Kawai ES60 Review

This is a review I’m super excited about; my review on the new Kawai ES60 entry level portable digital piano.  Why am I so excited?  Well, this is FINALLY my first review on a Kawai product – I was finally able to find one that I could rent for this review. And I’m also excited because this keyboard is actually a new entry into the market; unlike Yamaha with their P-145 (or 143) or Roland with their FP-10, Kawai didn’t have a TRUE entry level piano in that $500USD price range; Kawai’s ES120 (which replaced the prior ES110) sells for about $950USD which is even MORE than Yamaha’s P-225 or Roland’s FP-30X which both sell for around $750USD. So at barely over half the cost of an ES120, how does the ES60 measure up? In almost every aspect; REALLY well! You can even make a case for comparing it to Yamaha’s P-225 and Roland’s FP-30X but at a much lower price; but we’ll get to all the competition talk close to the end of this review – for now, let’s check out the Kawai ES60!

Key Action

The Kawai ES60 is equipped with a brand new action from Kawai – their “Responsive Hammer Lite” action. Now since I have no experience with the ES110 or ES120, I can’t comment on how it feels relative to those pianos; but what I CAN say is . . . I REALLY like this action! It’s an 88 key fully weighted and graded hammer action, with a nice matte finish on the keytops. I’m a BIG fan of lighter & responsive actions that feel smooth and easy to play quickly on, and this action is EXACTLY that. While it doesn’t actually feel the same as my personal favorite action to date which is the Yamaha GHS/GHC actions . . . I find the playing experience to be similar and familiar (in a good way). The ES60’s action seems to be a TOUCH lighter feeling than the GHS, and also feels like it has a longer key travel, so there is more room to play expressively than the shallower action on those Yamahas.

The ES60’s action is similar to the action on the Casio PX-S1100 and 3100 in that they all feel to me to be light & responsive, but the Casio ones don’t feel as sturdy or as solidly built, and actually feel a bit . . . “bouncy” to me. Roland’s PHA4 triple sensor action with escapement (which is found in the FP-10 and FP-30X) is technically a more advanced action, BUT . . . I’ve always found that action to be a bit heavy for my tastes, and not terribly responsive.

But . . . keep in mind, key action preferences are TOTALLY personal, so if you are familiar with and really like Roland’s PHA4 action, then you probably won’t like the action on the ES60. However, if you’re like me and you enjoy lighter, faster feeling actions like those Yamaha or Casio actions, then I think you will LOVE the ES60’s action. And, if you are a beginner and you don’t KNOW what kind of action you’re going to like? You should probably go test out key actions for yourself from various brands in stores, but . . . for a beginner who isn’t sure, I think you’ll be super happy with the action on the ES60.

I won’t know for SURE unless I can get a Yamaha keybed to test side by side against the ES60 (which I AM hoping to do before I have to return my ES60 rental), but I’m pretty confident that I’ve found my NEW favorite fully weighted key action. It reminds me of my previous favorite Yamaha actions in that it is a bit on the light side, fast, responsive & fun to play, but it also beats out those Yamaha actions (in my opinion) in a few more areas. First off, it does have a nice matte finish on all of the keys; the Yamahas tend to only have matte finish on their black keys. And, the ES60 action is one of the QUIETEST actions I’ve come across. According to Kawai’s website, the ES60 is borrowing cushioning technology from their existing ES lineup, so I assume that’s how the quiet mechanical noise is being achieved. And the other aspect of the Responsive Hammer Lite action that REALLY surprised me is how little the feel changes as you play closer to the pivot point, so further into the keys. Pretty much every portable digital piano I’ve EVER tested suffers from this issue to some degree (it’s just basic physics – think of sitting almost at the middle of a seesaw instead of at the end), where as you play further into the keys and closer to the pivot point, the keys are harder to press. To be honest, I’ve only noticed that issue while playing occasionally (if I’m playing bigger chords that require playing further into the keys to reach all the notes easily), but I am still a beginner; more advanced classical players do tend to notice this issue more quickly on digital pianos. Well on the ES60, I can BARELY feel ANY difference in resistance as I do that . . .

And, as I mentioned earlier, the additional key travel depth does provide the player with a bit more room to be accurate with their dynamics and expression, but the action is still responsive enough that the extra key travel doesn’t create a “slowness” or “mushy” feel.

So, my verdict on the action on the Kawai ES60? FABULOUS, especially if you prefer lighter faster actions. Kawai really did an amazing job with the Responsive Hammer Lite action.

Sounds

Ok for sounds, the Kawai ES60 has 17 built in sounds, which can be split or layered across the keyboard. There are 3 pianos, 4 electric pianos, 2 organs, 2 strings, 3 bass guitars, and then a clav, harpsichord and vibraphone; so even though 17 voices doesn’t seem like a lot nowadays? For MOST players, all the bread and butter voices are pretty much covered. And at 192, the ES60 has a MASSIVE amount of polyphony for a piano in this price range. I’ve never personally been a good enough player to EVER run into polyphony issues of note drop outs (even at 64 polyphony), but the extra polyphony can help the voices sound better by providing more room for things like more detailed resonance to enhance the tone.

The pianos are all sampled from the Kawai SK-EX Concert Grand piano, and use Kawai’s harmonic imaging engine; now I know very little about actual grand pianos, but I do know that this is a VERY highly regarded piano, and the samples found even in the ES60 must be reflecting that, because they sound REALLY good. I’m definitely not an expert in evaluating quality piano samples, but I really must say . . . I can hear a lot of super clear detail in all the ranges; the bass end is bassy but still clear not muddy; the middle range is super clear and even in the high end notes aren’t overly shrill or tinny, and still have lots of detail. Other voices I was impressed with are the first tine electric piano (meant to be a Rhodes); it sounds really good and has a nice bite or bark to it when you play with more velocity, the jazz organ isn’t bad (might be a bit too much panning which is meant simulate a slow rotary speaker), the slow strings are REALLY nice layered with a piano (they don’t build too much in volume and overpower the main voice like they do on Rolands and Casios, and the wood bass & wood bass with ride are great. The rest of the voices are ok and nice to have, but not super impressive in my opinion. Here is a demo of all of the voices on the Kawai ES60, and I’ll include some splits and layers.

So, what did you think of the voices on the Kawai ES60? As I said before, I think the pianos are fantastic, the main electric piano, the slow strings and wood basses are great; the rest are just fine (but nothing spectacular). But I do think the selection Kawai chose to include really does hit all the bread and butter needs of most players, so good job there Kawai.

User Interface

So the user interface on the Kawai ES60 is VERY basic; pretty similar to the user interfaces on the Yamaha P-145 and Roland FP-10 – minimal buttons, and you need to use key combinations to do pretty much everything, including selecting voices. If you follow my channel, you know I’m NOT a fan of minimalist user interfaces that require key combinations, but I’m especially not a fan when you have to use key combinations to even select voices. So . . . I’m definitely not a fan of this user interface either, but it is pretty much as I expected given this is an entry level priced where it is. So if you plan on buying a Kawai ES60, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND downloading Kawai’s “Piano Remote” app – it makes using the ES60 MUCH EASIER & MUCH NICER, and actually adds some functionality; I’ll go over the app in a bit.

To select voices, you hold down the SOUND button and press the key for the voice you want. Kawai did do one nice thing here, which is label the keys at least; they didn’t label each individual voice, but at least they labelled the categories. Another nice touch (in my opinion) is that the keyboard doesn’t make a sound when you select a voice; some people like it when a keyboard does that to indicate your selection, but since I’m always thinking about using keyboards to perform with, it’s much better if it stays quiet.

But here is where the user interface takes a REALLY bad turn; to layer 2 voices together, you almost need a third hand, depending on what voices you want to layer. To layer voices, you need to: hold down the SOUND button, press C#1 (left most C#) and while continuing to hold down the SOUND button, SIMULTANEOUSLY PRESS the keys for the 2 sounds you want to layer together! This is a REALLY bad design; if I want to layer the first piano sound with slow strings, I can BARELY reach that with my left hand – and I cannot reach anything further (so to layer that piano with the string ensemble voice or any voice to the right of that? I need to turn my right hand into a bit of pretzel to choose the layered voice while still holding that SOUND button down. This is a pretty big design flaw; Kawai PLEASE address this in the next version of the ES60 (or better yet in future manufacturing runs OF the ES60).

Splitting voices is also a bit over-involved, but at least doesn’t require a 3rd hand. To split, you hold down SOUND and press D#1 (the leftmost D#) and while still holding the SOUND button press the sound you want in your left hand. Your right hand sound will remain as whatever it was before you started this process. But now we have another wrinkle; I was unable to find a way in the manual to move the split point, and it is set at a rather unusual default position; at C4 (so right in the MIDDLE of an 88 key keyboard. Given that your most used left hand instruments will be either one of the bass voices or maybe a Rhodes electric piano for you to play a bass line in your left hand, you really don’t need half the keyboard for that – the leftmost 2 octaves is usually MORE than enough, and that way you’re not losing an octave that you will often need for your right hand voice.

Then to the right of the voice labels, Kawai was nice enough to include labels for at least SOME of the other settings that require key combinations – you can hold down SOUND and press keys to transpose up or down 1, or return to default which is nice (since there is no display TELLING you how many steps up or down your current setting is). Also with the SOUND button pressed (but these functions aren’t labelled on the keyboard, you have to look them up in the manual) you can set the volume balance between layered voices, adjust reverb settings (there are 3 types and you can turn the reverb on or off), and you can adjust the touch curve between 4 levels (including off).

By holding down the FUNCTION button, you can adjust some MIDI settings and channels (these are outlined in the manual only, they’re not labelled), and then there ARE some labels further down the right of the keyboard that allow you to work with the metronome (setting tempo and beat types) and also start and stop one of the 30 built in rhythms. Note that there is no accompaniment included, but there is a decent choice of rhythms to practice with – the problem here though, is that they aren’t even chosen by function key combinations – all you have is a rhythm up or down key (while holding down the function key) for you to cycle through the rhythms; so once again, that’s pretty clunky. The rhythms could also do with being a bit louder as well, but hey . . . at least they’re available to you for practice, and . . . they sound not too bad.

So, I’ve been pretty critical of the user interface on the ES60; but . . . given the price point? To be honest, I’m being a little bit unfair – other pianos at this price point of about $500 USD like the Yamaha P-145 and the Roland FP-10 also rely heavily on key combinations, they both require key combinations to select voices, and those two pianos can’t split voices or playback any rhythms without connecting them to an app first; so the ES60 does have them both outclassed there (although Kawai does REALLY need to address the finger pretzel issue with layering voices though). But, at the $500 USD price point, the ES60’s user interface is on par with with competition.

But that being said? This now brings me to the Kawai app, “Piano Remote” which is available for both Android and iOS, which I would HIGHLY recommend that you make use of if you choose to go with a Kawai ES60!

Kawai Piano Remote App

If you want to see the app in action, check out that section of my full review on YouTube. But just to sum it up; it’s nice and stable, SUPER easy to use, makes it quick and simple to choose, layer and split voices (without having to worry about key combinations), EASILY manage the relative volume between voices, transpose up or down, AND it even ADDS some functionality. And the best part, is 90% of what you’ll likely want to do is clearly accessible from a SINGLE SCREEN (really well thought out Kawai!)

What does the app ADD for functionality? When your voices are split, now you CAN adjust the split point! The only thing missing from the app (which did surprise me) is there is no interface to access the 30 rhythms (I was hoping for a dropdown where you could choose them by name); Kawai PLEASE add this in an update!

But overall, this app is awesome and HIGHLY recommended if you get an ES60!

Connectivity

Ok so when I first started looking into the Kawai ES60, I was REALLY excited to hear about some of the connectivity that WAS included . . . but . . . then I also noticed that there is a REALLY important bit of connectivity that’s included on virtually every keyboard or digital piano that I’ve EVER tested (even on cheap $100 keyboards) that’s missing on the ES60 (and in all honesty, I haven’t heard a single reviewer mention this yet). All I could say to myself was . . . “Kawai, WHY did you do that???? . . . you were SO close . . .”. I should note right away though; one of the only other keyboards I know of that also suffers from this issue is the Roland FP-10, which IS one of the ES60’s main competitors . . .

So before getting to the “super good” and “super bad” items, I’ll quickly go over the other stuff. For headphones, there is a 1/4″ stereo headphone out which is thankfully on the front of the piano, I really wish ALL keyboards would start doing that instead of having them on the back, so thanks Kawai. Then on the back we have a 1/4″ sustain pedal port, which IS compatible with half pedaling, if you buy the optional Kawai F-10H pedal (the ES60 comes with just a basic “brick style” switch pedal for sustain):

Then we have a USB to host port for connecting the ES60 to a device; the unfortunate thing about this connection is that unlike newer releases from the competition, this port ONLY transmits MIDI; it has no built in audio interface, so it does NOT also transmit audio. So as a result, you cannot send digital audio directly to a phone to easily record a video, you can’t send audio directly to a DAW app on a device to record audio tracks, nor can you stream audio FROM your device back IN to the ES60’s speakers/headphones as an audio input source.

So . . .what’s the connectivity feature that Kawai included that I was surprised and excited about?

Kawai included proper 1/4″ left and right line out ports (unbalanced) for connecting to external audio equipment like amps, PA systems, mixers and audio interfaces!

This is a feature that is almost ALWAYS left out of entry level digital pianos (like the Yamaha P-145 and Roland FP-10) that makes the Kawai ES60 a MUCH better choice for performing with (without those ports, you need to use the headphone out instead, which can work, but has multiple issues and is not ideal). This feature means that gigging musicians can consider using the ES60 as a SUPER low budget stage piano, and take advantage of those great piano sounds and great action. When I first heard the ES60 has line outs, I even started wondering if the ES60 might even be comparable to the P-225 and FP-30X . . . (More on that later). But regardless, this is a fantastic feature to have in an entry level digital piano from a big manufacturer, so great job Kawai!

So what about BlueTooth? Well, the Kawai ES60 does NOT have any BlueTooth connectivity; there is no Bluetooth MIDI out and there is no BlueTooth audio in for streaming in external audio from a device.

So . . . that is IT for connectivity on this piano . . . and that brings me to (at least in my opinion) a MASSIVE missing feature on the Kawai ES60 . . .

There is NO AUXILIARY IN PORT!!! So that means there is NO way to stream audio from a device IN to the Kawai ES60’s speakers & headphones! There ARE lots of keyboards out there that don’t have a built in audio interface or BlueTooth audio in (which are both alternatives for streaming in external audio) but virtually ALL of those at LEAST include an auxiliary in port so you can stream in audio from a device . . . (Notable exception is the Roland FP-10, which also cannot stream in external audio)

So as a result, you cannot connect a device to your ES60 and hear any audio from that device through the ES60’s speakers or headphones. Whether you’re a beginner (or an experienced player) who wants to hear their online piano lessons, jam along with YouTube videos, play over top of backing tracks, etc through your piano’s speakers or headphones – you won’t be able to do that with the ES60.

Now it’s not impossible, you will just need to also get a mixer or speaker (with multiple channels and a headphone port) of some sort and some cables; you would connect the ES60 from its left and right line out ports to a mixer, and also connect your device to that mixer, and then you can mix the 2 signals together and hear them either through headphones or speakers connected to that mixer. And, it doesn’t HAVE to be expensive; you can get a really basic mixer and two 1/4″ instrument cables from Amazon for as little as $50. For example, I reviewed the Moukey mixers a while back and they will do this just fine.

So, not the end of the world by any stretch, but that is just a monstrous oversight by Kawai in my opinion.

So my verdict on the Kawai ES60’s connectivity features? Well, there’s some really good and some bad issues there! But how important should those issues be in your buying decision? To be honest, like I said – the lack of audio in options is perplexing to me, but it’s not the end of the world. For ME, since I play in bands, the line out ports are WAY MORE important, and I have lots of mixers & cables lying around that would allow me to hear the ES60’s sounds along with audio from my iPad together for practicing through headphones or speakers, so while it would be a bit of a pain, I would place more value on the line out ports. For someone who only wants to play at home, and isn’t planning on gigging or making audio recordings in a DAW app, the line outs aren’t as important; just be aware that if you want to play along with audio from your iPad or phone and hear them together through your headphones, you will need to get some additional equipment to do that – if you don’t want to have to do that, then you’ll be looking at the competition instead.

Speakers

Ok so when we get to talking about the speakers on the Kawai ES60? We’re back to saying “WOW” again. The speakers on the ES60 are REALLY good and surprisingly powerful. The ES60 has 2 x 12 cm full range speakers with 10 watts of power each, for a total of 20 watts. Now the speaker grills are on the bottom, and I have NEVER been a fan of speakers that aren’t directed towards the player – manufacturers and reviewers will often say “the sound bounces off the floor and creates a great listening experience”; that has never been MY experience with downward facing speaker openings, I’ve always preferred they face the player. Well . . . Kawai surprised me again – these speakers are easily the best sounding speakers I’ve experienced in a portable digital piano. They’re super powerful, and super clear, and I don’t know if there’s some sound sneaking out through the case that DOES face the player, but if I was blindfolded, I would TOTALLY think there were speaker grills or vents on top because these sound awesome. And given the line out ports on this piano, you can choose to have the speakers enabled as extra personal monitors at a performance while using the line outs to connect to the PA system. And, these speakers are actually loud enough you can probably hear them as monitors (when I gigged with my Yamaha CK88, I just turned the 12 watt speakers off they were impossible to hear). I should also mention that the ES60 includes EQ options where you can specify “table” or “normal”; this is a nice feature to have for pianos with speaker grilles on the bottom; if your piano is on a table where the grilles aren’t exposed, you can adjust the EQ to sound better.

Here’s a quick demo of the speakers on the Kawai ES60 just as picked up by the built in mic on my iPhone.

Other Features

Some other features to mention on the Kawai ES60:

• For effects, there are 3 types of reverb, or you can turn reverb off
• There are 15 voice demo songs (I never listen to those)
• In addition to Kawai’s Piano Remote app, the ES60 is also compatible with their “PiaBook Player” app which has a bank of songs you can learn and see the sheet music for (I did not bother looking at this app at all for this review)
• You can manually adjust tuning up or down by 0.5 Hz (if you needed to tune slightly to match an acoustic instrument for example)
• There is a nice big sturdy music rest included

What’s Missing / Could Be Improved?

For an entry level piano from a major manufacturer like Kawai with a FANTASTIC fully weighted and graded key action, REALLY high quality piano sounds and proper left and right line out ports for gigging musicians at only $500 USD? It’s pretty hard to complain much about that. As you can probably guess, my one MAIN issue is that lack of an audio in option; that affects both beginners who want to play along with web based lessons or Youtube, as well as experienced players who would like to easily stream in backing tracks at a performance. As I mentioned earlier, even cheap $100 keyboards have aux in ports, so Kawai . . . PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE; just add one of:

• aux in port
• BlueTooth audio in
• audio interface built into the USB to host port

Beyond that though, while I would love a fancier user interface, as I mentioned at $500 USD? It’s on par with the competition, and Kawai has provided a REALLY good and solid app in Piano Remote which makes up for the simple UI. A couple things I would like to see Kawai add or change though?

• label the individual instruments on the front panel as opposed to just the categories
• fix the “finger pretzel” issue for layering; just make it work like the split feature does; select your main voice FIRST and then select your layered voice
• the weakest voice on the keyboard is the reed electric piano (meant to mimic a Wurlitzer); this voice could REALLY do with even a minor upgrade

But once again, for the incredibly low price of $500 USD? Even without the audio in option, the Kawai ES60 is still a fantastic value for money!

The Competition

The main competitors to the Kawai ES60 would definitely be the Yamaha P-145 and Roland FP-10 pianos – all 3 currently sell for about $500USD. Some might say the Casio PX-S1100 should also be a competitor, but at $670USD, I would never recommend the Casio over any of these 3.

Kawai ES60 ($500USD) vs. Yamaha P-145 ($500USD)

If you follow my channel, you know that I’m a HUGE Yamaha fan, but I have to say, I think the Kawai ES60 outdoes the Yamaha P-145 in every category but ONE (at least in my opinion). Now sounds and key action ARE personal preferences, and in my opinion the ES60 not only has more sounds, but has better piano sounds and better key action, and slaughters the P-145 in polyphony. And, the ES60 has those left and right line out ports, which I feel is a MASSIVE feature to include at this price point. Both pianos have very basic user interfaces, but they both alleviate that with really good apps (which I highly recommend using). As far as speakers go, there is NO comparison here – the Kawai ES60 speakers are the best I’ve heard from a portable digital piano and totally outperform the P-145’s.

The only thing that lands in the P-145’s favor is the audio interface built into the USB to host port. This not only allows you to stream audio into the piano (which you cannot do with the ES60), but it also allows you to SEND high quality digital audio to a device like a phone or tablet to easily make piano performance videos, or record audio tracks in a DAW app.

So for me? EASY choice . . . I’d buy the Kawai ES60 to get the piano sounds, key action, and L&R line out ports and I would just live with needing a mixer and some cables for my practice sessions.

Kawai ES60 ($500USD) vs. Roland FP-10 ($500USD)

In comparing the ES60 against the Roland FP-10, the first big difference is the action, which as I have mentioned many times, is totally personal, as are sound engines. The FP-10 uses Roland’s super popular PHA4 action which is a fully weighted and graded triple sensor action. I personally am not a fan of that action, but MANY people LOVE the PHA4 action, and it is very different than the action on the Kawai ES60, which is (in my opinion), lighter, faster and more responsive. Now as I continue this comparison, the ONLY reason that you should even CONSIDER the FP-10 over the Kawai ES60 is if you really like the PHA4 action. Otherwise, in my opinion, the Kawai beats out the FP-10 in every other area. Sounds on both are very good, my preference is with the Kawai, but once again that’s a personal choice.

Apart from the personal preferences of key action and sounds? The Kawai ES60 has left and right line out ports that are missing on the FP-10, it has a MUCH better companion app, and NEITHER keyboard has any ability to stream in external audio (the FP-10 is one of the only other keyboards I know of that shares this issue). And once again, the Kawai ES60 speakers totally blow away the speakers on the FP-10.

So for me? Given that I prefer the action on the ES60, the left & right line out ports and the better speakers? This is a super easy choice for me, I would take the Kawai ES60 over the FP-10 every time.

What About The Yamaha P-225 ($750USD) or the Roland FP-30X ($700 USD)?

When I heard that the Kawai ES60 had L&R line out ports AND drum rhythms, I started wondering; can the Kawai ES60 compete with the Yamaha P-225 or the Roland FP-30X?

Well, yes . . . (kind of). The Yamaha P-225 does have a FAR better user interface (far better than the Roland FP-30X as well – that user interface isn’t much better than the Kawai ES60), and the P-225’s rhythms also have the option of bass accompaniment, but there’s that one issue – there is no way to stream audio IN to the Kawai ES60 to play along with. Both the Yamaha P-225 and the Roland FP-30X have audio interfaces built into their USB ports, so that solves both the audio streaming issue, and also offers additional functionality like sending audio to your devices for videos or recordings.

So, my opinion – if money isn’t an object, the Yamaha P-225 is worth the extra $250 in the long run for the better user interface and the built in audio interface. But if money is a bit tight? I would be totally fine with the Kawai ES60, and would live with needing a mixer for audio streaming. As far as the Roland FP-30X is concerned, I would actually take an ES60 over the FP-30X simply because I’m not a fan of the PHA4 action, and the FP-30X user interface isn’t much better than the Kawai ES60’s anyways.

Kawai ES60: The Verdict

So the final verdict on the Kawai ES60? With high quality piano sounds, a fantastic key action, a great companion app and the added bonus of L&R line out ports? The Kawai ES60 is a fantastic choice at only $500USD!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

So that’s pretty much it for this review; as always, I have links below to products I’ve mentioned here so you can check out current prices in your area, as well as some links to other relevant reviews of mine, and also some links to online piano training that worked for me that I highly recommend.  So thanks again for stopping by, and happy piano shopping!   

Thanks so much, and happy piano playing! (and piano shopping 😉 )

Links To Check Out Current Pricing

(please note that as an affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases)

Kawai ES60

Kawai F10H Pedal

Yamaha P-143 (USA?)

Yamaha P-145 (Canada?)

Roland FP-10

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Piano Training I Recommend

I’ve taken a number of online piano courses; the ones I’m listing here are my favorites and I can highly recommend any of these if you are looking for some online training to get started on learning piano, or to take your current skills to the next level.

Video Version Of This Review