Kawai ES520 – REVIEW | Digital Piano 2024 | Low Price Here

What Kawai has done is to take various popular features and functions from some of their other newer digital piano models over the last year or two and put them all together in a lower price range to make this new portable instrument. At $1399 price

(not including optional furniture stand and furniture triple pedal-bar) the ES520 now fits between the low priced ES120 at $949 and a higher priced version at $1899 that is not available right now. This gives the Kawai company 3 portable ES models instead of just the 2 ES price points they have had for awhile. 

In other words when layering piano & strings together or harpsichord & strings for example, you’ll want to use your piano sustain/damper pedal in a normal way with the piano sound fading out (decaying) like it normally would. However, you may want the layered strings to fully and continually be heard while the pedal is being held down which makes the strings sound a lot more

natural as a backing to the piano sound. As a comparison, with Yamaha brand digital pianos the strings always fade out like a piano does and that is not necessarily the way real string violin, viola, and cello players play their instruments when playing along with a piano, or even by themselves. 

One of the cool things about digital pianos is that you can “orchestrate” your music in real time which means that if you are playing a song you may want to add or subtract instrument sounds while you are playing so that you can get more variety in your music. As an example, if you are playing a song using a full grand piano sound and then on the next verse in the song you want a more mellow grand piano sound, when you go to select that next grand piano sound button the first grand piano sound you were using smoothly transitions to the next grand piano sound without any gaps or breaks in the sound when you go from one sound to the next while playing a song. Or when you are playing any type of grand piano sound on the ES520 and you want to add/mix another instrument sound on top of that while you are playing such as strings, choir, organ, etc, the 2nd instrument sound is smoothly layered and heard with the grand piano sound you had on and those 2 sounds combine together seamlessly without any interruptions as you are playing in real time. 

Speaking of control over the sounds, Kawai gives you full specific editing control over the stereo acoustic piano sounds with a feature called “Virtual Technician.” Kawai has had this feature for a number of years on past models as well as on many current models of digital pianos and the ES520 is no exception. Virtual technician allows you to edit and customize many aspects of the piano sound by being able to individually edit organic elements that you would normally find in real acoustic pianos. In fact, Kawai has a chart of all the Virtual Technician parameters such as touch, voicing which adjusts the tonal character, string resonance, overall tuning, stretch

tuning, temperament, key volume, topboard adjustment which adjusts the virtual “top-lid” up & down of the grand piano (just like you would on a real grand piano), and so-on. In other words, even though the factory stereo piano sound samples in this model are very good and probably enough for many people, if you would personally like to modify those piano sounds in various ways for “your” ears then you can do that and it actually not difficult to do…and it really does work in some very cool ways. Once you make those modifications and you are done editing then you can save it into memories for fast recall later on.

So let’s move on to key action which for most people is the number one thing they are concerned about when shopping for a new digital piano, regardless of the price range. Some digital pianos have a heavy, clunky key action while others have key actions that are too light, while still others have key actions that are sluggish or very uncomfortable and that makes it difficult to get good control over the sound. If the piano sound in the piano model you are looking at is good but the key action response is bad then that can be a real problem. So when shopping for a good digital piano the 3 main elements in any piano should all be good including piano sound, key action, and pedaling. In the case of the Kawai ES520, the key action in this model feels natural, responsive, and has nice movement to it. In other words it feels very comfortable, moves up & down nicely with impressive down-weight and upweight measurements with down-weight measured at middle C being 57 grams which is extremely close to a good acoustic grand piano down-weight measurement such as Yamaha and Steinway concert grands I have played. 

You definitely don’t want the down-weight measurement (in grams) to be much higher than 70 grams or so because then it really starts getting too heavy/firm for most people after that. As a comparison the Yamaha P-515 portable digital piano at $1599 measures about 85 grams of static down-weight (touch-weight) at middle C which is considered very heavy and can cause wrist, hand, and finger fatigue when playing the keys for longer periods of time, especially for beginner through intermediate players and people with muscle or movement issues (such as arthritis). So why would a good manufacturer such as Yamaha make a heavy key action that would get in the way of your playing and comfort…because of cost. 

But as for this Kawai ES520, the key action is really very impressive and feels great and I enjoy playing it. Being a long time experienced piano teacher, a quality piano key action is very important to me so I pay close attention to it. I know that some of my piano teacher colleague may like a slightly firmer key action because acoustic grand pianos are all different from each other with some key actions a bit lighter and some a bit firmer when you press down on the keys. On the ES520 with Kawai’s RHC2 key action (Responsive Hammer Compact II), the key action touch resistance (touch-weight) can be digitally adjusted within the Virtual Technician settings of the piano for a firmer key weight and response. 

Hence, when you play the ES520 on normal touch curve setting then that’s the way the keys and piano sound would normally behave. Once you change the touch setting  to “heavy,” then the keys seem to “feel” heavier and the sound comes in more fully once you play the keys harder. It’s really a mental illusion because the physical weight of the keys or “physical resistance” don’t change at all. It is all done digitally with touch control settings and it works well. So even though the ES520 key action is on the normal “lighter side,” which is the way many acoustic grand pianos behave and lots of players like it that way, you can change the touch setting to make

the keys appear to “feel” firmer and the result is just like you actually have a firmer key action. 

The better digital piano manufacturers are always trying to produce the best key actions that they can make at a certain price point so that you will get the most natural piano playing experience possible. However, the more realistic the playing experience gets with natural key action movement, sometimes the key action noise level goes up a bit because the manufacturers are trying to reduce friction in the key movement as well as not having too much padding inside the key action which can cause the action to be sluggish and not move and respond good. So that’s the dilemma…trying to produce the most realistic piano key action possible in different price ranges while keeping the key action noise to a minimum. It is important to note that there are also some really bad key actions out there in a variety of digital pianos (usually the “off-brands”) which I call “Piano Shaped Objects” (PSO) and those pianos not only have extremely loud key action noise but the actions themselves feel very fake in those models. 

Keeping with key action for just a moment, the Kawai ES520 does not have the synthetic ivory and ebony keytops and does not have the escapement-let-off feature that some other digital pianos have. You may have read about these 2 things on other digital pianos and the manufacturers claim that you “just cannot live without them,” But in reality on most real acoustic pianos there is no escapement/let-off feeling when pushing down the keys down and those keys also do not have ivory or ebony on the keytops. The keytops in regular acoustic pianos are almost all white plastic keys and a matte finish on the black keys. The E520 has smooth matte white keys and smooth matte black keys and they feel very nice to play and I like them a lot. Yes the “synthetic ivory” material they are using on some models (such as the Kawai ES920) is nice to have but in reality will likely not make a huge difference in the outcome of your music and you could likely live fine without it. 

In many digital pianos these days the key actions can either have triple sensor key contacts under each key or 2-sensor electronics under each key. With triple sensor electronics you would have better key repetition response when playing more complex music as compared to the 2-sensor key contacts. Overall I find that even 2-sensor key contacts do a very good job at sensing where the key is located as its going up and down and I have played key actions when that type of technology and not had issues in playing my music. For me it is more about the quality of those sensors, where they are located under each key, and how they work. 

When playing any piano, the pedals are very important to the overall piano playing experience, especially the sustain damper pedal. The Kawai ES520 has 3 pedal options including the included single piano pedal that comes with it, an optional portable triple pedal unit, and an optional triple pedal-bar furniture unit which would connect to the optional furniture stand for the ES520. The single pedal that comes with the piano is by far the best single pedal unit I have ever played that comes with a portable digital piano. This chrome single pedal is heavy-duty, is quiet when pressing it down and coming back up, is full length piano

size, and also triggers the half-damper variable sustain effect where you get a variation of sustain time rather than the standard cheaper plastic on & off pedals that normally come with many portable digital pianos. 

But as for pedals on a digital piano, for most people they are mainly concerned with the sustain pedal. The most important aspect of the “sustain pedal” is the physical pedal movement response as well as the sustain and decay quality and time of the

stereo piano piano. After playing the ES520 for quite a few hours I found the sustain pedal playing experience to be extremely impressive. It offered me great control of the piano sound as well as big resonant piano sustain quality, piano sustain volume, and extended sustain-decay time. In other words, my music did not sound choppy are artificial because the sustained piano sound was full and rich and had long decay time at middle C of approx 14 seconds when you held the pedal or key down without letting go. That’s actually a fairly long time and definitely more like a real acoustic piano, although the sustain-decay time on an acoustic piano is longer than that on middle C. 

The single sustain pedal as well as the triple pedal units are also preprogrammed to trigger a half-damper effect which simulates what a sustain pedal will do on a real piano when it comes to getting a variable amount of sustain depending on how far down you press the pedal. There are some digital pianos that have sustain pedals that are only on & off pedals. In other words, the sustain on those pedals is all the on and its maximum amount of it’s all the way off…there is not in-between. On real pianos depending on how far down you press the damper pedal you can get a variable amount of sustain, not just on & off. 

So far I have mainly talked about the piano playing aspect of the ES520 and what you can expect from it along with the other non-piano sounds. But the ES520 does more than that including recording what you play, giving you the ability to layer/mix 2 instrument sounds together which I previously mentioned and that most digital pianos can do, and digitally split the keyboard into 2 regions and place one instrument sound on the left hand and another

instrument sound of your choosing on the right hand. As an example, you can put a guitar or upright bass sound on the left hand and a piano sound on the right hand and use built-in realistic sounding drum rhythm patterns like a jazz drummer and then you’ll have yourself a jazz trio setup. 

There is also a digital metronome for rhythm and timing training, a 4-hand play function that allows 2 students to play the same music at the same time by splitting the 88 keys digitally into 2 44-note keyboards with the same octaves, editable studio quality reverb and special effects to make the instruments sound even more realistic. Those effects settings are definitely pro quality in the ES520 including chorus, tremolo, phaser, etc. But something else that is near & dear to my heart is a dedicated transpose-modulation button on the front panel so that you can quickly change key anywhere in the song such as going from one verse to another, modulating at the chorus verse, or wanting to replay the song a 1/2 step up but still play the same notes, which some digital piano shoppers ask about. 

I can tell you for a fact and from 1st hand experience that having a dedicated transpose button on a digital piano that quickly allows you to change the key your in but while you play the same notes is a really big deal for a lot of people, especially those that cannot read music or otherwise play in a variety of keys. Most digital pianos, especially those in traditional furniture cabinets, don’t have a dedicated, easy access “transpose button.” In music, a lot of

pro singers and players like to play in a key that is more pleasing to their ear or is better for your vocal range so they want to transpose the song electronically to a different key rather than learn to actually play in that key which for some musicians is difficult to do. The ES520 has a very nice transpose feature with a dedicated button on the control panel so that you just hold it down and then press a value button near the display screen and you can move that song into any key, just like that. Or…you can hold down the transpose button and then press a key on the keyboard for the “key” you want to be in and then instantly you are in that key…supper fast. 

A useful feature on any digital piano is being able to record yourself and play it back. This type of function is on almost all digital pianos these days in some fashion. Sometimes pianists and students use the recording system to record their lesson or their practice song so they have a chance to hear it played back and then can critique their playing to see if and how many mistakes they are making allowing them to better correct those mistakes. The recording features also allow you to play live along with that recording so it is like having two people play along with the same song which can be fun. Some digital pianos have more recording features than others and those features can vary quite a bit. 

In the ES520 the recording functions are on the simplistic side offering a 1-track MIDI recording function which means the piano will record your left & right hand playing all at one time and then you can play it back instantly from the piano at any tempo. You can save up to 3 recordings from the piano into internal memory and also off-load them onto a USB flash drive and then later

insert that flash drive into the piano so that you can retrieve those songs at a later date if you wish. 

Also, on some digital pianos the recording features include the ability to have audio MP3 multi-track and 1-track audio wav file recordings of what you have played and those recordings can be taken off the piano in a USB flash drive and played on another device like a computer. Those recorded audio songs will sound identical to what you played on the piano…and that can be useful to some people. Many digital pianos now have audio (uncompressed) wav file recorders and some also have MP3 (iTunes type) recorders and playback features which the Kawai ES520 does not have. So if you need extensive recording capability built-in to your digital piano including 16-track multi-track MIDI recording and playback, then the ES520 is definitely not the piano for you in that way. 

Many digital pianos have the ability to play MIDI song files from the internet. A MIDI song file is a song that you can download from the internet (some free and some you pay for) and then you can put those songs on a USB flashdrive and play them through the ES520. There are 2 kinds of MIDI song files which include the basic format of the song you have selected playing one sound that you are using (piano, electric piano, strings, etc.) and that sound is what you will hear when the song plays back. If the MIDI song file has multi-track instruments like a full band or orchestra that would normally be in classical or

pop music and have many instruments playing correctly at one time, the ES520 cannot do that correctly because it does not have General MIDI full instrumentation in it. 

As a piano teacher I am really into “rhythm & timing” and how important that is to becoming a good musician and piano player. Without good timing and rhythm a persons music will sound artificial, out of sync, and even robotic. Music is supposed to have “feeling” and that feeling is supposed to be natural and free and expressive. Staying “with the beat” is so very important so when you have some digital tools that help with that, it can be very useful. A digital recorder can help in that way because you can hear yourself later and critique what you’ve done to improve it. But beyond that a “drummer” playing in different musical styles and tempos can also be very helpful because it allows you to play along with drummer and be able to learn different musical styles and learn to “feel” the beat. 

To that end the ES520 has a built-in drummer in it which can play 100 different styles including Jazz, rock, Latin, country, swing, waltz, dance, march, etc. and then you can play your music with the drummer. The 100 drum patterns give you a lot of variety to play and learn different styles of music and have fun doing it. Without the drummer in the piano then all you have to help with

“timing” is the built-in digital metronome which most digital pianos have. A metronome is very useful and necessary to help beginner students stay up with their music lessons and get a better idea of what’s going on in the music that has 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/8 timing, etc and this model definitely has one with a dedication metronome button for easy access. But later after the metronome has been used for the

beginner, once your skill level improves then you can go up to the built-in drummer playing the same music but being able to better express yourself rhythmically in a way that allows you to more “feeling” into your playing. 

One thing I found to be very cool in this model and super helpful (especially for people like me who likes to use a lot of different sounds and settings in the piano) is the “registration” feature. Generally speaking when it comes to digital pianos and also many organs, the word “registration” means storage memory. You can save your customer setups in the registration storage memories so that you can quickly select them the next time you want them without having to manually setup your sounds, effects, drummer, etc all over again. You just save it into the memory buttons on the piano for quick recall later on. There are 28 memory registrations on the ES520 and for additional storage beyond that you can save them onto a USB flash drive for more capacity if you are a pro musician and performing and needing a lot of preset custom setups to move from one song to the next quickly. 

OK, so now let’s talk about Bluetooth wireless connectivity which is a big deal for some people out there. The Kawai ES520 has 2 types of Bluetooth wireless which includes MIDI and Audio. They are separate functions, and typically you would not use them together. MIDI allows you to connect an external device such as a computer, iPad, etc without needing a USB cable. Even though connecting with a cable is not difficult and works fine, have Bluetooth wireless MIDI simply eliminates the need for extra cables and that’s a good as long as Bluetooth transmission is working well because sometimes that technology can have glitches but overall it works good. MIDI connectivity allows an iPad music app for example to respond to your keyboard playing so that your keyboard triggers sounds or commands and interacts with that app. There are piano educational and instrument apps that are interactive and respond to your keyboard playing in real time so that can be very important depending on what computer programs or apps you are using.

Speaking of headphones, Kawai has created a headphone effects technology called SHS which simulates in your ears what it is like when you are listening to the music without headphones on and where you might be sitting or standing. You can position the headphone sound to come out dead center in between your 2 ears, or in a wide dispersion like you are hearing the music in a wider stereo field when the stereo imaging is pushed further out from your ears which is very cool, and also it can create a sound image through your headphones that makes it sound like like your playing is more in front of you as if you are standing out in front of the keyboard. So this SHS technology is pretty cool and is useful depending on what position in your ears that you want hear to your music. I think most people would just want to put on a normal stereo field but if you do want something beyond that option then the SHS technology will give it to you and it works with any wired stereo headphones.

In additional to the SHS technology for headphones, Kawai has a 2nd digital technology called “headphone type” that applies to any corded headphones/earphones plugged in to the piano which gives you the ability to digitally change your headphone sound into other type of headphones. In other words, all headphones are different and they produce a different sound depending on the headphones and your ears. It would be like comparing one speaker system against another one and the different type of sound that they produce. With the Kawai “headphone type” technology as an example you can change a closed ear bassy, more muted sounding set of headphones into a clear in-ear stereo earbud experience without actually getting new headphones or earbuds. 

The Kawai “headphone type” technology can simulate ear canal ear buds, inner-ear earbuds, fully closed headphones, open headphones, semi-open headphones, and normal stereo headphones…and they really do change the quality of the piano sound you are hearing through your headphones. For people who may be using headphones for private practice, this feature can come in handy especially if your current set of stereo headphones is not producing the type of headphone sound that you really want. So for instance, an in-ear headphone type sound is more clear and less bassy than a closed ear type of headphone sound when using this technology in the ES520. For many people you will likely just want to use your headphones and the standard normal setting, but for others you may want to change the setting to something else to get you a sound that may be more to your liking through your headphones. All of this will work with any corded stereo headphones. 

When it comes to “sound,” that can be a very personal thing because everyone’s ears are different and what may be low power and quiet to one person may be loud to the next person, or what may be a more muffled sound to someone could be a brighter sound to someone else, or vice-versa. But one thing is for sure, having an underpowered internal speaker system in a digital piano is definitely not a good thing. You want plenty of power so that the sound can project out of the piano in a natural way without that sound being tinny, thin, or artificial. Unfortunately there are a number of portable digital pianos out there (and cabinet digital pianos too) with underpowered and/or lower quality speaker systems. The surprising thing about the Kawai ES520 is how good it sounds through its speaker system right out of the box. You just power it up, put the master volume control on medium, and start playing…and what you hear is pretty amazing. This brand new 40 watt, 2-way stereo speaker internal speaker system inside the ES520 puts out a piano sound with big volume, depth, and richness that I definitely did not expect. It sounds as if you are playing a higher priced cabinet model digital piano but you’re not.  

What makes the ES520 speaker system so good is the fact that it was designed and made in partnership with the Onkyo Audio electronics company of Japan. So rather than Kawai do 100% of the audio components in their digital pianos, they partnered with the Onkyo company of Japan to come up with an upgraded internal audio system that would give this ES520 model a sound quality and volume that you would otherwise not expect to hear in this price range and they definitely got the job done in an impressive way. I really almost could not believe my ears on how big, bold, and clean the piano sound was when I played this piano and I only had the volume half-way. The sound was very balanced from bass octaves to treble octaves and everywhere in-between and the clarity and range was really good. The other surprising thing to I discovered when playing this instrument through this new Onkyo internal speaker system was how much control I had over the dynamics and intensity of the piano sound. 

To add to and customize the speaker system listening experience, Kawai has a special digital feature in the ES520 called “tone control” which allows you to quickly customize and alter the sound coming out speaker system with some instant preset sound adjustments. These tone control settings adjust the EQ frequencies in a general and specific way which is very impressive considering how

good the speaker system already sounds. However, if you want a “punchier” bass sound coming out of the speakers without affecting the other frequencies, then you can select “bass boost” which instantly cranks up the bass response even more than it normally is and you can definitely tell and feel the difference. Or perhaps you want to adjust the sound in other ways such as increase or decrease overall “brilliance,” reduce the bass frequencies with an instant “bass cut,” or perhaps you want to add more volume to the speakers or make the sound more mellow? 

We’re nearly done with this long review (aren’t you glad?:) so now we’re going to talk about the user interface control panel and OLED display screen. In the world of digital pianos, in past years the user interface in many cases was not user friendly, they were difficult to navigate and hard to find functions & features. These days with other devices such as phones and tablets, we have become used to very beautiful color touch screens and an intuitive user experience when searching for functions and features, and this has been a very welcome change from days long ago in digital electronic products. So our expectations have gone way up when it comes to working with digital devices. Although the Kawai ES520 does not have a color touch screen, what it does have is generally more than enough in my opinion when it comes to understanding and navigating the functions and features of this instrument. 

Kawai is using a new OLED screen technology which is different than those of the past because the new (O)LED technology now offers a much brighter and clearer display of the letters and numbers in the screen and it is much easier to see, whether daytime or night. This is a big improvement from past LCD and LED display screens that were more difficult to look at. The screen itself is in the center of the control panel just above the panel buttons which is a very practical place to have it and be able to see it. It is also larger than past display screens in Kawai portable digital pianos, so that is a good thing. 

Below the OLED screen are the general panel buttons which are good sized round buttons with an indentation inside each one for a nice tactile experience. The buttons are made out of hard plastic for durability and are very easy to press down and have a click to them when you have engaged that button. Nearly all of those buttons have a bright blue little light showing through the top of each button to let you know that function/function is in use and also makes it much easier to know those buttons are being used when you’re in a dark room or at night. There are different specified buttons grouped

together of buttons along the panel. There are 8 instrument buttons in the instrument sound group within the line-up of control panel buttons just above the keyboard, so they are easy to access. 

If you want to layer 2 instrument sounds together like organ & strings, piano & organ, electric piano and acoustic piano, etc, you just press 2 sound group buttons together at the same time and then you get those 2 sounds mixed together. You can even change the relative volume of those two sounds and control it when you press either of the value buttons next to the display screen…also quick and easy to do and works well. If you want a “split” sound combination then you just press the split button and touch any of the 88 keys and that’s where your split point will be dividing the left and right hand.

Then just choose the first sound by pressing an instrument sound button (like piano) which is applied to the right hand, and then choose your 2nd sound (like bass or bells) by pressing and holding the split button which is then applied to the left hand, and then you play…it’s as easy as that. If you want to change the relative volume between the left hand sound and right hand sound in the split mode, you just press a value button like you do with layered sounds and you can instantly change the volumes to your liking. Oh, and if you want to “save” all those settings you did to use at another time instead of creating them all over again, you just save them into the registration memory buttons as I discussed earlier. So as far as the operating system goes on this piano and how things are laid out and the way you access them, it’s a very nice design overall and makes playing your music that much more enjoyable, and this is always a good thing to have.

The hardware connectivity on the ES520 is in no short supply. It includes two 1/4″ line output jacks, one 1/8″ stereo input jack, standard MIDI in & output jacks, a USB to host output jack, a USB device (thumbdrive) input jack, and 2 stereo headphones jacks with one of them a 1/8″ input and the other being a 1/4″ input. Having two different sized headphone jacks accommodates both types of

headphone cable connectors  which is the bigger one and the smaller one. There is also a place to connect the single sustain pedal that comes with the piano as well as for both triple pedals units. The hardware connectors pretty much has what most people would want and need in a portable piano like this one. 

As far as the cabinet design and structure goes, it is a hard plastic material but does seem durable and well made, and the Kawai piano company is definitely known for building well made products. The cabinet has very nice beveled edges that look clean and contemporary and the smooth texture of the cabinet feels good to the touch. It comes in either a matte black or a matte white for those people who think white is a better option. The black color is by far the most popular and the optional furniture stand and furniture triple pedal unit can also be either black or white depending on the piano color you choose. The dimensions of this model are also impressive in that it’s not too large but still large enough to give it a professional appearance and not have it look like a toy. It measures 53″ wide x 15″ deep x 6″ high, not including the music rest so that make it somewhat easy to carry, especially because it only weighs 32 lbs which is very light for an instrument of this caliber and size. 

Over the years one of the biggest complaints about portable digital pianos in this price range has been the weight. This is because there are people who want to take them places and carry them around and if you add a stand and carry case to that weight it

will be even heavier as far a total weight. As a comparison example, Roland has 2 portable self contained digital pianos over $1000 with one weighing 43 lbs and the other weighing in at heavy 52 lbs. Yamaha has one portable self-contained digital piano between $1000 and $2000 and it weighs in at 49 lbs. 

Kawai ES520

The bottom line to all of this is this: if someone is looking for a high quality portable digital piano that offers a strong natural piano playing experience in this price range just under $1400, then in our opinion the new Kawai ES520 cannot be beat by any other major brand right now including Yamaha, Roland, Casio, or Korg. Its powerful sound and rich tone will blow you away and the key action is better than anything else out there for this price range in our opinion as compared to a real acoustic piano, and we have played them all.