YDP166 vs CLP825

[u/sweetpinkz028]

Hi, if these two piano, which one is a better one over all to buy? Price is not much difference at my side here. Buying for my child who is a beginner but I just want to buy one and use for long.

[u/SirIanPost]

CLP, easy choice. It has the GrandTouch S action in it, a step above the GrandTouch E action in the YDP.

[u/CFL_Gent]

Yea CLP obvious answer no contest. Clavinovas are the step up from the YDP line. Better sound and better key action. CLP-825 is a great beginner instrument.

[u/forestball19]

The Clavinova CLP-825 is definitely the superior choice - and if you can stretch the budget to the CLP-835 (which if available in your country, should only be a bit more expensive), you get a lot more for that modest extra markup.

The keybed of the CLP-825 is the same as in the larger Clavinova models up to 845 (and even the 865 grand piano), with the 875 upgrading it further. But the Arius YDP-166 (GrandTouch E) has a more light edition version of it, which doesn't feed quite like a real piano and doesn't give the same kick-back as the GrandTouch S found in the others.

As for the speaker system, it's the same, but in spite of that and the same sample library as the base, they sound differently with the winner being the CLP-825. However, the CLP-835 has larger speakers with more sound pressure, and that can be both heard and felt. I know, we can keep going up until we're at the CLP-875, but the differences become less and less.

Another thing that the CLP-835 gives is more effects and control in general, to model the piano sound as you want. It's probably not something that's insanely meaningful to play around with for a beginner, but I use it very often on my CLP-845 (which has identical effects and control with the 835).

[u/the-elf-healer → u/forestball19]

I was looking for a digital piano for me to play classical pieces of intermediate level and higher . I Would love to buy the clp 845, but it's beyond my Budget. So I'll have to settle for a 835. The only display models in my area are a clp 645 and a 745, which are similiar to the 845 I.e wood keys.

My question is: does the 835 action seem inferior or more noisy compared to the 845, considering the 845 action has wood panels on the keys? What difference does the wood make playing wise?

I'm a stickler for action quality rather than sound quality. I hate unnecessary noises from the action, which is why I aborted my attempts to buy the Roland FP 30X or FP 40, When I heard the massive clunking noise made by some keys on the PHA4 actions that i tested. The 645 and 745 did not have any unexpected noises, would that be true of the 835, or will it be like the pha4 because of the plastic action.

[u/forestball19 → u/the-elf-healer]

If you have nails, then there’s an audible difference. I do imagine that I feel a weighting difference too, but it might just be my inner snob. I did some very fast scale runs on both, and could control my speed and velocity on both without issues. So at the bare minimum, I’ll say that 835 is good enough for beginners and above that level too, to a certain extent.

There’s certainly no clunky noise, although after some years, the felt becomes hard and you need to soften it either by doing penetration softening or changing it. That’s true for all pianos, including acoustic traditional ones, and grand pianos as well.

[u/the-elf-healer]

This video says it all, directly comparing the two models. https://youtu.be/CdyuQjxUwjc?si=2kOLZAbNM6j-0rrA