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Casio PX-5s VS Nord Stage 2 BLIND piano sound test! :)


Klavishko

better sound is:  

330 members have voted

  1. 1. better sound is:

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In a decent pair of headphones, #2 sounded more realistic to me. #1 had a sort of PCM thing going on - sounded a little synthetic.

Muzikteechur is Lonnie, in Kittery, Maine.

 

HS music teacher: Concert Band, Marching Band, Jazz Band, Chorus, Music Theory, AP Music Theory, History of Rock, Musical Theatre, Piano, Guitar, Drama.

 

 

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No 2 sounds better to me . . . much more concise tone and quality.

 

No 1 isn't bad though and is a bit richer. I actually liked it more in the upper end but overall I think 2 is a bit better!

 

Think I already know which is which.... I own one!

 

 CP-50, YC 73,  FP-80, PX5-S, NE-5d61, Kurzweil SP6, XK-3, CX-3, Hammond XK-3, Yamaha YUX Upright, '66 B3/Leslie 145/122

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Hi Folks, both sound close to me, however, I choose No 1. I am certainly interested in the PX-5S, great bang for your buck.
Hammond XK3-C; Yamaha Tyros 3; Casio PX-5S; Yamaha DX7 IID; Yamaha DGX 520; Yamaha Stagepas 500 & KS50 (x2) Leslie 147(1971) Lots of other stuff
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I think I've listened to too many digital piano demos because it was immediately obvious to me which is which.

 

Same here. The Casio from a demo and the Nord from owning one.

 

So of course I'm biased towards the Nord, but there is also some specific quality of (apparently) all Casio piano sounds that I don't like. It's hard to pin down, but there is something unnatural about quite a few notes somewhere in the middle register. Basically when I heard the first note of the first song (I won't tell which version), I thought "oh, there's that Casio sound". Not saying the PX-5s is a bad instrument though, for example the EPs seem quite nice, especially the effects.

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I like how 2 changes timbre with softer dynamics. Whether that is the hardware related I don't know. Both products will run a lot of different piano emulations.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I voted for number 2 because the piano is much more detailed and does not suffer from that sort of a CP-80 sound in the middle register. Although Piano 1 is good it is clearly a digital piano. You could not mistake it for the real deal. Piano No. 2 has enough woodiness and air to make it closer to the real deal than Piano 1 (I would say by a significant margin).

 

aL

Gear: Yamaha MODX8, Mojo 61, NS2 73, C. Bechstein baby grand.

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I Although Piano 1 is good it is clearly a digital piano. You could not mistake it for the real deal. Piano No. 2 has enough woodiness and air to make it closer to the real deal than Piano 1 (I would say by a significant margin).

I agree.

 

I found that a good way to do this kind of thing is to put on headphones and imagine you just put on a CD of a new Rick Wakeman album or whoever. That is put yourself in the mindset of specifically expecting it to sound like a quality recording of a real piano. Maybe it's just me, but once I did that, without having to focus on this detail or that, one just struck me overall as arguably real, and the other one as "that's not real, he's playing a digital." Though it was disconcerting that the left and right channels were switched. ;-)

 

A variable not accounted for is that the Casio piano sounds are all based off the same sample set, whereas on the Nord, you can load in pianos based on entirely different piano sets. So if there was something you didn't like in the particular Nord sample used for this test, you might find another Nord sample you'd prefer. So it's not really PX5S vs NS2, but rather PX5S vs. one of numerous possible NS2 pianos.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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To me they both sound very good. I ended up voting #2 but it was by a very slim margin. #1 sounded slightly more rich while #2 sounded very slightly more natural with the exception of the higher note range where #1 sound a bit more natural. My guess it that #2 would cut through the audio mix better on live gigs.
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Just listening through my crappy laptop speakers, I prefer number 2.

 

But aside from the poor quality of my laptop speakers, I think that this kind of test could be impacted by the sequence when you hear the sounds. In other words, if I heard one piano in isolation or in comparison to another piano, I might draw different conclusions than if I compare it to a third piano. Kind of like comparing different wines.

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I voted for #1. #2 seemed brighter and slightly thinner sounding with wavering on some sustained notes.
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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I prefer number 1 and that is only because I 'think' it sounds more like the PX-5s I use. Knowing that my ears are not the best these days mean that I may be totally off base but that is what it sounds like to me. Both have a great sound in my opinion and I would be satisfied with either. With that being said, I'm glad I didn't have to pay as much for the Casio as I would have for the Nord but even if the price difference was not that much, I'm still a happy camper with the PX-5s.

 

Anyone care to share their opinion of which one is which yet?

John Cassetty

 

"there is no dark side of the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark"

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I think if you listen to this or that particular element, chord, note, whatever, you can find imperfections in either. But I see that as a kind of forest-versus-tree thing. If you step back from the details and just let the whole thing wash over you, despite the flaws, #2 strikes me as a piano, #1 strikes me as a simulation. Though either would get you through most gigs just fine!

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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Anyone care to share their opinion of which one is which yet?

 

I expect most folks here have a pretty good idea of which is which. However I believe the OP was asking that we don't reveal our opinion (i.e. no spoilers).

 

James

x

Employed by Kawai Japan, however the opinions I express are my own.
Nord Electro 3 & occasional rare groove player.

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Anyone care to share their opinion of which one is which yet?

 

I expect most folks here have a pretty good idea of which is which. However I believe the OP was asking that we don't reveal our opinion (i.e. no spoilers).

 

James

x

Ah yes! Went back and read the OP posting. NO SPOILERS! Sorry!

John Cassetty

 

"there is no dark side of the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark"

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No. 2. More resonance and harmonics on the lower strings, less synthetic sounding.

 

..Joe

Setup: Korg Kronos 61, Roland XV-88, Korg Triton-Rack, Motif-Rack, Korg N1r, Alesis QSR, Roland M-GS64 Yamaha KX-88, KX76, Roland Super-JX, E-Mu Longboard 61, Kawai K1II, Kawai K4.
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Based on a lo-fi listen I would choose 1 for live pop rock band scenario and 2 for personal playing. 1 sounded brighter, 2 had a little more wood. Interesting others heard it the other way round.

 

I suspect the differences in our playback systems and our individual frequency sensitivity can sometimes be greater than the difference in raw samples. Makes these sort of comparisons pretty meaningless if the majority of voters, for example, had a pretty steep HF roll off in their hearing or little bass on the playback system.

A misguided plumber attempting to entertain | MainStage 3 | Axiom 61 2nd Gen | Pianoteq | B5 | XK3c | EV ZLX 12P

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