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The Kawai ES8 Digital Piano
The Kawai ES8 digital piano has all the 88 keys of the world-class Shigeru Kawai EX concert grand to make it the realistic playing experience one can have.
From its beautiful body down to its damper resonance, it comes with all the features one needs to begin practicing, may they be beginners or advanced pianists.
Precise Touch
One of the most notable features of the Kawai ES8 is its fantastic action. It’s not just your typical weighted action but comes with the hammer action that would change tension when you apply pressure to the keys.
You feel the engagement of the gamer action as you slowly stroke a key, and it would lightly pop back to place with definite thuds, just like how a hammer driven key would.
Sure, you can find digital pianos that claim to have hammer actions. However, they don’t deliver. This is where the Kawai ES8 stands out, making it a huge plus with its fantastic feel attracting advanced pianists.
A Heavy Hitter
While there are a few people, who are turned off by speakers on a keyboard. However, you’ll be surprised with how quality the ES8 sounds.
One shouldn’t be put off by its inbuilt speakers, as you will be able to see, or rather listen, and see the reason why it’s put there. It’s got the low-frequency response and the sparkling top end, making it feel like you have all the possibilities of creating incredible music.
The Kawai ES8 digital piano is a heavy hitter in its sound, making it fantastic music to the ears no matter where you take it.
Glossy and Beautiful Design
One of the first things you’ll notice about the Kawai ES8 digital piano is its elegant design. It has the glossy metal cabinet and long speaker grill, which is what offers the full sound that will boom across the whole house in a right way.
While the side panels are plastic, it won’t affect the keyboard’s sturdiness. It’s built with care and strength in mind. Once you sit down and begin playing, you can see that it’s made to last and with the quality, you need when practicing and performing.
However, it isn’t as portable as it claims to be, being almost 50 pounds and full-sized instruments with all the fancy features. But it IS compact enough to bring to different places as a gigging piano.
Responsive Hammer III Keybed
As for its sound and tone, you get the multiple velocities and the many modes to choose from when playing: All of them concert grands, gritty rock organs, or even bass and guitar.
You have the choice and can play according to what genre you plan to perform in, which is what makes the ES8 excellent for all pianists.
Almost a Century of Piano Expertise From Kawai
Kawai is known to be one of the most reputable companies producing quality keyboards. After all, they have been handcrafting amazing pianos for almost a century, using their knowledge and expertise to invent only the best digital pianos.
Because the ES8 comes from a family of quality acoustic pianos, you won’t be surprised that this digital piano sounds and feels just like the real thing.
- Speakers sound great and sound can be easily adjusted to your preference
- Comes with a handy recording function for practice
- Excellent sound quality that can be used for both practice and live performances
- Many ranges and modes to quickly adjust and set to
- It doesn’t come with Bluetooth connectivity
- Not as portable as it was stated to be, making transport difficult
Drawbacks
While the Kawai ES8 Digital Piano has many amazing features to benefit from, they still do have its drawbacks and things to improve on.
Also, I do wish that there was an ability to use Bluetooth connectivity to connect the piano to your smart devices. It will still require you to use cable wires to use the Virtual Technician app or to listen to your pieces via wired headphones.
My Verdict
Overall, the Kawai ES8 Digital Piano has impressed me. It’s got a stylish and glossy body, as well as excellent sounds at an affordable price. But is it worth the investment?
The answer is yes. One can say that this is one of the best digital pianos available under $2,000. Kawai has gone through great feats to reproduce the sound and feel of an acoustic piano, giving off the experience of playing a real grand.
However, there are still a few things to improve or add, such as the ability to connect via Bluetooth, and more tone weight reduction. But in spite of those small drawbacks, you won’t ask for anything more.