Roland HP704 & HP702 Digital Pianos – REVIEW | Feb 2024

The HP704 and HP702 pick up where Roland left off on their previous series. These replacement models offer some good features and both the HP702 & HP704 have the exact same digital features and piano sound chip with the exception of the HP702 having the Standard PHA4 all-plastic key action vs the HP704 having the upgraded PHA50 “hybrid” key action. The HP704 has wooden key sides and plastic key interior, and a better balanced movement. The HP702 has a basic internal speaker system with 2 smaller speakers and 28 watts of audio going through 2 amplifiers vs 60 watt total internal power in the HP704 going through 4 speakers and 4 amplifiers. 

So the HP704 sounds noticeably better, fuller, and more resonant compared to the HP702, but I expected that.It should sound better since it’s $900 more than the HP702. In my opinion, even though the HP702 does produce a good amount of volume when the master volume control is turned all the way up, the fullness and bass frequencies just not there as much as the HP704. It’s not until jump up to the HP704 at $2899 discount price do you get the better and bigger internal sound system. But for many people, depending on the size of your room and your sound expectations, both the HP702 and HP704 may be sufficient in terms of volume and sound quality.

The 4 major things that I recommend to people to look for in a new digital piano is (in this order) key action authenticity, piano sound realism, pedaling response, and internal speaker system. The key action is always the #1 thing that piano teachers and pro piano players care about in any piano and it is not different for a digital piano. As I already mentioned, the Roland HP702 has the entry level PHA4 Standard key action. The overall response on this key action is actually pretty good although the touch weight of the keys is a bit firm/heavy compared to others, but still good. However, the key action can be somewhat noisy when playing the keys more aggressively when then keys strike bottom of key travel and it sound sometimes like the keys are hitting wood with not much dampening material underneath the keys. But when you play the key action normally and medium to soft levels of key attack then this noise issue is not a problem.

The Standard PHA4 key action is also found in the low priced portable Roland FP-30X digital piano selling for $749 internet price whereas the next key action model up called the PHA50 “hybrid” action is in the the higher priced HP704 and in other Roland models above that one as well.So to get the more advanced key action you’ll need to be near the $3000 range whereas with Kawai digital pianos you can get a more advanced “hybrid” wood key action for around $3000. The Roland PHA50 key action uses thin wooden sides on the white keys while the larger portion inside the key is plastic.

Both key actions have the “escapement” function that tries to simulate the “feel” of a grand piano when playing the key very softly and slowly when you’ll notice a “bump” or notch as you are dressing the key. This type of thing is pretty cool to have although it’s only a simulation and not the real thing so if you don’t have it it’s not a big deal, but it’s still a nice feature.

A grand piano would have longer keys (as I just mentioned) so there would be a better movement and balance from the back of the key to the front and from one key to the next. Roland does have an upgraded key action called the “Hybrid Grand” that gets closer to a real grand piano in the way the keys move, but it’s still not there yet. But that key action is better and moves more naturally than the PHA50 key action and it (the Hybrid Grand) is found in the higher priced models LX706 and LX708 which I discuss in another review. If you are a beginning or intermediate student then the HP702 may be more than sufficient as a digital piano. But if you have the extra disposable income then I would recommend the HP704 be worth your consideration not only because of the better key action, but also because the HP704 has a better sounding internal speaker system, and it looks more upgraded as well.

The key tops of the piano keys are in these models are made out of a proprietary material which simulates the look and feel of the old acoustic piano keys which were made from organic material of real ebony and ivory so you get an upgraded “fingering/playing experience” because of these synthetic materials being applied to the tops of the keys which helps absorb sweat from the fingers and also makes the keys look a bit classier in my opinion.

One important thing I want to point out when it comes to key actions is, when shopping for a digital piano always keep in mind that the #1 component of any piano is  definitely the “key action” in the way the keys move up and down, the down-weight and upweight force of the keys, and also the length of the keys. You want the key to be as long as possible so you have the best front to back and side to side balanced movement as possible and you also want the “touch weight” of the key (the amount of force it takes to begin to press down the key) to be as close to 55 grams as possible. The Roland HP pianos have a touch down-weight measurement of about 63 grams (HP704) which is pretty good.

The length of the white key from front to back is just slightly less than 9″ which is better than other brands of digital pianos.However, as a comparison, on the Kawai competitive models CA401 ($3099) and CA501 ($3999), their piano key action has white keys that measure

That means the Kawai key action moves easier, quicker, the key is longer, and the key movement is more like that of a grand piano.Even the up-weight force is noticeably more realistic on the Kawai models coming in at approx 33 grams as opposed to a heavier and more forceful (approx) 46 grams of upward pressure on the Roland pianos. 12″ long which is over 3″ longer than the Roland keys which gives those Kawai white keys an even better balance and feel from front to back of the key than the Roland keys. The touch down-weight force required for playing the Kawai wood key action is approx 54 grams which is much closer to the standard acoustic grand piano measurement of 55 grams (measured on middle C with damper pedal down).

The acoustic piano sound that is simulated in these models comes from a technology called Physical Modeling. Unlike other digital piano companies who use the Sampling (recording) technology or a combination of Physical Modeling & Sampling to get and make the piano sound, Roland generates the sound from mathematical algorithms in “virtual reality” using computer generated piano sounds that did not actually get recorded from a real piano using microphones (sampling). The upside of virtual reality physical modeling technology is theoretically you can create a more realistic piano sound because you don’t have the limitations of microphones, recording equipment, and processing of those original piano samples (recordings).

But the downside of Physical Modeling is the fact that the piano sound is done “virtually” and so the limitation there is that is does not start out with the actual recorded piano sound. Therefore the physical modeled sound can have an artificial tone to it sometimes depending on the notes or chords you play, how you are playing the song, and the amount and duration of the pedal sustain you are using.

But for me, a real “longer” recorded piano sample from a real Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, Bosendorfer or other top name concert grand (which some people may call “old school” technology) is still a great way to reproduce a real acoustic piano sound using high quality microphones in a professional recording studio environment. However, if the digital piano manufacturer can “add” virtual physical modeling technology to the original sample (which a couple of digital piano companies are now doing) then that is best of both worlds because it gives you the benefits of both technologies and it reduces the chances of the reproduced piano being artificial and sounding fake.

I am a big fan of Roland music products and have used them professionally and in my home studio for many years. When I see and hear stuff that is a problem for me in certain digital pianos then it disappoints me when a good manufacturer did not do a better job given their abilities in the electronic music products world with regard to basic functionality. Another continued issue for me with the physical modeling technology that Roland uses in these pianos (and was also an issue in the previous models) is the fact that when you change from one piano sound setting to another, whether that is a single piano tone or mixed with another instrument sound…the sound immediately drops out and disappears when you make that change while playing a song live.  

If you want to do a new piano sound setting or different instrument sound in a different part of the song, when you change from one sound to next when pressing the sound buttons, the entire series of notes that you have just played and are sustaining will immediately cut out and stop playing. This is true wherever you happen to be in the song. In other words, there is no smooth sound transitioning when playing notes and changing sounds…your music just stops playing until you replay the notes again. The technical term for this issue is called “all notes off.”

This inability to transition from one piano sound to the next does not happen in most of the other major brands including Kawai, Yamaha, Korg, Casio, Dexibell, and others. A couple of those brands also use physical modeling technology although it is slightly different in the other brands. In prior models before Physical Modeling technology, Roland never had this lack of “smooth transition” from one sound to the next. This “all notes off” issue is particularly frustrating if you are playing in a performance at an event or even just at home, church, school, and you want to change those sounds at different times in different parts of your song. 

Since some of the instrument sounds are in stereo then you would divide the 384-note polyphony by 2 which would give you 192-note stereo polyphony which is way more than enough given that a piano only has 88 notes (keys). If you layer 2 sounds together then you divide that polyphony rating by 2 again because you have added a 2nd sound to you playing. You just do the math and then you know what you have. The bottom line is that you’ll never run out of polyphony note power in any of these Roland digital pianos.

I do like the pedaling response on both models and all 3 pedals work like a regular acoustic piano with the right sustain pedal, center sostenuto pedal, and left soft pedal. So those pedals do function correctly and the amount and length of the sustain is very long and quite good. However, I did notice from time to time that depending on the notes and chords being played, the sustain made the piano tone sound very saturated and overwhelming. This type of pedaling sustain experience can happen on regular acoustic pianos if holding the sustain pedal down too long…I am not talking about that. I am talking when just using the pedal normally that the sustained tone sounds a bit artificial from time to time, like there is too much sustain. This is somewhat of a random occurrence and you probably will not notice it if you don’t play piano well or have a lot of experience playing real acoustic pianos like I do.

But apart from that occasional artificial sustained piano sound experience, the tone is very good, the pedals work right, the pedals offer half-damper/continuous sustain so that you get different levels (length of time) for sustain and the sustain time is very long like a real piano. The left soft pedal works well and the middle pedal (sostenuto) is something that most people don’t use or will not use because that pedal is typically used by very advanced players for only specific kinds of music.

There is a concert piano tone, ballad, piano tone, mellow piano tone, and bright piano tone. You can edit those 4 piano tones through a feature called “Roland Piano Designer.” That’s actually a good name for this feature because it allows you to modify the piano sound and “design it” in a different way than what is on the 4 default piano sounds. Keep in mind that all of these digital features including piano designer features, recording features, instrument library features, control panel features, connectivity features, etc, are identical in both models HP702 and HP704…there are no differences. Again, the actual differences are in cabinet design and size, internal speaker system, and key action.

The Piano Designer editing features include the general editing functions on all models include Brilliance, Touch Sensitivity, and then a list of additional individual piano editing functions such as Lid, Key Off Noise,

The added ambience tends to thicken up the sound a bit depending on how much of it you use so that the instrument sounds aren’t so sterile and dry as opposed to more live sound with room reverberation so it is important to have in my opinion. As I previously mentioned there are are many other effects settings within the Piano Designer function but the ambience effect is separate from those other things and is a function that you will likely want to use more often depending on the depth of the effect needed for the kind of music you are playing.

Most (but not all) digital pianos these days at about $1000 on up has a number of common digital features including layering/mixing 2 instrument sounds together, splitting 2 different sounds with one for the left hand and one for the right hand, being able to have 2 piano students/players playing on the piano at the same time using a duo/twin piano mode to play the same song at the same time and also playing in the same octaves with the 88 keys electronically becoming two 44-note keyboards.

Most of these digital pianos can also digitally transpose the key you are in and go up or down in 1/2-steps without actually playing different notes. So if you want the piano to be in your vocal range when playing a song but the key (range) of that song is not in your vocal range, then you can move the key electronically up or down in 1/2 steps to get it into your vocal range without actually having to learn the song in a different key.

 You can also change the touch sensitivity of the keys to electronically be more or less sensitive to your touch as well as change the brightness/brilliance of the piano tone so that it can be more mellow or noticeably sharper/brighter in tone. This feature can be useful depending on the type of music you are playing. A feature that most digital pianos do not have is the Roland “registration feature.” Roland has 36 digital “memories” called registrations which allows you to save 36 of your favorite settings including any favorite layers, splits, transposed keys, brilliance settings, and/or other setting you have created that you would like to save.

These 36 memory settings do come in handy so that you don’t have to always recreate your favorite setting when you want to use it. have 36 memory slots is a very nice feature. However, when you change from one memory setting to another, if that setting contains any piano sound then you’ll still get that abrupt transition from one sound to another that I had mentioned before. So that does not change but at least you can save settings and Roland gives you a lot of digital memory slots to do that, which is a good thing.

Roland has built-in digital recorder functions in both of these models which includes a 3-track MIDI song recording and 1-track audio wav file recording system. These types of recording features are very useful and the Roland pianos are definitely more sophisticated in this way whereas some brands have only 1-track MIDI recording and no audio recording even though audio wav file recording is becoming fairly standard in many digital piano brands and models all the way down to digital pianos under $1000. These Roland pianos can also play back audio MP3 song files which is great because that’s the way iTunes and other songs are recorded and saved…in the MP3 format.

Roland pianos cannot record MP3 song files however whereas other brands can do this including Kawai digital pianos in this price range along with also being able to record and playback MIDI files and the audio wav files.  All recorded and playback song files can be loaded onto a USB flash drive for storage and song retrieval for instant playback so that a person can play along with the recorded songs, which is a lot of fun to do. I appreciate the control panel round buttons that are flush with the panel and operate easily and intuitively, especially as compared to other brands.

The internal speaker system of any digital piano can really “make or break” the sound that you hear. Even though there may be a very good digital piano sound chip in the piano, if the speaker system cannot output that sound well with a good frequency range, good bass response as well as clarity, and also robust tone at lower volumes, then your piano playing experience can be noticeably lacking in that area. The HP702 has 2 smaller speakers going through 2 smaller amplifiers at 28 watts total. Although this piano can put out enough volume for an average to larger size room, the richness and fullness of the piano tone is diminished compared to the HP704.

A coaxial speaker is actually 2 speakers in one with the main speaker and then a small tweeter type speaker attached to the center of the larger speaker…it’s like 2 speakers in one and there are two of these in the HP704. But…that model is $1000 more than the HP702 so for that money it should be a noticeable upgrade. Since the piano sound chip is identical on both models then that means both models sound exactly the same through stereo headphones. So if you don’t care as much about the internal sound system and having it be bigger and fuller and you don’t feel you need the upgraded PHA50 key action in the HP704, then the HP702 with the PHA4 Standard key action may be the better option for you.

In terms of special connectivity features which would allow you output the piano to external speakers, use the piano internal speaker system to hear outside audio devices, connect with computers and iPads, etc, connect with headphones, or connect with Bluetooth wireless, the HP702 and 704 have it all.When it comes to Bluetooth wireless connectivity, you can play your external device music library from your mobile phone or tablet through the piano speaker system wirelessly which is very cool You can also connect wirelessly to an external device (mobile phone, tablet) to use special MIDI educational apps to help learn the piano, and you can even get digital sheet music for your tablet and control the page turning of that music with one of the pedals on the piano when using Bluetooth pedal “page turning” so that you can have a hands free experience assuming you have connected with an app on your tablet that allows you to do that.

The connectivity array that is mounted underneath the left side of the piano also has a port for a USB flashdrive for loading music song filesinto the piano or saving recorded songs that you have done on the piano. Also, if you wanted to make the HP702 piano sound bigger and fuller you could connect a set of powered monitors to the piano through the audio outputs and that would definitely help the piano, but it would cost you about $300 to $400 to do that. There are audio outputs, stereo audio input, USB/MIDI output, 2 stereo headphone jacks, etc.

You can isolate the right and left hands when learning the piano parts of those songs and also be able to add reprogrammed accompaniment with adds some fun orchestral background to the piano parts. The Piano Designer app lets you edit and control some of the Piano Designer functions I talked about earlier (touch, brilliance, resonance, ambience, etc), but instead of attempting to do everything though the piano user display screen and control panel buttons, you just do it through the app which is a lot more intuitive  and fun to use.

The cabinets and control panels of the HP704 and HP702 really look attractive and Roland has done a great job with its design and construction of these  two models in my opinion. They look good, are well built, have very nice looking music racks and sliding key covers, and come in a variety of  attractive cabinet finishes. The control panel on the pianos is also very sleek, well designed, functional, and fairly easy to access because the control panel is centered in front of you rather than off to the left side of the keyboard like many other brands do it. The user display screen has been upgraded to a bright, easy to read OLED digital screen as opposed to the previous models which used the older back-lit screens.

Based on my vast experience playing these kinds of digital pianos for many years along with other brands, generally speaking these pianos last for many, many years and in most cases well over 20 years, The warranty covers parts and labor for factory defects and that’s where the limitation is…it has to be a defect and not just wear & tear or problem caused by an outside source.

Overall I think both Roland HP702 and HP704 pianos are good options to consider in the $2000 to $3000 price range because they are well built, have some compelling features, and they look good and should last a long time. They are the same in most ways as I mentioned earlier, but since the key action, internal sound system, and cabinet design and size are the big differences in the HP704, you’ll have to decide if it is worth it to you to spend more money to get the HP704. Also, the HP704 is available not only in the matte finishes but also in a polished ebony gloss black finish which adds approx $600 to the piano cost. The HP702 does not have that option.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.