REVIEW - CASIO PX850 Privia Digital Piano - Recommended! A "BEST BUY"

UPDATED REVIEW - June 1, 2013 - RECOMMENDED - I recommend the 2013 model Casio Privia PX850 digital piano as a "Best Buy" for a lower priced home piano. The new PX850 by the Casio piano company comes in an attractive, compact home furniture style lightweight cabinet (weighs just 81 lbs) with sliding key cover and full sheet music rack (99US internet price - left pic). This model comes in a satin black color and is also available in a medium brown oak color (pic below left). The PX850 is using Casio's latest upgraded digital technology that, in my opinion, far exceeds any other digital piano in this lower price range for what it offers. I have played this new piano and was quite impressed with its new realistic moisture absorbing synthetic ivory/ebony keytops (similar to real ivory & ebony on the old acoustic grand & upright pianos), and graduated hammer key action. 

Casio PX850 brown

One of the biggest advancements in this lower price range not offered on any other digital piano brand in this price range is the new 256-note polyphony piano sound memory technology. Even the highly respected Yamaha AvantGrand digital grand piano selling for approx ,000 has the maximum 256-note polyphony technology which makes Casio's achievement pretty amazing in my opinion at only 99. More polyphony note memory helps to keep notes from electronically dropping out when playing difficult & musically complex passages) and when the polyphony gets near or over 200-notes of memory, that is more than enough to suit all skill levels of pianists. Having 256-note polyphony also offers smooth piano playing along with having the detailed sound elements from the strings of a real piano (or when layering two instrument sounds together). Also, like many name brand digital pianos including Yamaha, the PX850 offers the "half-pedal" sustain feature with pedal resonance effect for more intermediate to advanced piano music. For those students and recreational players who are at the beginner skill level, they will have something to grow into and not need to trade out of this piano for a long time.

Kawai CE220

However I will say that as far as actual grand piano sound reproduction and key action goes, there ARE other higher priced digital pianos that are somewhat better than this Casio PX850 and the sound quality (and even the key action) are upgraded in some noticeable ways. But you would likely want to be at a higher skill level and/or have a larger budget before you should consider those models. But if you are able to spend more money and are at a higher playing skill level (or want to be), then I would suggest you also consider the Kawai CE220 digital piano (99 internet price). If you have not heard of the Kawai Piano company before (Ka-WHY- phonetic pronunciation), they are a famous world class Grand Piano manufacturer and the CE220 has features the Casio does not have, which can make a big difference to some players, but (once again) you may want to be at a higher skill level (or have a sensitive musical ear) and have the extra money to invest in that model. Although the Kawai CE220 has 192-notes of polyphony memory which is less than the Casio PX850, the "sound quality realism" of a Grand Piano is much more evident on the Kawai CE220 to the "trained ear," in my opinion. If you want more info on the Kawai CE220 go here: Kawai CE220 Review

Continuing on with Casio...the Casio company has its worldwide headquarters in Tokyo, Japan (left pic) and has been producing digital pianos for over 30 years. They also produce keyboards, pro synthesizers, as well as being famous for calculators, advanced digital cameras, sports & consumer watches, advanced digital technology for communication devices, and some very impressive new digital computer technology. Casio produces their own computer chips and proprietary micro technology and is able to do it at a fraction of the cost of some of it's biggest competitors and that is why Casio tends to have lower prices. Some people equate lower prices with lower quality and think you need to spend a lot more money (over 00) to get something really good. However, in my opinion, this new Casio PX850 is very impressive for its lower price (it's about price for most people) and has Casio's new 3 year parts and labor warranty which shows they are serious about giving consumers product protection and have confidence in their product. Most warranties on digital pianos around 00 or less have no more more than 1 year labor or maybe 2 at the most, so 3 years is outstanding in my opinion.

Another impressive feature to me is the fact that Casio has included "wav file" audio recording in this model. What that means is that you can record yourself as an audio recording (CD quality) and save it to a USB flashdrive in the piano. Then you can take that recording in the flashdrive and plug it into your computer and email that song to your friends and relatives to let them hear it on their computer just as you played it! Beyond that, you can import that music into computer music programs for music education, composing, song arranging, etc for further musical interaction and even turn the wav file recording into an MP3 to play as an iTune on your iPad or iPod. Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland do not have audio recording in their home furniture cabinet digital pianos until you get well over 00 so Casio has really outdone themselves by including this on their low priced digital piano.

Open lid speaker projection

One interesting & innovative feature I was impressed with is a new piano lid audio projection system (see pic on left). Simply put, you can physically open the lid on the PX850 upward into an open position like a little grand piano would do so the sound is projected toward you for a more realistic listening & playing experience. The internal 40 watt 4-speaker sound system is heard more like a baby grand would be with an open angled lid. I have not seen this before in any regular digital piano and although in essence it seems like a simple thing to do, this new interactive cabinet gives the player more piano sound depth and can make the piano more exciting to play.

Other PX850 features include all kinds of powerful sound generation technology with piano string and damper pedal resonance (as I mentioned earlier), sound harmonics, longer pedal decay sustain time, and a wide range of piano sound dynamics for lots of tonal color in your playing as compared to any other digital piano under 00. There are 18 very nice instrument sounds, split & layering of tones, key touch sensitivity adjustments to personalize your playing, duet keyboard function allowing for two people to play at the same time, and other useful features including two stereo headphone jacks for two pairs of headphones for private practice, stereo 1/4" audio outputs for connection to an external sound system, and a control panel positioned above the keyboard for easy function access as opposed to being put on the left side of the keyboard like other digital pianos.

iPad piano game app

Also, as with all new Casio digital pianos, the PX850 can connect directly with an iPad or laptop computer using its high speed class compliant USB MIDI connection which allows for instant connection with external computer devices without the need of downloading drivers or having to convert a MIDI signal to USB. Since kids are growing up in the "iPad world" I recommend to all piano students that they utilize the exciting Apps available for tablets (and iPad in particular) to enhance their playing and practice experience which will make them better students and better musicians overall. And besides that, it's super cool to do and when you've experienced the interaction of the Casio PX850 with an iPad and what it can musically and educationally do for you, you'll be amazed at all the possibilities!

iPad piano music app

In other words, for 99, in my opinion no other brand that comes close in this price range at this point. Is the PX850 the best new digital piano out there or is Casio the best brand?...absolutely not (as I mentioned earlier), but it's hard to argue the point when the price is only 99:). There are also no "best brands" in my opinion but just some great brands that offer fine products in their respective price ranges and Casio does a brilliant job in the lower price range in my opinion.

For the moment until things change and improved models in lower price ranges come out from either Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, Kurzweil, or Korg, the Casio PX850 will be the clear winner for what it does at its price and will offer people a very realistic acoustic piano playing experience in an affordable low price range. I have known Casio of Japan to be very good musical instrument company for over 30 years and they have produced decent digital pianos in the past, but they have finally gone over the top and easily taken the lead in this price range in my opinion. Also, judging from the significantly improved quality of Casio's other new pianos including the PX150, PX350, and PX750, and PX780, I am confident in saying that the reliability of these pianos will be good with little worry of problems especially given the fact Casio has a long 3 year parts & labor factory warranty on their new models. When a manufacturer provides a long factory warranty such as 3 years on lower priced models, it's a signal to me that they have confidence in their product they will hold up and last for a long time, which is always a good thing.

Casio PX850 closed key cover

It is important to note that the PX850 piano does not have built-in drum rhythms, automatic chords, music styles, hundreds of instrument sounds, multi-track General MIDI recording & composing or other fun features that can be useful to some people, but it was not designed to be that way. The PX850 is a great instrument for its price that can handle people at many skill levels and if you want some additional interactive features you can easily connect to an iPad and experience some very cool interactive piano technology that both adults and children will enjoy. This new piano replaces a regular upright piano with enough cool digital features to make the learning and piano playing experience fun and gratifying for most people seeking a high quality instrument in a low price range. Speaking of low prices, a few years ago I would have also recommended to people to consider buying a good used digital piano at a lower price instead of a new one. However, the new digital pianos out now like the Casio PX850 are so improved and relatively inexpensive, that it makes buying a used digital piano almost a non-issue. Plus, you take a risk because you buy a used piano because it comes "as is" and you get no factory warranty. So these days, generally speaking, used digital pianos would not be a good option unless you know exactly what you're getting and the price is incredibly low.

With regard to owning a new Casio Privia PX850, I think the problem now will be trying to get one, as my experience has shown me that when a popular company comes out with something hot (like the new iPhone, iPad, etc), getting one may not be that easy if the demand far exceeds Casio's supply and this model has been this way since it came out a few months ago. Everyone that I know of who has purchased and received their PX850 loves it and they tell me it far exceeds their expectations for its price and it's always good to hear right from the people who own them. In the price range for furniture cabinet pianos under 00 for other top brands, only Yamaha & Roland have digital pianos that are currently available and try to compete with this new Casio PX850 including the Yamaha YDP135R (9), YDP142 (99), YDP162 (99), and YDP181 (99), Roland F120 (99), and Roland RP301 (99) and in my opinion none of them are close to this new model, unless you go up to the Kawai CE220 (99) as I mentioned earlier. I have done reviews of the other pianos in case you are interested in finding out more about them.

For some people I know, the Casio brand may not have the prestigious piano name of a Yamaha, Kawai, or Roland, but the name itself seldom tells the real story and that is certainly true in this case. So don't let the Casio name fool you into thinking this piano is not worthy of my positive review and your consideration because in my opinion the PX850 is the "real deal:)"

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