Kawai ES-120 B

I signed up for an online piano course and needed a keyboard to get started. I was lost as to where to start, I did a lot of research and spoke to a few experts explaining what I was looking for, the Kawai was recommended as having one of the closest feel to a real piano in its price range. I listened to the sound of the instrument and I was hooked. The features were well in line with what I was looking for, I was not in the market for an electronic keyboard with hundreds of voices and songs etc. the kawai ES120 was enough to get me started and keep me entertained for a few years, it is not awash with features that would not only distract me but for which I had no need. Once I decided on the Kawai ES120 there was no turning back and I eventually purchased mine from Thomann music Germany. It’s a beautiful instrument , I like the feel of the keys and most importantly the sounds. The only negative I found is the included sustain pedal, I took care of this by purchasing a new third party pedal. The speakers sound great via my headsets however it’s not as loud as I would have liked directly through the speakers, this can be fixed by using external speakers and even an amp.

Am I happy with this purchase…YES INDEED. Highly recommended.

May not be the most relevant outlook since it's my first DP and I'm just a dabbler for now in the piano playground, but still: I picked this based on countless online reviews and opinions, the cornerstones being sound and key action (key noise also included here). These aspects are great in the Kawai (after purchase I also had the chance to briefly try Roland and Casio dp's at a local store and concluded that the Kawai stands strong against these). Key noise is somewhat noticeable even at medium volume but I gather this is common to all DP's and should not deter if you predominantly practice with headphones or at higher speaker volume (NB: headphone quality is crucial, I achieved the best sound with Shure 215, seconded by ath m50x, being somewhat miffed by the rather tinny sound of senn momentum's 3). Lastly, quick revert to key action: noticeably more responsive compared to Roland's slightly sluggish performance, which is significantly helpful for a beginner and also future proof for advanced techniques (highly recommend you take a look at pianoforever yt review to see how the main 3 contenders - kawai, yamaha, roland - in this dp category stand against each other).

I'm beginner looking for first piano (used to practice on MIDI keyboard). I really like this piano, the key action is brilliant I find it perfectly balanced not to light, not too heavy, sounds, build, design are great. The only criticism I have is that I wish the speakers were a bit more powerful with stronger bass (to be fair this only shows when you use it as Bluetooth speaker when you want to play along with some external song). However at this price none of the other pianos have better speakers and you can always plug it to some other speakers. If I had to buy a piano again, I would still go for this model. Absolutely recommended.