Kawai ES-110 B

I researched thoroughly this model before buying it, and I found several threads mentioning known issues with noisy and clicking keys. As the threads were a bit older, I decided to double check with Thomann "experts" who reassured me the issue was no longer present.

In just 3 months, with a very limited use (the piano is my second instrument and I barely play it), two keys already started presenting the issue, making a twice as loud (at least) noise when I play them.

I told Thomann I would rather return it and have a credit store I could use to buy a model from a different brand (I didn't even ask for the money back), especially considering that I bought it because their own team reassured me, but Thomann wasn't really helpful with this.

The piano sounds really good (at least the keys not affected) but do yourself a favor and buy a different model if you want to avoid issues, the key noise completely ruins the playing experience and forces me to play with headphones in order to avoid noticing it.

Very bad customer service from Thomann, I've been a customer since 2015 but I won't buy additional items from them.

This is my third purchase from Thomann and I do not regret for a minute choosing Thomann again! I was struggling basically between the Kawai ES-110 / Roland FP-30 and Yamaha P115, to use it at home as a backup to a guitar and up to a small band usage.

(the Yamaha can not be imported to my country so I've tried the P115 in a local music shop in Israel). I've read many reviews of these 3 digital Piano before ordering. The end result is the Kawai is the best for me of the three- since it wins at the best two important features on a piano:
1- Grand Piano sound and 2- The touch of the keys.
The Kawai ES-110 have the best touch sensitivity that resemble an acoustic piano (and have a very nice pedal that comes with it! ), of course it isn't an acoustic piano but it is very very close, and very surprising for me (I'm a guitar player not a pianist, and the feeling I'm actually playing an acoustic instrument is very realistic while I didn't expect this level for the price the 110 cost)- just to add that I've also tried the Yamaha P115 and the touch of the keys was not as good as the Kawai (As I understand, the Yamaha use two mechanism for all their models, while the P115 and the new P125 share the basic mechanism that is not as good as the Kawai. The Roland drooped from the list after very careful listening for it's sound- It's too 'sweet' for my taste and far from the Kawai and Yamaha 125 in my opinion.

So.. you ask where are the cons..? The Kawai 110 isn't the best instrument to operate regarding the other two mentioned, I mean in case I want to change the piano sound or any other feature, It is too clumsy operation... by using two buttons (one button and one key) pressed together. while the others can use simply a tablet with application. But it is only minor con from my concern.

I do recommend the Kawai ES-110 for any starting to semi-professional player, it does anything I expected from a digital piano - Great sound and feeling - and for a very reasonable price. Bravo,

Bought this piano mainly in order to have a proper weighted keyboard and this particular brand because it seems to be the only one on the market in this price range that has proper MIDI ins and outs.
Had the bad luck to receive one where one of the keys broke down after only a week but Thomann shipped a new one within days so nothing but praise there.
Although I work a lot with sample libraries of the real thing, I ended up using its own internal sound for recording. I would say that in my taste it's one of the best sounding pianos in this price range ever.
The only reason why I didn't give it 5 stars for sound is that the internal speakers are quite muddy and do not give actual sound a fair go. Feels like it's simply a matter of resonance from the plastic body that Kawai could have dealt easily with. Put on a pair of good headphones and the sound is on par with some of the past expensive sample libraries out there.
It's also worth noting that this piano has a nice full and rounded off sound. Not the typical bright rock style and that may not be everyone's cup of tea. In my world though, this piano is on par with the next price level above!

Now first of all, I don't particularly like digital pianos as they just don't feel and sound right. No matter what marketers tell you, digital pianos will be a compromise to play on, especially because of the action being different, and then I think the string resonance is just not there but there is definitely something missing, so if you can, by all means get a proper acoustic instrument, even some entry level one (good brand).

But for this value it's not really possible to get something that's actually good, and in the mean time if you are looking for a digital piano because you use it rarely, just want to play it at night and not fight with neighbours, or you're a beginner and not ready to commit, this is a great compromise for the price.
I am a beginner / very hobby player and my main instrument is violin so I just use the piano rarely, to find some melody, or for fun with headphones when it's too late to practice violin. This piano is quite perfect for this purpose.
I got this as a recommendation from pianoworld forums where it's considered one of the best cheap digital pianos (I think it was about 600 when I got it). So remember it is a compromise but if this is how much you can commit and want headphones play, this is definitely a good choice.
If you have at least, or more than 1000 then you can look for upgrades but at this moment under 1000 I'd still get this one.

For the record I used to have a similarly priced - 1000ish - Roland some years back and its sound was darker and less 'pianoish' (somewhat bright) so I prefer this to Roland, I think the sound of the Kawai is a bit more similar to Yamaha digital piano sound, also the action feels about similar quality and if possible this is slightly less noisy. So all in all a great purchase.