15 Feb ROLAND DIGITAL PIANOS – REVIEW | 13 Models for 2023 | Update!
By: Professor Tim
Roland Digital Pianos | REVIEW | 13 models | 2023
Roland Digital Pianos | under $1000 to $10,000 | REVIEW | 13 models for 2023 | 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 13 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 latest releases 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 is just coming out now for 2023 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 along with the GP-9M model that has actual moving keys like a player piano which will move along (up & down) with MIDI song files playing from a USB thumb drive in the piano.
The new GP-6 and GP-9 digital grand models replace the former GP607 and GP609 which are now discontinued with a closeout sale going on them while they last. However, we would recommend you instead invest your money into the new digital grand models which are substantially better, especially with regard to key action and are worth the higher price if you want to keep it for a long time.
Roland GP609 Digital Grand Piano
The Roland top of the line digital grand pianos that are now discontinued and came out in 2017 are called the GP607 ($4999 store closeout price) which is a 3′ deep model and GP609 ($8999 store closeout price) which is a 5′ deep model.
Actually we liked the physical modeling piano sound chip in the previos GP607/GP609 digital grand pianos much better than the newer current upright style LX pianos, although the key action in the Roland LX706/LX708 is better than the regular PHA50 key action currently in the the GP607 and GP609. The PHA50 key action is not anywhere close to a “grand piano” key action. This is because the key action upgrades in the LX706 & LX708 upright models offers longer keys and more control than what is in the Grand pianos. The longer key “key action” is now in the new replacement models GP-6 and GP-9.
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 2022 in our opinion.
The HP704 sells in local Roland authorized piano stores at about $3750 (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 Roland DP603 in a very contemporary, unique cabinet with customer matching bench. But the Kiyola is quite a bit more money at $4899 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
The Roland HP704 – The Roland HP704 sells for about $3750 in Roland authorized piano stores and it is not available for sale at internet stores unlike digital pianos from the other major digital piano companies such as Yamaha, Kawai, Korg, Casio, and others. So that means you cannot buy a Roland HP, LX, or GP digital pianos on-line right now but only at local “brick & mortar” piano stores. In this day and age that is somewhat of a hassle as far as I am concerned, but that’s the way Roland wants to do it.
Nevertheless, I like the Roland HP704 in its price range for how it looks and how it plays as a piano overall. Is it the best digital piano in its price range? In my opinion the answer is…not necessarily. I personally like the new Yamaha Clavinova CLP-745 ($3799) and Kawai CA59 ($3799), and the Casio GP-310 ($4299) because they play and sound more realistic to me for piano sound, 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 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 ($1750) and F-701 ($1599) recently came out from the Roland company and have some nice upgrades from the previous models. However there are competitive models from Yamaha, Korg, and Casio out there so Roland needed to “up its game” with some RP and F series replacements this year in 2022.
Roland FP-90X Portable
Finally, Roland has 2 new higher end portable models between $1000 and $2500 called the FP-60X ($1249 price) and FP-90X at $2199 price. Both the FP-60X and FP-90X have internal speakers along with good key actions and piano sound chips. Both pianos are current models for 2022 and may be difficult to get for awhile because of product shortages do to Covid and computer chip shortages. This is also due to increased production costs, work restrictions, and shipping delays.
The FP-90X is the top of the line self-contained portable model for Roland and the newer FP-60X is the next one in the line and has a far different key action and piano sound engine 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
Although the FP-90X is a good piano, for $400 less I believe the newer Kawai ES920 portable digital piano at $1799 price for 2022 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 2023 and into 2024, I don’t expect to see any more 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
