as a step up from my digital.

Once you played an acoustic it’s hard to go back 😁

Hello Carlos, my sincere congratulations on your new Kawai K300 Aures.

Wish you enjoy it for many long lasting seasons.

Felicitaciones!

Congrats on the K300!

Hello Carlos, congrats. I am happy for you. Mine just arrived two weeks ago. I have been non=stop playing. I made a hasty decision and bought a NV5, had it for over several weeks and didn't like the key action. I went into the piano boutique and tried on k300 and k500 and I finally decided to go with the K500. I am glad to mention it comes with a better beach, one that is adjustable, and has a soft quilted cushion. I have also received a Kawai headphones and they are marvelous. Although I think I will continue to use my other headphones, Sennheiser HD 599 Open Back Headphone :-). I love the key action because I have heard they are longer than most uprights and it plays like a grand piano. I am able to play trills now previously unable with the NV5. The keys comes bone white Neotex and the even the black ones are textured. The upper treble with duplex scaling really makes the sound sing :-). The only thing that I am unhappy with is my room, which is only 14x15 and the sound is loud. I am very happy with my decision. This is such a wonderful upright piano that plays like a grand LOL... I have played CA93 for almost 8 years and nothing can compared to a real acoustic piano. I even noticed that my technical skill has enhanced since these two weeks of playing. Also while the guys were delivering the piano, I think they may have tilted the piano and the unaCorda pedal was not functioning right. I was able to take the bottom and top panel apart and inserted the pin back on the hole and it worked wonderful like it should. I wonder I should learn how to tune this piano too :-)... Also, the dealer has already regulated and tuned this piano once, and now it has acclimated in my room, I should consider having it tuned very soon. And I plan to have another tuning in 6 months. I believe the first year, you should have it tuned several times until it settles and stays tuned, then perhaps once a year. Again congrats Carlos.

Beautiful!

I tested the K-300 Aures yesterday and I really liked it a lot. Don’t think I would really need the aures feature but the extra cost is so small it’s almost like you get it for no extra cost in Sweden.

Now I need to save for a K500 😊

Great story and purchase. Am glad you were able to integrate everyone's views and arrived at a decision with which you are really happy! It makes this Forum worthwhile. Enjoy your new piano and its many functions!

Great story. Congratulations on your new piano! Glad you are so happy and pleased. Please post pictures. We love looking at pianos

I just purchased a K-300 Aures a month ago and I've been really happy with it. The acoustic quality is quite good. I went from a Yamaha 1987 C2 to this upright. I really needed the silent feature to practice early in the morning and at night without disturbing my sleeping family. The Shigeru Kawai SK-EX sampling is really good.

After a month though, I will say I do already miss the grand acoustics and feel. May need to upgrade in a couple years!

thank you for sharing this!