Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards buy now or wait -

Hello,

I need to upgrade my very old DP.

I was hoping to compare the Kawai ES 920 with the Yamaha P515, but of course everyone is basically out of stock.

I've recently found an in-stock ES 920 - if i don't get this now, in hopes of comparing it to a P515, am i likely to have to wait 6 months or more?

I've read through the forums and understand that these keyboards are both pretty similar, so i'd be willing to grab the Kawai if the consensus is that new Yamahas won't be available anytime in the near future.

thank you!

Who knows what future availability will be. The Yamaha and Kawai were in stock at stores in 2021 in Europe and the US, but not frequently.

I'm partial to the Kawai (as you can tell from my sig line) but from what I understand, they're both excellent pianos. If you need a piano now, I'd say pick one up. The Kawai is an excellent board. Hard to know whether you'd like the Yamaha better, but probably either is a big improvement over a "very old DP."

+1

ok, thanks.

Sweetwater website says that kawai has suspended production of the 920 until july 2022. Hopefully Yamaha is still trying to crank them out.

My dealer said that only Casio makes their own chips and does that in Japan. That's why they are still available in a lot of places when Kawai and Yamaha are not.

Well, that, and the fact that Casio is still trying to overcome their "toy" reputation. It's probably a corporate ego thing but I would have chosen a different name for the high-end products. Kind of like how "Lexus" is actually Toyota and "Acura" is actually Honda.

Ray

I have heard last week from dealer, that Yamaha is having a lot of trouble delivering instruments. Same goes for Kawai as they need some chips for their Digitals.

It doesn’t seem like much has changed since the beginning months of the pandemic. I ordered a Yamaha DYUS1, a YUS1 with Disklavier, in December of 2019.

When Yamaha realized that they could not meet their delivery schedule, they offered me an incredible deal to upgrade to a DYUS5 that was already in the US. When I said yes, they shipped the piano from California to New Jersey.

Japanese companies pride themselves on delivering on time and they take it seriously when they fail to meet their delivery schedules. I am one very happy customer. I got a piano that I did not think I could afford, and I absolutely love the instrument.

I recently sold my p515 that I owned for 3 years to get a es920. Es920 is much better sounding piano and key action, I’d get the es920

I somewhat agree with going for the Kawai. I compared the p515 with the ES8 ,and although the Yamaha had more features, the action and feel of the Kawai was better for me. However had a couple of issues with dead notes on the Kawai, remedied the first time by Kawai, but now out of warranty so living with the occasional silent note.So do not know if the ES920 resolved those keybed issues. ES8 and the ES920 are virtually the same except for the Bluetooth?

First off, welcome to the forum.

What is the manufacturing year of your ES8? Serial number should give a hint.

Is your silent note followed by a loud one? I had frequent loud notes with my ES8 and they were always preceded by a pause. After I replaced the contact strips AND updated to the last firmware version, the loud notes are gone (so far). What I could not get rid of is the damned clicks that bothered me by then (they still bother but I kind of learned to live with them ). Though I use my ES8 more often than my RD2000 out of sheer laziness (power on, wait three seconds and start playing), I am one that do not recomend Kawai because of my experience (also because of my location - long story but my previous experience with tech support wasn't exactly good). Apparently Kawai fixed the problem that caused the loud notes (probably the same that causes the silent ones in your case) by replacing the contact strips and the contact PCBs. AFAIK they are the same used in the ES 920 so in this regard probably is a safer purchase.

FWIW, here is the thread I created to record my work with ES8 guts.

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2796400/es8-opening.html

This might sound overly pessimistic, but how about this:

Buy now, you never know if you may see a tomorrow.

This ^^^^^^^
And for the same reason, eat dessert first!

As they say, there is no time like the present.

Well it looks like Kraft has the p515 in stock if anyone has been waiting.

Unfortunately my wife got Covid so I can’t go try out the kawai that’s in stock at a local store.

Doh!

I think that I speak for all in giving my prayers that she recovers quickly and fully. Please give us an update

Oh thank you! When I wrote that post she was already recovering. Of course I tested positive a few days later and recovering as well.
Ridley

So, I'm going to give my Aristotelian words of wisdom again lol:

- You only need air, water, and food to survive, so realistically speaking you don't need a digital piano

- Let's say P-515 is 10% or 20% better than ES920, so is it worth the wait? If so, then wait, if not then buy.

The only person who should make this decision is you! No one will ever tell you what to buy because if it ever happens that you don't like it, they will be at fault (which realistically is not true).

Do your research, make a decision and forget about the other one. Ignore the negative reviews here (like the ones I post) as well. Don't overthink!

I was in the same position six months ago. I wanted to compare the p515 to the es920 before deciding, but there were no floor samples anywhere. I had been watching the online dealers for a good six months with no luck, and when a few of the es920s became available at Kraft music, I decided to take the leap. I honestly don't like digital pianos of any kind. I live in an apartment and need one for silent practice. So the action is the most important criteria for me. I especially like the es920 action. It feels very realistic to me.

I also like its elegant looks and relatively light weight. The reduced weight has turned out to be a very positive feature for me... It's on a stand in the living room and needs to be put away when we have guests, and even at 36 lbs it feels like dragging a bear. I wouldn't want to have to move the 45 lb Yamaha that often.

It has a lot of features, and after six months I'm still experimenting with them. At some point I will post a complete review of my impressions over in the es920 owner's group, if you want to follow that, but for now suffice it to say that I don't regret ordering it online sight unseen. One benefit of not waiting any longer is that I could stop wasting time online obsessing over es920/p515 comparisons... :-)

Hi, sound of ES920 is great but there are two flaws loud keybed and quite boucy too. I sold it for Roland FP-90X whch the actions is imo much more superior and quiter.

If not in hurry, worth waiting for stock to arrive then try it first. All the best with purchase.

P.S: with or without headphone, the loud keybed is obvious.