30 Jan Yamaha Digital Pianos Under $1000 – REVIEW | 4 Models for 2023
By: Professor Tim
Yamaha Digital Pianos Under $1000 – REVIEW for 2023 | LOWER PRICES HERE
The Yamaha piano company has 4 mainstream models of digital pianos under $1000 which are are all portable and called the DGX-670, P-125, P-121, and P-45.
Yamaha is famous worldwide for making impressive acoustic and digital pianos and has been doing it for many decades. They are headquartered in Japan and have been there in business since the early 1887 which is well over 100 years. These digital piano models under $1000 are competitive and offer some up-to-date digital music technology. Take a look below.
Yamaha P-45 Digital Piano
$549 internet price
Yamaha has had this entry level 88-key weighted key action digital piano out for quite a few years now and and although it is overall a good digital piano, the competition seems to be offering a lot more for the money in this same price range including Casio, Korg, and Roland. The Korg B2 at $549 is especially popular right now and far exceeds the P-45 in terms of piano sound, key action, and pedaling. Check out our review of that model on this blog.
Yamaha needs to make changes here to this model and we see that happening perhaps in 2023 because if it does not then Yamaha is mostly hoping their good name carries this instrument further down the field. But once someone hears and plays the other $549 – $649 models out there, like the Korg B2 at $599 and new Casio PX-S1100 at $699, there’s little reason to buy a much older P-45 in our opinion.
Yamaha P-121 Digital Piano
$630 internet price
(shown with optional furniture stand & triple pedal unit) – The Yamaha P-121 came out about 4 years ago and is a smaller 73-key version of their popular P125 88-key weighted key action digital piano. Having all the same features as the P-125 and the same internal speakers system, the reason this model exists is because some people who travel a lot and want to practice piano while they are traveling or just want to use a shorter keyboard digital piano would buy something like the P-121. Other digital piano companies in this price range don’t make a shorter weighted keyboard action digital piano so this model is really the main option for that.
Some musicians might not be playing full 88-key classical or traditional piano style where they don’t need all 88 keys. So this model serves a purpose of having the same features as the 88-key portable digital piano P-125 without taking up as much space.
Some people like this option and it’s a good idea, but I would never recommend it for anything other than for those reasons. The problem is, once you buy this model then if you ever play a song that requires more than 73 keys, which the bulk of traditional or classical piano music does, then your stuck. It doesn’t sound like much of a difference in keys because it’s literally 15 notes (a little over 1 octave) but it can and does make a difference for a lot of music when you play it. This model also has an optional furniture stand and triple pedal unit available if you should need it.
The P-121 does sound good and the internal speaker system is more than adequate to handle the piano sound. The key action is the Yamaha GHS (standard) and it’s fine but when you go up in price these key actions can get a lot more realistic. I much prefer the key action in the new Korg B2…very responsive and very quiet with regard to the up & down key action movement.
Yamaha P-125 Digital Piano
$699 internet price
The P-125 has been out for a few years but is still new enough that we see this model continuing through 2022 with no changes. The P-125 has what a lot of people expect out of Yamaha in this price range for an 88-key GHS weighted key action model which has their 192-note polyphony piano sound chip.
The P-125 does have a satisfying stereo piano sound, a total of 24 nice instrument sounds accessed from buttons on the front panel and the ability to layer or split any tow of those sounds, some basic accompaniments with drum and bass patterns, a 2-track digital MIDI recorder, digital metronome, transpose feature, reverb sound effects, and electronic key touch sensitivity control and all being powered by a 14 watt internal sound system going through 4 speakers.
The P125 is lightweight at just 26 lbs and has good connectivity features including auxiliary outputs, and USB connectivity all in a compact cabinet. The P-125 does not have any Bluetooth wireless connectivity or audio input but it does have a proprietary app called Smart Pianist which can be used on an iPad (mobile or tablet) which allows you to control the P-125 from the color touch screen of your external device.
This app is pretty cool and fun to use and also has some other features in it that the piano itself does not have. As I mentioned earlier, all the features, functions, GHS key action, sound system, etc in the P-125 are in the 73-key version P-121.
Yamaha DGX-670 Digital Piano
$849 internet price
The Yamaha DGX-670 in 2023 which comes in either matte black or white finish has been very popular since it came out in 2020. It replaces the prior successful DGX660 which has been out for a few years.
The DGX-670 has a ton of interactive bells & whistles” on it with over 600 instrument sounds, 263 drum rhythms /accompaniment styles, a huge 16-track MIDI recorder/player, audio recorder, a microphone input with voice effects controls, and lots of sound layering/editing features. It’s basically a P125 on steroids for just $200 more.
The DGX670 also has a proprietary color LCD graphic display screen which displays all functions and features you’ve selected in the piano so that you can easily see what you’re doing. The display screen gives this model away in terms of when you look at it you know it’s a DGX-670 by that screen and the layout of the panel & buttons. It has a bunch of built in songs and displays notation sheet music in the display screen of those songs although the notes are small and a bit difficult to see, but at least they are there.
The DGX670 has a lot of features in it including some music education song instruction with follow-along music and that’s the reason someone would want this model, because it’s like having a 1-man band and little recording and learning studio at your fingertips along with many other musical things that you can do. The piano weighs 47 pounds so it’s not as light as the 26 lb P-125 not is it near as compact. The DGX-670 is meant to be played at home or similar environment and has 2 x 6 watt speakers (12 watts total) going through 4 smaller speakers.
The volume on this model is loud enough for most rooms although I would have preferred more audio power in this model. There is a nice optional stand and triple pedal unit for the DGX -670 at an additional cost.
There is no doubt this model is a lot of fun to play and you can also play regular piano on it just like the P-125 because it has the same GHS key action and same 192-polyphony sound chip. We expect this model to go on through 2023 and beyond because it is new with new sound technology in it.
Other than the Casio PX-S3100 and the newer Korg XE20, there is no other digital piano in this price range from the other brands that does what this Yamaha DGX-670 can do as far as all the interactive accompaniments, recording, and digital features.
