01 May Top 10 Digital Pianos Under $2000 – REVIEW | May 2023 Update!
By: Professor Tim
Top 10 Digital Pianos Under $2000 – REVIEW | May 2023 | LOWER PRICE HERE – The pianos we talk about here are current 2023 model digital pianos. When we here at Digital Piano Expert review different pianos and say that they are current 2023 models, you can trust that we actually know what we are talking about.
We play those pianos personally and we evaluate them so that you can rely and trust what we say about them. There are a lot of very good new digital pianos out there for near or under $2000 including home furniture style upright pianos, semi-portables, and portable digital pianos.
This review contains the top 10 best recommended digital pianos under $2000 for 2023 that we believe will fill a number of needs that piano shoppers are looking for.
This is not an exhaustive review because there are actually a few more than 10 good digital pianos choices available under $2000. But we have put together this list to give you a good starting place for the popular models when shopping for a nice, reliable digital piano in this price range.
There are also new digital pianos in this price range that we DO NOT recommend because there are some brands that look good on the outside but are definitely not so good on the inside when it comes to the piano playing experience in our opinion.
Some of the models and brands we do not recommend (for a variety of reasons) include Williams, Artesia, Donner, Alesis, Suzuki, Kurzweil, and a few others, so be careful out there. Take a look below at our 10 Top digital piano recommendations under $2000 for 2023. These 10 pianos are not necessarily in any particular order, they are just different and unique in their own ways.
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Yamaha CLP-725 Digital Piano at $1999 internet price | This “entry level” Clavinova model for 2023 is a solid piano for someone who mainly wants to play piano and get a realistic piano playing experience in this price range. It has Yamaha’s latest stereo piano sound engine, redesigned and improved piano key action, improved piano pedal response for more control, and a reasonably good internal speaker system although we would have preferred something even better for this model as it is limited to just 40 watts of power going through 2 smaller speakers.
This instrument is fairly intuitive to use especially because of Yamaha’s proprietary “Smart Pianist controller app” that can be used on an iPad. Even for people with little experience on a digital piano the basic Yamaha control panel on the piano and the assistance of the app to control the piano from your color touch screen on your iPad is fairly intuitive.
It has some of useful “bells & whistles” on it. but not a lot. It has 10 instrument sounds with 2 of them being the main stereo acoustic piano sounds which are very good. It has a basic 2-track MIDI recorder which can record, play, and store just one song, whereas most other digital pianos in this price range can record, playback, and store multiple songs. The recorder is good, does the job for piano practice…but is limited otherwise. The CLP-725 has 256-note piano polyphony chip, responsive weighted, a new all redesigned graded key action with 3-sensor electronics for faster repetition response along with synthetic ivory & ebony key-tops.This new key action also offers a much better key movement than any of the Yamaha Arius series digital pianos.
The CLP-725 comes in 2 attractive cabinet colors which are matte black and matter rosewood which is beautiful. Since this piano just came out and is very popular there will likely be inventory shortages on it because of reduced factory output due to Covid restrictions. So if you want one you’ll need to get in line and reserve your today. If you want more info on this model then check out my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano REVIEW at the following link: Yamaha Clavinova CLP-725 Review
– Korg G1B Air Digital Piano at $1999 internet price | This model is Korg’s best selling digital piano and their top-of-the-line home digital piano right now and we highly recommend it. The Korg company has been producing high quality digital pianos in Japan for over 30 years and this model is the latest incarnation of Korg’s top-of-the-line home piano technology that focuses squarely on the piano playing experience.
The G1 Air comes in 3 cabinet colors and bench is optional. The most surprising thing about these pianos is how big and full they sound for their compact size. In fact when you play this piano you’ll think you’re playing a real baby grand piano because it just sounds so rich and resonate coming through it’s 4-way stereo speaker system with an astounding 80 watts of power.
The G1 Air also has some cool, usable technology features such as Bluetooth audio reception and USB connectivity. But what really makes this piano stand out and sets it apart from most of the others under $2000 is how good the weighted-graded key action feels and how natural the stereo piano sound and piano sustained tones are when you play and hear it.
We recommend this G1 Air to anyone who wants an inspiring piano to play with a minimalist look but yet elegant in design. For a more thorough and detailed REVIEW of the Korg G1 Air please click (touch) the following link which will give you more info on the Korg G1 Air: Korg G1 Air Review
– Kawai KDP120 Digital Piano – $1499 price – Review | This impressive model is Kawai’s most competitive new digital piano under $2000. This is because of Kawai’s proprietary key action movement. The KDP120 has impressive stereo piano sound sampling and smooth sustain decay time and tone. The keys in this key action are designed to move quickly and lightly rather than be too heavy and uncomfortable to play. The KDP120 has a minimalist control panel and design and looks very much like a smaller acoustic piano.
The KDP120 does have some additional instrument tones which are quite good and a few other cool features along with a simply designed control panel. But this instrument’s primary purpose is for piano playing. There are other good brands out there under $2000 price range and many of them I like.
But in terms of a more advanced, natural playable piano style key action with 3 key sensors per key, a responsive and comfortable key action is the most important thing to get in a new digital piano in my opinion and it’s hard to beat this model in this under $2000 price range. With 40 watts of power going into 2 speakers, this model has plenty of volume to fill up a good size room. I like the key action in this model much better than what Roland or Yamaha has to offer, although the Casio key action in its popular model in a similar price range is also impressive.
– Casio PX-S3100 at $879 internet price is new technology for Casio in this low price range. The top of this portable piano is completely flat except for a large round low profile volume knob. All of the functions use a touch sensor surface under the control panel to activate instrument sounds and other features.
The hi-gloss smooth top of the piano makes this instrument look sleek and modern and the PX-S3100 comes alive when you power it up and then are able to see all the many functions and features offered in this model.
Casio has also redesigned the key action so it feels great with good balance, key response and key weight, along with improved piano sound chip, more robust internal speaker system, and other functions which makes this new model much more sophisticated in giving you a noticeably more authentic piano playing experience as compared with previous models. The PX-S3100 is just 25 lbs and even works on 6 double A batteries so you can easily take it anywhere and use it without having to plug it in. Take it to the mountains, to the beach, to the park, anywhere you want and you can play this new digital piano and it still sounds great.
Also, you can use a new proprietary app on your iPad or Android tablet that Casio created which makes it incredibly easy to use all the features in this model that the piano touch screen cannot access without needing to use the function button and certain key presses on the piano. The proprietary app that Casio designed is called Casio Music Space and it’s pretty amazing because the app allows you to control the PXS3100 features in a very intuitive way. There are even educational music playing games in the app along with other useful content. We highly recommend this new model because it has hundreds of interactive “fun features” that can actually make you sound way better than you really are and help you to become a better musician!
With impressive piano sound, key action, pedaling, and internal sound along with hundreds of instrument sounds and interactive arrangement styles, this portable piano may be the perfect instrument for you! There’s even an optional furniture stand and triple pedal unit available at an extra cost.
Kawai ES920– Kawai ES920 digital piano at $1899 is a newer model and replaced the highly successful and very popular ES8 which was known as the premier instrument in its price range under $2000 for a Kawai portable digital piano since it came out a few years ago. The new ES920 has an even more realistic organic stereo grand piano sound along with a key action that plays like “butter” and its pedaling sustain response is excellent.
Not only that, but this piano is quite versatile in its ability to be taken off its optional stand and put on a portable metal stand and played it that way with a single sustain pedal because it only weighs 37 lbs but produces a beautiful piano tone because of its advanced sound and sampling technology. This ES920 is a very popular model in homes, schools, universities, churches, studios, and other popular venues just as the previous ES8 was.
It’s a great choice whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced piano player because the ES920 does such a great job in making you feel like you’re playing a real high quality acoustic piano.
Kawai ES920 Digital Piano Control PanelThis instrument is fairly intuitive to use, even for people with little experience on a digital piano because the control panel has direct access buttons to select the many features this piano has to offer including the sounds, transpose, rhythms, metronome, and recording features, along with displaying info on a new and easy to read OLED display screen. The reason a person would want this instrument is for its versatility in offering a contemporary compact cabinet available in either black or white that can look good in its optional cabinet or be played independently as a portable digital piano.
It has enough exciting digital technology to keep you busy including Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and provides an extremely satisfying piano playing experience that in our opinion is superior to any other self-contained, compact, and portable digital piano out there including the newer Roland FP-90X at $2199. In our opinion the Kawai ES920 is more authentic as far as the “piano playing experience goes compared to any other brand and model of portable digital piano we have played under $2000…and we have played them all including Yamaha, Roland, Casio, and others.
Korg LP-380U at $1349 price is a compact contemporary digital piano with a really nice feeling key action and good key balance and weight along with a number of great features, including a convincing grand piano sound. But what really sets this piano apart from all the others under $1500 is how big and full the sound is coming out of this smaller cabinet. By looking at the model you would think from its minimalist design that it might have a smaller piano sound. However, the internal speaker system that is housed in a separate acoustically tuned speaker box underneath the keyboard is very impressive and the sound coming out is like nothing else you have heard or will hear under $1500.
The Korg LP-380U Air normally comes in 3 cabinet colors which include matte black, rosewood, and matte white. This model also includes a variety of acoustic piano sounds, strings, organs, harpsichord, guitar, vintage electric pianos and more. But what this piano is really all about is “playing piano” and if that’s what you are looking to do then in our opinion you cannot miss with the KorgLP-380U digital piano, both for looks and performance, especially the realistic key action “feel and response” in this model along with good pedal response. Plus…the key cover closed up flat giving this model a very compact look and you can even put things on top of it if you wish.
– Casio AP-470 Celviano digital piano | $1699 internet price | This model is Casio’s most popular home digital piano for those people who want a more upscale traditional cabinet along with big, resonate piano sound, and the latest digital interactive technology. The AP-470 is focused mostly on piano playing and it all comes out of a 4 built-in speaker system going through 40 watts of power and it has a very wide dynamic tonal range when playing the responsive AP-470 key action.
The response of the piano type key action feels good under the fingers and the piano sound is resonate with better pedal sustain response than previous models. The piano control panel is minimal giving the AP-470 a more understated appearance which many people like to have. The AP-470 comes in 3 cabinet colors including matte black, walnut wood, and white. All cabinet color options include matching height-adjustable padded benches. The AP-470 also comes with a strong factory 5-year warranty including in-home service which is very unusual in this price range.
Casio also has a proprietary app for their AP-470 digital piano which is called “Casio Music Space” for piano. This iPad or Android app is designed to compliment the operation of the piano because although the piano itself can control the functions in the piano, some of those functions are not easy to navigate or to use that way, which is true of other digital pianos like the Yamaha YDP-165.
The Casio Music Space controller app allows you to control most of the very cool functions & features in the piano directly from your tablet device. As far as a comparison goes for digital pianos that focus mostly on the piano playing experience, the most popular digital piano under $2000 for Yamaha is the new YDP-165 which I talked about earlier, and the most popular digital piano for Casio is this AP-470.
Comparing the two together, although both pianos have good digital features, apps, and both have 40 watts of audio power, the Yamaha GH3 key action is noticeably firmer & heavier than the Casio AP-470 key action which can create hand, wrist, and finger fatigue after playing a while. It takes a lot more effort to press down the keys on the Yamaha than on the Casio and this true for many of the Yamaha pianos in the Arius series of pianos including the top-of-the-line YDP-184.
Most good acoustic pianos I have played have a medium to medium-light key action in terms of key-weight but the Yamaha is noticeably more firm/heavy. Some people may like this but most people will not based on our experience. So when it comes to key action movement, key-touch weight, and balance, I personally prefer the Casio AP-470 over the Yamaha YDP-165 and the other Yamaha Arius models for this reason alone, plus a couple of other good reasons…but both brands are well built.
– Yamaha YDP-145 digital piano at $1299 internet price is Yamaha’s newer compact contemporary furniture cabinet digital piano and is a newer entry for them. The YDP-145 comes in either a matte black or matte rosewood finish. This piano uses the GHS standard key action which is found in the low priced Yamaha portable piano models P-45 and P-125.
Overall I do like this model and it has some useful features including the Yamaha proprietary app for iOS and Android tablets called Smart Pianist which allows you to control the piano functions in a much more intuitive way. The is the same app that controls the other Yamaha models such as the YDP-165 as I previously mentioned. However, the smaller internal speaker system is fairly weak in this model at just 16 watts of total power. So I was a bit disappointed in that way because it makes the piano sound more artificial and tinny, although for some people this many not necessarily be an issue.
The YDP-145 is a good price point at $1299 in that it looks attractive, plays more like a piano than some other models, and has some compelling digital features. Yamaha is a well recognized brand which builds reliable products and this model is no exception. However, when compared with the very popular Casio PX-870 at $1199, the Casio has a much more natural key action movement in my opinion, has a more robust speaker system with 4 speakers going into 40 watts of total power along with offering audio wav file recording & playing, as well as other useful features which I talk about below.
– Casio PX-870 digital piano at $1199 internet price has been the most popular and successful furniture cabinet digital piano ever under $1200. This because it offers what is considered to be the most realistic piano playing experience you can get in its price range for a furniture cabinet digital piano. It has the highest rated internal speaker system with 40 watts of power going through 4 speakers which is very powerful in this lower price range.
With 256-notes of polyphony note processing power, simulated ivory & ebony key-tops, a 3-senor responsive key action with a noticeably natural piano-weighted key action that moves better and quicker than most of the other brands in this price range, the PX-870 is really in a class all by itself for under $1200 . The PX-870 also offers audio wav file recording so you can record and save your playing onto a USB flashdrive which can be inserted into the piano. No other model can do that in this price range.
Although the PX-870 has a simple, easy-to-use control panel, the functions and features can also be controlled better and more intuitively with a proprietary app for iOS & Android devices (tablets, iPhone, etc) called “Casio Music Space” so you can trigger the functions in the piano from your device color touch screen. This kind of interface makes the piano much more enjoyable and more intuitive to play and use.
The PX-870 comes in 3 color choices including matte black, matte walnut wood-tone, and matte snow white. With a nice cabinet design, enjoyable key action feel, stereo acoustic piano sound, responsive pedaling, and other great features including some very natural string symphony, harpsichord, and organ sounds, the PX-870 is hard to beat in this price range. For more thorough and detailed review of the Casio PX-870, please click (touch) the following link which will take you to our other website where we do more detailed reviews of digital pianos: Casio PX-870 Review
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