Kawai ES110 Digital Stage Piano features 88 grade-weighted keys, advanced resonance effects, built-in Bluetooth connectivity. The lightweight, portable stage piano offers great value for money and is suitable for gigging musicians and is also perfect for practice at home. It doesn’t come with an LCD screen but has useful features that makes it a worthy buy. [easyazon_link identifier=”B01N7WBESD” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]See PRICE on Amazon[/easyazon_link].
Kawai ES110 Digital Piano: Pros & Cons
- Pros: Great Piano sounds. Built-in speakers. Bluetooth MIDI interface. Classic Kawai grand piano tone. Great feeling action. Surprisingly lightweight for the key bed. Stereo line output.
Made for the gigging pianist. Its extremely portable and well suited for live use. Suitable for the lounge, bedroom, or stage. Light enough to be carried around the home, school, or place of worship with comfortable ease.
- Cons: No USB. Limited sound options. You won’t get a wide range of synth and organ sounds. The user interface is basic, which means you may have to press a few buttons before accessing the desired feature. It also doesn’t come with a a digital display. The digital piano stand that comes with it is okay (not the best piece of furniture).
Kawai ES110 Digital Piano: Review
The ES110 digital piano from Kawai is the latest addition (replaces the previous model Kawai ES100) to Kawai’s highly acclaimed portable digital pianos, known for their authentic keyboard action and piano sound technologies in a lightweight design.
Kawai produces beautiful playing and sounding pianos, and this applies to their digital piano as well. The Kawai ES series is one of their more popular series for digital pianos. These don’t take up as much space as a real grand piano, and costs lower than an upright or a grand, yet still offers the playability and sound that you would expect from Kawai. The new Kawai ES110 digital is no exception.
Let’s take a closer look at the piano!
Compact & Lightweight
The Kawai ES110 is compact and slim, with a depth of only 28 cm. And although the piano has a completely plastic housing (applicable to most pianos in this price range), it still looks robust and expensive.
The slightly rounded surface and the curved sides gives the compact piano a modern touch.
This model weighs only 12 kg (3 Kg less than its predecessor), which makes the ES110 easy to transport and can also be used as a stage-piano.
Control panel
The control panel is located on the top left of the Kawai ES110. Its allows you to quickly access important functions and allows you to quickly switch between the eight piano sounds, five e-pianos and six more sounds.
The control panel is simple and well laid out, just press a button to select the various sounds.
Besides the volume fader, there are eight push-buttons to make various selections. More selection can be done through combinations of the control knobs and certain keys on the keyboard, or even by using the app (more on this later).
This piano does not come with a display (common on most entry level digital pianos).
It also comes with Rec and Play / Stop buttons to record and play back songs as well as to perform piano exercises via the “Lesson mode”.
Comes with built-in speakers
The ES110 comes with new loudspeakers, located on the underside of the case. They radiate the sound downwards, yet sounds quite right and defined.
The speakers are sufficiently powerful – for practicing and for playing at home operation. The sound is good through the speakers, but sounds better through good quality headphones and external loudspeakers/amplifiers.
The speakers can also be switched off, which is a useful feature when using the line output on the stage.
The keyboard also has a Speaker EQ (with three EQ presets) that allows you to alter the sound a bit if you wish (because of the downward facing speakers). The adjusted EQ also affects the line output.
Bluetooth MIDI
The built-in Bluetooth MIDI interface (can be activated via a key combination) allows the Kawai ES110 to be connected to compatible devices to transfer MIDI commands wirelessly (no wires/cables).
Surprisingly, Kawai’s free “Virtual Technician” app uses this feature to let you make exact adjustments to intonation, hammer and damper noise, etc. via the iPad.
Note: As of now, the app only works with iPad, not iPhone.
Sounds
The Kawai ES110 sounds like an actual piano and produces a realistic tone across the entire 88-note range.
Eight sounds are available in the piano section (can be quickly accessed by pressing the dedicated piano buttons). The first preset, “Concert Grand 1”, is based on samples from the Kawai EX wing. All piano sounds are beautiful.
The 192 note polyphony allows you to smoothly play complex chords, with lot of pedals.
On this model, you can also change settings for damper noise, and other parameters. Its possible to influence the sounds and resonances of hammer mechanics, strings and dampers (although to a limited extent) – there are only three levels for the settings.
With an iPad, these settings can be easily made via the Kawai app “Virtual Technician”.
Besides, the acoustic piano sounds, you have the e-piano section (Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and DX-E piano) and have strings.
You can also split and layer the sounds.
It may seem that the Kawai ES 110 offers a smaller selection of sounds (compared to its competitors) but the sounds are sufficient and they all sound good.
Keyboard Action
The Kawai ES110 may not have the wooden keys and long pivot motion of the Kawai MP11, but its not as expensive either. This model offers a very realistic graded weighted hammer action that will suit any beginner and even experienced players (for practicing). In the treble, the stop is slightly lighter than in the bass range.
The keys are heavy and you can actually feel the the hammers strike as you press the keys. It feels like a real piano. In fact, the new keyboard is what takes the biggest share of the (low) weight of this piano.
The keyboard lacks a clearly noticeable pressure point, but then you get those only on the higher-priced digital pianos. However, this is not exactly a negative, considering the price of this piano.
More functions
You can layer two sounds or split the keyboard into two areas (you cannot change the split point though, but you can adjust the volume of the two sounds).
Just as its predecessor, there are four storage locations for registrations (sufficient for a digital piano) to store your personal favorite settings.
5-pin DIN MIDI connectivity, Bluetooth MIDI options, line and headphone outputs makes it a complete digital piano with great features.
The built-in lesson function, with adjustable metronome and song recorder, is an invaluable tool for aspiring pianists, while additional instrument voices.
Live players will appreciate dedicated Line Out jacks for sound reinforcement, while integrated Bluetooth and standard MIDI ports ensure flexibility when connecting with smart devices, computers, and other instruments.
KAWAI ES110 vs ES100 Comparison
The Kawai ES110 includes a better keyboard, has more sound related settings, comes with a Bluetooth MIDI interface. You can also use the keyboard via a tablet or smartphone using an app.
The KAWAI ES110 has a few improvements over the outgoing ES100 digital piano:
- ES110 has more voices
- ES110 is lighter in weight
- The ES110 has the RHC action, which is better than the AHA IV-F action on ES100
Kawai ES110 Digital Piano: DEMO / Video Review
Competition Check
Here are a few portable digital pianos that you may consider, besides the Kawai ES-110.
Roland FP-30 and Yamaha P-115 are the options that are priced near to the Kawai ES-110. However, there are many who rate the keyboard action of the Kawai ES-110 and the Roland FP-30 better than the Yamaha P-115. Its really a close call between the Kawai and the Roland.
- [easyazon_link identifier=”B00VIFM5PY” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Yamaha P115[/easyazon_link]
- [easyazon_link identifier=”B01B3FBDC4″ locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Roland FP30[/easyazon_link]
- [easyazon_link identifier=”B00B67OPPW” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Korg SP-280[/easyazon_link]
- [easyazon_link identifier=”B01N7WBESD” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″ cart=”n”]Kawai ES-110[/easyazon_link]
Kawai ES110 Digital Piano: Specs
Here are the key features / technical specs of the Kawai ES110 digital piano.
- Harmonic Imaging Sound Technology
- 88-Key Piano Sampling
- Responsive Hammer Compact Action, 88 Weighted Keys
- 19 Sounds, Including 8 Exceptional Piano Sounds
- 192-Note Polyphony
- Built-in Stereo Speaker System
- Bluetooth MIDI
- Dual and Split Keyboard Modes
- Built-in Alfred Piano Lessons
- Damper Pedal with Half-Dampering
- Available in Black and White finishes
- Optional – Matching, designer stand and triple pedal bar/assembly accessories available
- Weight: 12 kilograms (26.5 lbs.)
You get the following with the Kawai ES110 Portable Stage Digital Piano:
- Music Rest
- Power Adaptor & Owner’s Manual
- F-10H Sustain pedal – (with half-pedal support)
Kawai ES110 Digital Piano: Buying Links & Pricing
Kawai ES110 has plenty of features, nice action and sounds, and is available at a reasonable price that will appeal to wide range of players. The Kawai ES110 is a good entry-level digital piano, with good sounds and a good price-performance ratio. In case, you were thinking of a Casio or a Yamaha, do consider this model as well. If you are looking for a simple, yet solid, entry-level digital piano for your home (or even for the stage), the Kawai ES110 is a worthy contender.
- [easyazon_link identifier=”B01N7WBESD” locale=”US” tag=”keytarhq04-20″]Buy on Amazon[/easyazon_link] | Buy on zZounds | Buy on Guitarcenter
The Kawai ES110 offers an unbeatable piano experience in a low cost keyboard instrument. Have any views on this piano? Please share it below.
Kawai Official Website
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Has anyone played/heard anything about the new action? The new action on this keyboard is called Responsive Hammer Compact, but not sure if this one has 2 or 3 sensors.
The built-in speaker feels a bit softer, probably due to the speaker position. However, it sounds impressive with decent headphones or external monitor speakers.