My Roland HP2 finally got beat....by....

[rlefebvr]

Anyone who has seen me post knows how much I love my HP2 by Roland and for the price(under 20000CDN) it is still tops in my book. However, the HP3 and HP4 are more expensive and really no better as far as sound and touch is concerned. You really are paying for the bells and whistles. The HP1 simple sucks on every level. They may have a better model, they have a baby Grand type, but that is 8 to 9000 CDN so we are talking about another machine at that point.

So for price the HP2 is still the best, but if you are willing to spend a little more, say a thousand more you can get the Yamaha Clavinova CLP 170 and it is simply amazing. A few seconds on the keyboard are I could tell the difference. It's not cheap to better different, but it really is good to better different and the price is really not that far off for the difference in quality.

It has a GH3 Graded hammer that is very different from the regular GH the CLP 150 or 130 and lesser models have that I found to be very very lacking.

The sound is a question of taste, but is really no better or worse than the Roland. The keys seemed grittier then the Roland and I liked that better, but it could be they were just dirty.

So there you go, I said it. Yamaha's Clavinova CLP 170 is better then the HP2. A little pricier, but if I had to do it over again, it would be a Yamaha and not a Roland sitting in my living area.

[cysoto]

The CLP 170 has tons of extra features (including over 450 voices) which makes it somewhat expensive.  It would be nice if they offered their GH3 on some of the cheaper digital pianos.  

Even as it is I believe that the action of the Yamaha Digital Pianos (even those that are not GH3) are far superior than anything Roland has ever made.  Of course this is only a matter of opinion but if you don't agree with me you are wrong!!  

[fingerknot]

I have also recently bought the CLP170 and really like it. I have found only one little disturbing thing, namely that D5 and D#5 (GP1) doesn't sound quite as good as their neighbours. Is that something you experience?

[cysoto]

I have also recently bought the CLP170 and really like it. I have found only one little disturbing thing, namely that D5 and D#5 (GP1) doesn't sound quite as good as their neighbours. Is that something you experience?

I must have given you the impression that I own the CLP170 when in fact this is not the case.  I apologize for this misunderstanding.  I wasn't trying to mislead you...  What I meant to say was that IMO Yamaha products are (in general terms) better than what most competitors are currently producing. 

I have played most Digital Pianos produced by Yamaha (including those in the Clavinova Series) and I have not noticed this disparity of sound on D5 and #5.  Then again I may have not been paying enough attention.