01 Jun ROLAND DIGITAL PIANOS – REVIEW | 15 Models for 2025 | Update!
By: Professor Tim
Roland Digital Pianos | REVIEW | 15 models | 2025
Roland Digital Pianos HP702, HP704, LX705, LX706, LX708, GP3, GP6, GP9, GP9M | REVIEW | 15 models for 2025 | LOWER PRICES ON NEW DIGITAL PIANOS!
Roland has been designing & producing 88 piano weighted key action digital pianos for many decades. Roland is a Japanese company that has been well known for their impressive digital piano technology for home digital pianos, portable digital pianos, and also for professional stage digital pianos used on stage, in recording studios, and for other related purposes.
In this review I am concentrating on the Roland furniture cabinet 88-key piano piano weighted key action digital pianos (with internal speakers) and also 88-key portable digital pianos with optional furniture cabinet type stands & triple pedal units all of which can serve a purpose depending on your musical needs and budget.
Roland has approx 15 different models of these 88 key home and portable digital pianos right now (excluding pro stage models without internal speakers) which are all current models. The current models include the HP & LX series of home furniture cabinet upright style digital pianos called the HP702, HP704, LX705, LX706, and LX708.
Those HP & LX models came out some years ago from a few years ago so don’t have Roland’s latest sound and key action technology. Roland has a new GP digital grand piano series that has recently come out for 2025 and does have their latest digital piano sound and key action technology in them.
The digital grand pianos include the new GP-3 micro grand, GP-6 mini grand, and GP-9 acoustic baby grand size. Also, a new full size GP-9M digital grand with actual moving keys like a player piano just came out. The keys will move along (up & down) with MIDI song files playing from a USB thumb drive in the piano. The GP9M sells on-line for $19,000 so it’s definitely “not cheap.” Is it worth its high price when you can get the same model without the moving key system for $8000 less? We don’t think so!
The new GP-6 and GP-9 digital grand models replace the former GP607 and GP609 which are now discontinued.
UPDATE: June 1, 2025 – Roland has replaced their previous LX series upright digital pianos (LX705, LX706, LX708) with new models called the LX5, LX6, and LX9. There have been a few improvements in these new models and are available at Roland piano stores and online at new prices. We have played the new Roland digital pianos and will have our review of these new models up soon. In the meantime, this review has the discontinued LX series and the still current HP models at their online prices. We can also help you get any of the new Roland models at lower prices than the current internet discount prices.
Roland Digital Grand Piano
Roland Digital Pianos
REVIEW
We believe that the Roland HP-704 home furniture cabinet digital piano is definitely the “sweet spot” in the entire new line of Roland pianos. It has the looks, the sound, the key action, and the functionality that make it a winner as compared to all of the other Roland digital pianos currently being offered for 2025 in our opinion.
The HP704 sells in local Roland authorized piano stores at about $2999 (plus tax, plus shipping, etc), so it’s in a reasonable price range like a few other top brands. Roland also has a unique model called “Kiyola” KF-10 which only has limited availability in the US at one outlet called by the acronym MoMa. But that one is definitely way overpriced in our opinion.
Essentially the Kiyola is a more basic version of the prior Roland DP603 in a very contemporary, unique cabinet with customer matching bench. But the Kiyola is quite a bit more money at $5499 and definitely not worth that premium cost in our opinion. That’s probably why no Roland piano store dealer sells it except for MoMa, Museum of Modern Art in New York. Go to the following link to read more about the new HP, LX, and older GP models: Detailed Review of Roland HP, LX, & GP digital pianos
Roland HP704
Roland HP704
The Roland HP704 currently sells for $2999 on-line discount price. I like the Roland HP704 in its price range for how good it looks and how it plays as a piano overall. It is an impressive instrument for all the features & functions it has, but is it the best digital piano in its price range? In my opinion the answer is…not necessarily. I also like the Yamaha Clavinova CLP-835 ($2999) and Kawai CA401 ($3099) because they play and sound very good for piano sound, responsive piano key action, and pedaling along with more upgraded internal speaker systems. Check out my reviews of those pianos on this web site.
Roland RP-701
Roland RP-701
Roland has a lower line of digital pianos under $2000 which I talk about here and those pianos are available for purchase on the internet. The RP-701 ($1759) and F-701 ($1649) have some nice upgrades from the previous models. However there are competitive models from Yamaha, Kawai, Korg, and Casio out there so Roland needed to “up its game” with some RP and F series replacements this year in 2025.
Roland FP-90X Portable
Roland FP-90X Portable
Finally, Roland has 2 portable models between $1000 and $2500 called the FP-60X ($1099 price) and FP-90X at $2299 price. Both the FP-60X and FP-90X have internal speakers along with good key actions and piano sound engines. Both pianos are current models for 2025.
The FP-90X is the top of the line self-contained portable model for Roland and the FP-60X is the next one in the line and has a far different key action and piano sound engine which is not near as good as compared to the higher priced FP-90X. Below the portable Roland FP-60X is the portable FP-30X, the compact “cabinet style” RP701, F701, RP-107, and F-107. So Roland does have quite a few models to choose from.
Kawai ES920
Kawai ES920
Although the FP-90X is a good piano, for $100 less I believe the newer Kawai ES920 portable digital piano at $1899 price for 2025 is the better, more realistic digital piano. In our experienced opinion this model offers a more organic piano playing experience with a more piano-like key action and more natural stereo acoustic piano sound. You might want to check out the new Kawai ES920 before you consider ordering the Roland FP-90X. When it comes to the Roland digital pianos for the rest of 2025, I don’t expect to see many changes.
There are a few models I definitely would like to see get upgraded from what they are now including their LX home upright pianos because the “physical modeling” piano sound chip/engine in those pianos just sounds much too artificial and “digital” for my tastes, and I hope that Roland can improve those pianos in that way, especially since they are their newer cabinet models.
Generally speaking I really do like the Roland digital pianos and their technology in a few of the models they have, but some of the “other guys” out there are giving them a big run for their money so Roland definitely needs to keep working hard to stay up with their competition and upgrade some of their deficiencies concerning the sound chip/engine in the LX models.
Lower price than Amazon or Internet
