So in my search for a Compact Stage Piano(which looks nice too and has a 73 keys version) I also wanted to give the Numa X Piano 73 a chance.
I already owned a Yamaha CP73 (bought for €1500,- new in 2021, what happened with all the prices!) and I eventually sold it because of the action: It wasn't bad but it has a lot of bounce and I couldn't really connect to it, although the piano sounds are really GREAT on these CP's.
So I went for the Numa X 73 as a lot of users on this forum (and others like pianoclack) are very positive about it. So I was very optimistic when I turned it on and played my first song, but that optimistic feeling disappeared after a while and I would like to share why: It might be of help to those who consider buying the Numa X Piano.
(Note: All of this is just my opinion and not the holy truth, YMMV)
The good:
The TP/110 keybed: It's a really good action (although not graded), especially for a stage piano. Stage piano actions always seem to be a trade-off between playability and portability. The keys has no bounce at all and they feel really nice.
The form factor: It's one of the smallest stage pianos out there, but full with features and it also looks very nice!
The features: The class compliant audio interface is great for connecting your iPad as a sound module with just a single cable.
MIDI capability is excellent: As a controller and also for using this board as a controller for Pianoteq etc.
The less good:
The User Interface: When Studiologic released a revolutional new user interface called "UX Logic" I expected something on par with IOS or other great UI "revolutions". This isn't really the case. An example is when you are editing a sound or selecting a voice is so easily mixed up with selecting a program: And gone are all your chances. It also is sometimes unclear how to exit a certain menu (press "X" or something else) and I constantly had to think in the beginning how to use it. I'm not saying the UI is bad (it's pretty OK when you're used to it) but it's not a "Completely New User Interface Concept".
The clicky buttons. Some of the buttons do really make a loud, hard plastic noise. These buttons also feel a bit cheap. This is a bit "off" as the piano itself really feels as a premium product (metal housing, excellent keybed etc).
The "note off" trigger of the keys: When you release one of the keys just a tiny bit (like 1 mm or so), the "note off" is already triggered for this key. Which means when you play a bit sloppy (or when your hand is spread out because you play notes in two octaves), and you release the key a tiny bit the sounds is gone. I could live with it as it could be related to bad technique, but a little bit more slack would be nice (other keybeds have a slack from 3 to even 5 mm).
The bad:
Well that's actually just one thing, but for me an important one: How the build-in acoustic piano patches sound and how the keybed responds to them. They are not bad as in very ugly bad, but the dynamics and additions on them are just...not pleasant. When you play with low velocity, the piano sounds are sort of filtered with a low pass filter. You can adjust this a bit with the "Tone" parameter, but this is the same thing: It just adjusts the cut-off value of a very present LPF on the sound, this has nothing to do with adjusting the tone. I also find it hard to connect with the dynamics with the onboard sounds: When I play the keyboard with external sound sources (like Pianoteq) this is immediately much better, so it's not the keyboard: It's the onboard sound generation.
The pedal noise sound is a disaster, it's plain ugly and I can't understand how this is of any use. The string resonance and duplex parameters are also adding a lot of artificial artifacts to the sound, like 12-bit digital effects. The EQ of the sounds are also very "mid" minded: I have to boost the low and high to get a nice balanced piano sound. This is with most of the pianos, and not with the other sounds.
As I bought the Numa X Piano as a "stand-alone piano", there was only one option for me and that was to return it. I think the keyboard and the hardware itself is excellent, but the piano tone generation is for me not good enough.
