Pros and Cons
Alongside the already familiar ES-520 and ES-920 models, the Kawai ES-120 is the affordable entry into the popular Kawai ES series: here you get portable pianos with high-quality keyboards and excellent piano sounds, as well as modern features such as Bluetooth audio/MIDI and convenient control app connectivity. Let’s see how much the smallest ES model still has to offer.
Compared to the predecessor ES-110 the new Kawai ES-120 offers an even more stylish look. The lightweight plastic casing remains, but – if you look at it from the bottom – received some additional elements increasing the stability of the construction.
Such improvements naturally stand out less than, for example, the silver-colored bar in the control panel. Here you can find the control elements. For the new model, Kawai obviously paid attention to sturdiness as well as subtleties – improvements you can feel and see.
Kawai includes a simple foot switch as the sustain pedal – widely common for the price range, but you don’t get an authentic piano feel from it. The predecessor came with a shortened sustain pedal, a good compromise that made swapping it out for a “decent” sustain pedal, such as Kawai’s half-pedal capable F-10H, not an absolute necessity. With the ES-120, however, you are not getting around this investment.
Kawai optionally also offers a stand for the ES-120, a good recommendation for home use. The matching pedal unit F351 must be purchased separately. The stand and pedal unit are offered in black (B) and white (W) to match the two available chassis versions.
Playing with the acoustic piano sound of Kawai’s smallest model immediately sparks joy. The sound is expressive and plays wonderfully via the slightly textured keys.
The speaker system is quite loud compared to the overall piano size, but of course, no voluminous bass sound comes across. More importantly, the piano sound remains clean at high volumes – quite enough for piano practice or a jam session in the living room. During a small living room concert, neither does the speaker system reach its limit, nor do you get disturbing cabinet resonances.
However, the sound only causes proper joy when you connect headphones. Very practical here: There are two jacks, 6.3 mm – i.e. the big one – and 3.5 mm, also called mini jack. In addition, you can set various headphone modes in the settings. This lets you adapt the sound behavior to the respective headphone construction (open, closed, semi-open).
Otherwise, you can find all the important functions for selecting sounds, the metronome or recorder on the control panel. If you own an Android or iOS mobile device, install Kawai’s free PianoRemote app right away. Simply establish a connection via Bluetooth to control the functions of the electric piano. It really couldn’t be any easier!
The Shigeru Kawai EX concert grand piano is immortalized in many Kawai digital pianos, including the Kawai ES-120. With the 192-voice Harmonic Imaging sound generation, this sound seems brilliant and warm. And that even though this is the smallest variant of sound generation found in Kawai instruments. Play the piano sound with full grip – it is perfectly voiced over the entire range thanks to 88-key sampling.
Also, the piano sound accounts for many simulation details such as String Resonance, Damper Resonance and Damper Noise. You can also adjust all these details individually if you want to experiment with them. While the Kawai ES-120 may offer fewer settings than, for example, the larger CA models, a speciality found on all Kawai digital pianos is still noteworthy.
Using the “Voicing Type” function, it is possible to intonate the tonal behavior of the acoustic piano sound. The ES-120 offers four types: Normal, Dynamic, Mellow and Bright. The advantage: If you like to play with a certain sound, e.g. to recreate the restrained sound of a neo-classical piece, you can achieve a corresponding sound behavior with the Mellow setting.
You can further enhance the resulting softer sound response via the Touch Curve “Heavy”. By the way, the voicing is a testament to how flexible and expressive the piano sounds of Kawai digital pianos are in general.
For such and many other settings, we recommend the PianoRemote app. You can also adjust everything on the device itself, but only via key combinations written in the manual – awkward. With a tablet or smartphone, the PianoRemote app makes this much more fun. Even though the Kawai app is not as fancy and packed with functions as Yamaha’s Smart Pianist, Kawai does a really good job here. You can adjust the most important functions comfortably and save them as user sounds in the app.
Other functions such as tune and transpose, layers and effects or using the recorder or metronome are more diverse and transparent via the PianoRemote app. Nevertheless, it is nice that you can also control the recorder or the metronome directly via the instrument’s control panel.
A total of 25 sounds are stored in the memory of the Kawai ES-120. We can certainly count Diapason or Church Organ among home piano standards. However, the piano and electric piano sounds you get here are on stage piano level.
Vintage electric pianos like a very authentic playable “Fender Rhodes” (Tine Electric) or “Wurlitzer” piano (here Reed Electric) for staccato-like playing in typical 80s fashion, modern electric piano or a lively playable jazz organ, vibraphone and pad – you can already play a small gig with them. The quality of these sounds is really good (even more so if you consider the price). While proven to be assertive in a band context, they could also shine in solo passages.
While the ES-120 adopted the RH-C keyboard of the predecessor model, it is an improved version. Therefore, the playing feel you get is already excellent. New to the Kawai ES-120 is reduced keyboard noise.
You will hardly get a Graded Hammer action without key noises, especially with such compact instruments. Apparently, you can keep them in check – the Kawai ES-120 is a good example. But the further development also results in a significantly improved playing feel in terms of response. Playing with subtleties works well on the ES-120, not least thanks to the detailed sound generation.
While the predecessor ES-110 already offered Bluetooth MIDI, the new ES-120 lets you stream audio directly to the piano’s audio system – without cables. This is particularly practical, for example, when taking online piano lessons with a smartphone or tablet. Whereas previously you had to use a small mixer and and cables, now you only need to pair the two devices via Bluetooth.
Integrating any audio source, e.g. from a smartphone or tablet, has become standard as it is extremely practical in many situations. Pairing turned out to be quite easy in the test since Kawai kindly placed a dedicated button in the control panel.
Due to its low weight, the smallest ES naturally qualifies for mobile use. Choir rehearsals are possible for the répétiteur even without external amplification. However, the robustly manufactured mobile piano also works well when quickly set up for practice. Operating the ES-120 is so simple that you can get started right away. Using the PianoRemote app you can master the many detailed sound features – we recommend an iPad or Android tablet here. However, a smartphone will also do in a pinch. The only point of criticism is the small sustain pedal that comes with the Kawai S-120.
Fine-tuning of the piano sound, sturdiness, chic design of the case and last but not least the upgraded keyboard mechanics: all of this makes the smallest model of the Kawai ES series once again a solid entry-level electric piano at an attractive price. Given the quality of sound and keyboard, the Kawai ES-120 is also a tip for professionals looking for a compact and lightweight second instrument.
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Pros and Cons
Jörg Sunderkötter
Fine-tuning of the piano sound, sturdiness, chic case design, and last but not least the upgraded keyboard mechanics: all of this makes the smallest model of the Kawai ES series once again a solid entry-level electric piano at an attractive price.
ES-120 B : 599,00 €
TO THE OFFERHML-2 B Stand : 135,00 €
TO THE OFFERF-351 B : 99,00 €
TO THE OFFER
ES-120 B : 599,00 €
TO THE OFFERHML-2 B Stand : 135,00 €
TO THE OFFERF-351 B : 99,00 €
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