UPDATED Piano Review – May 19, 2014
Omega pianos is a digital piano brand few people in the US have heard of before. They are manufactured and assembled by a Chinese company called Kaino Musical Instrument Company and this company has been producing digital instruments for about 26 years. I know that some people think that buying pianos manufactured in China might not be a good thing, but Yamaha, Kawai, and other top Japanese brands have many pianos made in China these days, and they produce very good pianos. So it’s not where they are made, but how they are made and the materials they use that makes the difference. The Omega Piano Company’s U.S. headquarters is in California as are Kawai, Roland, & Yamaha’s US headquarters too.
Omega Baby Grand polished ebony
The 4′ baby grand model LX802 and the upright style model LX505 and they are the identical pianos except for cabinet style and speaker system placement. The small baby grand piano version is visually attractive with its wood interior and authentic cabinet design. Although the baby grand size, design, and construction are always more expensive to produce in comparison to upright style digital pianos, the LX802 price is considerably less money than full featured digital baby grands from Kawai, Yamaha, and Roland. However, the Omega instrument sound and accompaniment style technology is not going to get ahead of the other brands anytime soon because of its very basic nature in that way. The features that I liked about these Omega pianos are listed below:
- 7″ color touch screen – This touch screen is big, responds to a light finger touch for easy navigation (just like the much more expensive Kawai CP & Roland RM pianos) is beautiful to look at, and displays useful and easy to understand user info. However, the touch screen can sometimes be a bit unresponsive depending on how you press it.
- 128-note polyphony – This is a good amount of piano tone memory as compared to other pianos in its price range and equals that of many of the Yamaha & Roland digital pianos. Larger amounts of polyphony memory is generally helpful for better piano reproduction as well as proper playback & recording of multi-track songs which demand more note memory, such as higher quality General MIDI song files.
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| LX505 polished ebony |
- A smooth playing Fatar graded hammer key action from Italy – This is not the typical lower quality Chinese key actions that I have had problems with before, but Fatar is a well known and Italian company that produces a variety of key actions with some being better than others. The key action on this model is good but it is also a bit noisy when the keys are going up & down.
- Lighted Key Panel follow along teaching system – Up until now, only Yamaha Clavinova CVP digital pianos have had this popular feature and it can be very useful for both children and adults. The built-in panel lights wait for you and show you what notes to play as the music is playing from the internal songs or which be inserted into the piano by using a USB flashdrive. You follow along at your own speed and the lights lead you to the next note using a 2-step teaching process. It’s actually fun to use.
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| Display screen |
It has a 7-track recording & 16 track playback system for General MIDI songs. This is especially useful for music education and accompaniment songs while learning to play and 7 tracks is more than many of the other pianos out there with only 2-6 tracks.
- 128 instrumental sounds for a full compliment of sounds for playing all popular forms of music. The piano sound is pretty good and the instrument sounds are OK with some being better than others.
- 400 fingered & one fingered chord accompaniment styles of music (with drum patterns) for fun play for both kids & adults. Actually this is the least favorite part of the piano for me. The interactive accompaniments are really very basic and not at all like some of the name brand models. I have played all of the accompaniments on these two pianos and many of them sound very toy-like…not musical and this is likely due to those sounds being designed and/or made in China as opposed to Italy, Japan, or US.
- Twin piano for 4-hand duet play (this splits the piano keyboard into two identical 44-note keyboards for duet play.
- 5 levels of adjustable key touch sensitivity
- Sound Layer and split keyboard functions
- 8 reverb & 8 chorus types of effects
- USB output to computer for access to music programs and music educational technology as well as a microphone input to sing through the piano (incl mic volume control)
- 3 built-in piano style foot pedals
- 80 watt/4 speaker built-in audio system
- Beautiful premium polished ebony cabinets (a satin brown mahogany cabinet is available in the LX505 model) with traditional grand piano “slow close” acoustic grand piano style key cover (big upgrade over most digital pianos)
In others words, these pianos are packed with a lot of technology, with the sound and feel being overall nice, and the cabinets are especially attractive in their high polished ebony furniture cabinets as well as the optional satin brown mahogany finish in the LX505 (left pic with lid closed). In fact, the height of the Omega LX505 upright style piano is 38″ tall not counting the height of the music rack which is another 8″ tall (total 46″ tall with music rack up). This height is even taller than Yamaha or Kawai digital pianos which then gives the Omega LX505 an even more impressive acoustic piano look. Also, the cabinet of the LX505 is unusual for a vertical digital piano as it is an “all-in-one” acoustic piano cabinet and does not come apart like a traditional digital piano where the stand separates from the piano top. However, this weight and size does make the pianos somewhat heavy as opposed to some of the other brands and models. The down side of that is you would not be able to move or transport it as easily as you would another digital piano because of it’s extra weight and size, but if that is not an issue, then you’ll appreciate that difference in this attractive piano.
Although Omega by Kaino is not a name brand in the US at this point, I think they mayl eventually give some competition to brands like Casio, Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland, although they still have a long way to go. These new pianos seem to be built well, but as far as reliability goes, they are yet untested and I found a few things on it that were at times a bit “glitchy” with regard to the electronics, and pedaling quality.
Although Omega pianos seem to be good instruments for the money, Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, and Samick are still much more advanced & realistic when it comes to key actions, chord arrangement styles, and various features in their digital grand piano models, but some of them are also more money too. But if you have the money and the ear for hearing the difference, then the other brands put out some amazing products and I would recommend you try them out before you make your buying decision.
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| LX505 satin brown |
As the old saying goes “you don’t get something for nothing,” but if you want nice digital piano in a lower price range than the other more well known brands, then I would recommend you consider either the Omega baby grand LX802 or upright style digital piano LX505. Their attractive acoustic piano style cabinets will look good in your home and the music that comes out of them will likely bring piano playing joy to your life and/or the lives of your family. Please email me direct for factory availability and discount price info on these Omega pianos.
*Samick 4′ Digital GrandOne more brand to consider when it comes to lower priced, but attractive furniture style cabinets that play & sound great would be the Samick brand. I have done a detailed review on the Samick digital grand pianos and would encourage you to read it over while doing your research. In fact there are some aspects of this piano I like better than the Omega brand (including key action and sounds) and the Samick company is a very well known acoustic piano manufacturer with various popular brands as well as as building high quality acoustic & electric guitars. Their digital baby grand pianos also look great and have some pretty impressive technology and amazing sounds. Go to the following link for more info: Samick Digital Grand Pianos.
If you want more piano info and LOWER PRICES than internet or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.
where can i buy this piano?
If you live in the US you may email me directly for more info on these pianos and where to get them
I live in Germany. Do you know, how I can get one (LX505) here?
Outside of the US, I do not know where this brand would be available
Hi Tim, thanks for the review… how does Omega compare with Roland and Kurzweil? Also which model will be the best choice for my money? I live in Southern CA and went to the local distributor, I liked the piano but I wasn't comfortable with the sales person so any second opinion will be much appreciated!
i an buy the LX802, but it is out of order. The Display is o.k. but, there´s no Sound……what`s the matterß
I am not a repair technician so I would know the answer to your question. However, all digital piano brands are subject to occasional problems. If you plug in a pair of headphones to the piano and you hear sound, then the issue is likely with the internal speaker system, wiring, or part. If you do not hear sound through the headphones then the issue can also be something else such as a circuit board, etc. You would need a repair technician to do an accurate diagnosis so that it can be repaired.