#my bluetooth headphones add a bit of delay to the audio that actually makes it better and i wish i could be bothered to make it permanent

[master-missysversion]

I forgot to do anything for halloween like i wanted to so have spooky Series 5 edit I made a while back

It has at least one clip from every story in series 5

[charger-batteries]

Apple AirPods Max Review

The AirPods Max are nothing if not aptly named. At $549, these are the most expensive noise-cancelling headphones we've tested in recent memory—by a wide margin. They're also some of the most gorgeous headphones we've encountered, ever, with a design that's reminiscent of a Herman Miller chair and a unique battery-preserving Smart Case that looks like a prop from 2001: A Space Odyssey. They're even maxed out in the features department, with Adaptive EQ, spatial audio, and hands-free Siri access. That said, our current top picks in this category, the $399.95 Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 and the $349.99 Sony WH-1000XM4, cost significantly less.

The good news is that Apple's headphones deliver high-quality active noise cancellation (ANC) that actually bests the Bose and Sony models in some circumstances. And sonically, the AirPods Max have a sculpted-but-balanced sound signature, with rich bass that's met with well-defined mids and high-frequency clarity. For $550, however, this sound signature, with Adaptive EQ and plenty of digital signal processing in play, isn't for purists seeking a transparent listening experience. And even though the AirPods Max are undeniably beautiful and deliver a fantastic user experience, it's hard to justify a $150 to $200 price bump over their most worthy competition.

A Stunning Design

Available in very Cupertino color options (light green, pink, silver, sky blue, or space gray), the circumaural (over-ear) AirPods Max have large earcups with unadorned outer panels in anodized aluminum. The stainless steel headband has an eggshell-like finish and is designed like none we've ever seen—it features what Apple calls a "canopy" of knit mesh that makes contact with your head where headband cushioning usually would. This part, in particular, really looks like a detail from a Herman Miller office chair.

The earpads are memory foam, lined with an attractive cloth, and while they might look a bit bulky, the fit is exceptionally comfortable. The headphones weigh 13.6 ounces, but they don't feel heavy on your head, nor does the pressure from the earpads feel too powerful despite the pads forming a solid seal around your ear. With the Smart Case, the total packages weighs just over 1.1 pounds.

Internally, the AirPods Max employ 40mm dynamic drivers and a neodymium ring magnet motor that Apple claims allows the headphones to maintain total harmonic distortion of less than 1%. The drivers are covered in cloth grille, reminiscent of the quilted fabrics you see on stylish running shoes, with L or R stitched into the fabric in a classy design touch. Each earcup also houses an H1 chip, which allows for seamless iOS pairing and integration, as well as an accelerometer and a gyroscope. The headphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.0, and support AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs.

Along the rounded side panels of the right earcup, there's a Lightning connection for the included Lightning-to-USB-C charging cable. There's no power adapter included, however, so you'll either need to buy one or charge via a USB-C port. There's also an LED status indicator along this panel, and both ear panels have various tiny slits for the nine included mics. (Yes, that's a lot of mics—more on them in a bit.)

Up top on the right earcup, there's a button for switching between Noise Cancellation and Transparency modes; this button also handles manual Bluetooth pairing when held down. By default, the headphones toggle between ANC On and Transparency mode, but you can choose to add Off to these modes. Next to this button, there's a control Apple calls the Digital Crown, a design element inspired by the side dial on the Apple Watch. It controls playback when pressed once, track forward when pressed twice, track backward when pressed three times, and Siri access when held down (Siri can also be accessed by voice). The dial itself operates volume and moves fluidly, but it takes some getting used to as it doesn't protrude from the earcup very far.

The placement of these buttons is fine for operating the controls, but because of how the headphones use tension to adjust, your natural inclination is to pull down on the earcups from the top in order to loosen the fit slightly—something I found necessary to make room for my glasses. When doing this, it's easy to accidentally press both control buttons, which can trigger any number of functions.

Smart Case

Apple estimates battery life for the AirPods Max to be roughly 20 hours, assuming a mix of ANC and audio playback. Ultimately, your results will vary with your ANC usage and your volume levels. When the headphones are stored in the included Smart Case, they enter an ultra-low battery consumption/sleep mode.

Speaking of the Smart Case, it sure looks cool, but it's odd that it does very little to protect the headphones—plenty of the earcups' side panels, and all of the headband (and potentially easy-to-tear canopy) are exposed. Nearly every competitor offers a more traditional case that may not look quite as cool, but does the job of protecting the headphones in a more thorough manner. The case's rubberized surface is also a dust magnet—it would've been nicer (especially at this price) to see a material here that works less like a Swiffer, such as a smooth leather or a classy fabric.

Pairing the AirPods Max

Like the AirPods and AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max will automatically appear on your iPhone or iPad screen, ready to pair, when powered up and placed nearby. Even if this only eliminates one step of the usual Bluetooth pairing process (going to the Bluetooth menu to pair manually), it's always a cool way to get things started. You can also use the physical button mentioned above for manual pairing with non-Apple devices.

The settings menu—accessed by tapping on the AirPods Max in your Bluetooth menu when paired—has several useful functions. You can name the headphones here, adjust what the ANC button toggles between (ANC, Transparency, and Off—any two or all three can be selected), and adjust how the Digital Crown scrolls (back to front or front to back). You can also disable/enable Automatic Head detection (this automatically transfers audio from a connected to device to the headphones when they're placed on your head), toggle spatial audio on or off, and access the Disconnect and Forget This Device options. The menu also has your serial number and model/version numbers.

AirPods Max Noise Cancellation Performance

Once they're up and running, the AirPods Max deliver excellent noise cancellation. When it comes to intense low-frequency rumble at high volumes, similar to that you'd hear on an airplane, the AirPods are actually slightly more effective than the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 and the Sony WH-1000XM4. In testing, the AirPods would sometimes seem to eliminate the rumble completely—an impressive feat we've never experienced before. Other times, they would simply perform as well as the Bose and Sony models—much depends upon getting just the right placement of the headphones on your head. A slight adjustment of the headband tension, resulting in a slightly different or tighter seal around my ear, was capable of improving the ANC noticeably.

That said, both the Bose and Sony models are better eliminating at higher frequencies, such as the loud chatter of a restaurant (simulated via recording because of social distancing restrictions). The AirPods Max struggle slightly on this front, taking out a solid swath of mids, but almost seeming to amplify the higher frequencies. Yes, it sounds crazy, but at times the higher frequencies sounded like they were coming through bright and clear, as if the headphones were in Transparency mode (they weren't).

Blasting some bass-heavy mixes through near-field studio monitors gives the headphones another stress test—no ANC headphones will be able to eliminate these sounds, but it's telling what parts of the frequency range they tamp down. On the Oneohtrix Point Never track "No Nightmares," all three models do a respectable job dialing down the bass frequencies and lows. But again, the AirPods Max struggle a bit with the highs.

The headphones don't seem to affect the sound signature when ANC is on or off, which is the way it should be, though many manufacturers get this wrong. There's also barely any audible hiss added when ANC is enabled. Often, ANC will create a faint, white noise-like signal to help mask the higher frequencies it struggles to eliminate. There's an ever-so-faint hiss here, which is common, and it's quiet enough that you probably won't notice it.

In Transparency mode, you can hear your surroundings clearly, without any semblance of slapback delay. Some ambient listening modes boost levels to increase the volume of your surroundings compared with how loud they actually are, but the AirPods Max seem to match the volume of your surroundings perfectly. If you run your fingers over the earcups while this mode is enabled, you'll hear strange, sometimes surprising swishing sounds that can seem louder than everything else you're hearing—there are so many mics, it's easy to unintentionally drag a fingertip across one.

It's worth noting that the AirPods seem to exert more noticeable pressure on your eardrums than the other two pairs. And, unlike the Bose or Sony models, you can't adjust the ANC levels here—it's either on or off.

How Do the AirPods Max Sound?

The AirPods Max use what Apple calls Computational Audio. We call this digital signal processing (DSP), as does the rest of the industry. It hardly matters—computational audio and DSP both mean that the signal is being adjusted, digitally, to achieve various goals, namely to avoid distortion at higher volume levels by controlling bass levels and overall dynamics to keep bass response consistent at lower volume levels. DSP usually amounts to varying degrees of dynamic compression and EQ being applied to the signal depending on what volume level is being used, and, of course, what's happening in the music—an electronic track with deep sub-bass will not likely receive the same treatment as a piano concerto at the same volume level. Translation: Audio purists will be annoyed by Computational Audio, but there will always be some DSP in the mix for Bluetooth headphones, and most headphone manufacturers apply quite a bit of it.

The AirPods Max also use what Apple calls Adaptive EQ, which is supposed to adjust the sound signature depending on how the headphones fit you personally to provide the best possible audio experience, factoring in obstacles like eyeglasses or earrings that may potentially result in a less secure fit. Between this and the DSP, these obviously aren't headphones for audiophiles seeking a transparent critical listening experience, but ANC/wireless headphones are rarely aimed at audiophiles, as there's always a lot of boosting and sculpting.

What's missing here is user-adjustable EQ. Apple wants to tailor the sound for you and not give you the opportunity to tweak it to your own taste—at this price, Apple should be giving you more control, not less. Worse than not being able to adjust the EQ is not being able to disable the Adaptive EQ—there's no way to hear any mix in a relatively pure form, so you'll never know just how Adaptive EQ is altering things. It's frustrating, but that said: These headphones sound pretty damn good.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the AirPods Max deliver powerful low-frequency response. At top, unwise listening levels, there's no distortion, and at more modest levels, the lows still sound intense, but they're always nicely matched by the higher frequencies.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the general sound signature. The drums on this track sound full and round, almost thunderous, but they avoid veering into overly boosted, unnatural territory. Callahan's baritone vocals get a pleasant low-mid richness and an ideal high-mid crispness to help maintain definition in the mix. The high-mids and highs bring out the acoustic strums and higher-register percussion with brightness and clarity. This is a sculpted sound signature, but balanced, with a lovely bass depth and ideal high-frequency clarity.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives ideal high-mid presence, allowing its attack to retain its punchiness, while the vinyl crackle and hiss, typically relegated to background status in this mix, take a notable step forward. There is plenty of sculpting happening in the highs, but it's generally in the name of clarity. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with solid low-frequency depth—it doesn't quite sound like there's a subwoofer in your skull, but it shouldn't. The lows are dutifully represented, and the drum loop gets a little more thump than usual, so there's some bass boosting happening, but it's refined. The vocals on this track are delivered with ideal clarity—if there's any added sibilance, its just a smidge. This is a balanced, rich, bright sound signature.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get some ideal low-frequency presence—the lower-register instrumentation isn't pushed too far forward in the mix here. The higher-register brass, strings, and vocals retain their crispness without sounding overly sculpted or bright—the spotlight is on them. This track probably sounds the most natural of the four mentioned here, and generally speaking, classical and jazz sound excellent through the AirPods Max.

Spatial Audio, Mic Performance, and Siri

Like the AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max support spatial audio, an immersive listening mode that works with video content encoded in 5.1, 7.1, and Dolby Atmos. Spatial audio itself is more or less an effect that tracks your head's position in relation to your sound source. If you move your head to the right, the mix changes a bit, as if the audio is coming from the physical location of your phone or tablet. It's undeniably cool, but it only works on material encoded with surround mixes. And to be clear, when you wear the AirPods Max and watch a movie, you will not be listening in real surround, nor does spatial audio create a surround-like experience. Still, it's a welcome extra feature, if not a must-have one at the moment.

As mentioned, there are nine microphones built into the AirPods Max. Three are used for voice pickup, and eight are used for ANC.

The three-mic voice array offers solid intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded, but there was still some Bluetooth distortion fuzzing up the edges of words a bit. For such a formidable array of mics, the clarity isn't the best we've heard—it's closer to the middle of the pack. Still, callers should have no trouble understanding you on a clear connection.

There's also hands-free Siri support (which can be disabled), and we had no problem communicating clearly with Apple's voice assistant for playing music (you can simply say, "Hey Siri, play Radiohead on Apple Music") or getting an accurate weather report.

Are the AirPods Max Worth It?

There's no other way to put it: The AirPods Max are a luxury item. To be clear, we've reviewed $1,000 headphones that are worth every penny, so we don't have an issue with the price itself. There are many $500 to $600 audiophile-focused headphones that sound better than the AirPods Max, but there are none that offer the same range of features, including high-quality ANC, spatial audio, hands-free Siri, and a stunning design. For some, that will be enough to justify the very high price. We can say that if $550 doesn't make your jaw drop, and you value the design and/or features here more than simply having the best audio for the price (without all the bells and whistles), the AirPods Max will not disappoint.

For everyone else, the $400 (but often on sale) Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones and the $350 Sony WH-1000XM4 offer comparable (and sometimes better) ANC and audio performance for much less money. The $400 Bowers & Wilkins PX7 headphones are also worth considering, for that matter. While Apple's AirPods Max are certainly worthy rivals to each of these models, we simply can't say that they're worth $150 to $200 more. So depending on what you're looking for, you might be better off spending far less on one of these models and picking up a pair or AirPods Pro to wear to the gym.

[merriammusicinc]

Kawai CN39 Digital Piano Review and Demo | Virtual Technician, Bluetooth®

Introduction

Kawai's CN39 is the latest advancement in home digital piano technology, and represents the highest-level model with plastic key action. It's equipped with a 4-speaker amplification system, GM2 soundbanks plus the Progressive Harmonic Imaging sound engine including the SK-EX Concert Grand Sample (the same type of piano found in concert halls, now comfortably in your living room). Users can record both MP3 and WAV to USB memory, enjoy popular playing modes like concert magic, four hands, split keyboard, two-layer, and SMF playback as well (up to 16 tracks). The line in and line out 1/4" ports provide excellent versatility, and the automatic mono mode for just left out is also handy for live performance. It is an authentic piano playing experience for a similar cost to a basic used acoustic piano, and will leave you more than satisfied.

We hope you enjoy Stu's video review and accompanying article.

Kawai CN39 Digital Piano Review Video Transcription

Hi, everybody, and welcome to another digital piano review here at Merriam Pianos. My name is Stu Harrison. And today, we are talking about Kawai's CN39 digital piano, a fairly new entrant to the digital piano market and something our customers are really excited about. We're gonna be talking about its action, its sound. We're gonna be covering all the connectivity options, how you can link it up to the iPad and the tablets, everything you need to know to help further your research.

Sound and Tone Engine

We are here in front of the CN39 digital piano, as we mentioned. And let's start talking about the sound on this instrument. It is, of course, the big brother to the CN29. So, often, when we're talking about CN39, I inevitably wind up comparing it to the CN29. And so, from a sound standpoint, right away, there's a few differences that are really worth noting. One of them is the speaker system on the CN39. We go up to a four-speaker system from a two-speaker system, which makes a really big difference for if you're just playing this instrument using the onboard speakers. You're not plugging into a stereo, you're not using an amplifier, you're not using headphones. This is something that you're just gonna have set up in a room, whether a practice room or a living room, and you just want to get a really great sense of piano tone directly off the instrument. Those two extra speakers are right on the back and they're facing up, they're two tweeters. And so, that's just gonna help with clarity in the treble / high frequencies and a little bit more projection may be in the mid or the upper mid. You can definitely hear way up in the treble the detail that you're getting.

Diving into the tone engine or the sound engine, the CN39 is equipped with its progressive harmonic imaging engine. It's sort of the same type of algorithm that they've been working on for many, many, many years. harmonic imaging has been around since, I think, the early 2000s. This is their latest version. And it comes with a polyphony of 256, which for a sample-based tone engine is on the high side, just basically means you're never going to run out of the ability to create new notes and have that engine simultaneously processing multiple notes. So, if I hold the sostenuto pedal down and do this, there's still lots of room for me to go back down and then back up, you know, several times, and every single one of those notes is gonna still be individually processed without maxing out the tone engine. So, that's a kind of cool bonus the Grand Feel pedal system offers. Just adds a layer of authenticity, especially for people who are playing a lot of classical. So, it's got a polyphony of 256, 355 voices including 9 drum kits. It's the progressive harmonic imaging and it is equipped with the SK concert grand sample series. That's individually sampled, 88 notes sampled off their nine-foot Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand piano, which is notably warmer and more colorful than their previous EX concert grand piano, which almost sort of had a CFX type of a sound. It's a little brighter. It's a little sharper, very dynamic. But this SK-EX concert grand is just beautifully rich, and done with unrivalled 88-key sampling.

In addition to the core sample, the Harmonic Imaging adds all sorts of nuance to the tone like let-off simulation, reverb, cabinet resonance, damper resonance, fall-back noise, key-off effect, hammer delay, topboard adjustment, undamped string resonance, as well as the ability to adjust stretch tuning, minimum touch, decay time, and half-pedal adjust and soft pedal depth. All in all, there are a full 19 parameters that you have control over:

Touch Curve (incl. User Touch Curve)

Voicing (incl. 88-key User Voicing)

Damper Resonance

Damper Noise

String Resonance

Undamped String Resonance

Cabinet Resonance

Key-off Effect

Fall-back Noise

Hammer Delay

Topboard Simulation

Decay Time

Minimum Touch

Stretch Tuning (incl. 88-key User Tuning)

Temperament (incl. User Temperament)

Temperament Key

Key Volume (incl. 88-key User Key Volume)

Half-Pedal Adjust

Soft Pedal Depth

This instrument is also equipped with over 350 additional sounds that are all onboard - that includes additional grand piano sounds, but dozens of other categories as well. That's a huge leap up from what you get on the Kawai CN29. And a lot more consistent with what you're getting on some of the comparable role in product for this type of a price range, getting way up into the 300. So, you've got a set or subset of very high quality, let's call them proprietary sounds that are built-in plus the entire General MIDI 2 sound bank, which is what really runs those numbers way up into the stratosphere. So, that's pretty cool as well. In terms of the authenticity of the other sounds once you get out of the acoustic piano range, because I have no complaints whatsoever when it comes to the acoustic sound here, lots of detail, and really lots of tonal range and dynamic range. Kind of a tiny Rhode sound.

Think they've done a really nice job with their electric piano signs as well, making them very dynamically reactive. So, you're getting a really clear punch, almost a bit of a distorted sound that you get authentically on a real Rhodes. Seems to be represented here pretty well, or you let up on the velocity and you get this lovely bell sound. And, of course, you've got Wurly with a lovely tremolo on it, a DX7. So, it sort of has all of your classic EP categories covered which is great. The organ sound.

I have to hand it to Kawai when it comes to the organ sounds, both in terms of the pipe organ sounds and the electric organ sounds, like your hand and stuff. When we're in the range of the home digital pianos, so we're not getting into, like, high-end stage pianos like Roland's RD-2000 or Yamaha CP4 or anything like that. We're just talking about home digitals. For the price, I have to give Kawai the number one prize for having the best organ sounds out of the box and especially because it's pre-configured so that your left pedal acts as the on and the off switch for your Leslie speaker, sort of rotary simulator.

You've got the standards like harpsichord, and harp, and strings, and choir. They're pretty good. Actually, I'd say they're more than pretty good. And then, of course, you're into the General MIDI bank where you've got everything from helicopter sounds to synth leads and heartbeats. Whenever you need those sounds, they're there for you. Now, driving all of this between the speakers and the harmonic imaging engine, there's a step in between that is brand new to the Kawai lineup. And honestly, it's a really big difference, it's worth mentioning, and that is the addition of the Onkyo circuitry.

Onkyo is a Japanese company, and they're known as a high-end audio file company. They make amplifiers, they make a lot of spatial / audio processing circuits for the industry. They sell them OEM. They do them through their own product. And so, this has a whole bunch of Onkyo's stuff under the hood, which is adding some, I guess, just sort of structuring to the waveform as it's coming out. It also gives you the ability to set the type of headphone that you have, and how much sort of a sense of space around (they call it specifically "spatial headphone sound"), or your perception of space when you have the headphones on, so it's got some really cool headphone processing. But again, just when you go back and forth between the previous CN37 and the currency CN39, or same thing on the CN27 and 29, there is a distinct clarity and a structure to the sound. And I have to assume that that's a good part of the Onkyo that's bringing that value. So, we've covered all the sound on CN39, we're gonna move on to the action next. But before we do, we're just gonna hit you up with some of the critical specs on the screen.

RHIII Piano Action with Counterweights

The CN39 is equipped with Kawai's RH3 action, it stands for Responsive Hammer III Keyboard Action. And it's the third generation, they've been at this now for about 10 years they've been working on this design, and it's the third iteration. It comes with escapement or lead off sometimes is what it's referred to. That's that little kind of hiccup that you feel about two-thirds of the way down, simulates what happens on an acoustic piano where the jack lets off of the knuckle as you're pressing down - true realistic movement. So, it's still a little puzzling to me why they're doing this in the digital world since on the acoustic side, you were never really supposed to feel that in the first place, it was kind of just a mechanical anomaly that they never really found a solution for. And, of course, you don't feel it at all when you're playing at kind of a medium velocity or higher. It's really only something that shows up when you're playing in the lower volume ranges on acoustic. Anyway, all the digitals are starting to simulate this now, of course, it does add to the authentic feel of you being on an acoustic but it's sort of weird that it's an imperfection that's being mimicked, go figure. Anyway, so it's got that. It also comes with a triple sensor. That is just kind of increases the accuracy of the MIDI put, whether you're using this to trigger a sound on a computer or piece of software, or even just its own internal sound, you're gonna notice that the accuracy is super high. And you're never really gonna get a note that's just kind of sticking out for no reason or you think you played it hard enough, but for whatever reason, the sensor, the single sensor didn't pick it up properly. So, you've got these three sensors that are sort of constantly talking to each other and making sure that it's really nice accurate readout that it's getting. It also features counterweights within each of the black and white keys to help lighten the touch of the keyboard.

There's also a texture on the key, Kawai has obviously made the decision on the CN series to include their famous ivory touch key surfaces. But this is more close to what they've done on the acoustics with NEOTEX, where it's a micro-texture, but the micro-texture is not trying to look like ivory at all. It's actually just looks like a porous material that's there to absorb a bit of moisture, and also just to create a little additional texture, other than just giving it a nice, completely clean sheet of white plastic. So, that's what you've got here. And that's on both the white and the black keys. The RH3 (Responsive Hammer III Keyboard Action) is something that the industry has really embraced as one of the best designs out there. How do we know this? Well, the RH3 is now shown up on the Nord grand which is a brand new product that everybody is just going, you know, crazy about and the action is definitely something that they've been talking a lot about in regards to the Nord grand. The RH3 is also something that you find on the CN29. And I expect whenever the ESA replacement shows up, it will also be equipped with an RH3, the MP7 I believe has the RH3, could be the RH2. Anyway, it's a beautiful action. And now you've got the rundown. Triple sensor, we've got a nice textured feel on both the black and the white keys. And, of course, we've got escapement and just a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful responsive feel overall, I really love the weighting.

Yeah, it's a nice action to play on. Okay, so let's move on to features and conductivity. But first, we're going to splash up just the critical features of the action so you can get a quick visual of it.

Other CN39 Features and Cabinet

Let's get into the features of the Kawai CN39 digital piano because there's some really cool stuff here and some of which people kind of skip over or go months and months or sometimes their whole ownership of an instrument like this and never really realize that it can do this thing. So, let's just start at the top of the list of stuff that I find...or I really appreciate the Kawai's included here and we'll just go down the list. One of them might seem basic, but it's worth noting there is on the bottom here, and you won't be able to see it, but, you know, if you were in front of one, it's easy to see, there are stereo quarter-inch audio line ins and line outs (these act as both stereo jacks as well as mono if required). This is really great because if you've got some type of a small mixer, let's say you're in a home studio or you're in a classroom, and you've got some audio inputs coming in from an electric car or some sort of an auxiliary audio input, who knows, anywhere you've got audio that was just going through some piddly little set of speakers or headphone, you can use the onboard speaker system, take advantage of that Onkyo processing that's there. Fact that it's like really high fidelity four-speaker system and 40 watts, which if you're in a relatively small space is plenty of juice. I know some amplifiers, guitar amps, and bass amps that are only 30 watts and producing all kinds of sound. So, 40 is gonna give you a lot.

Bluetooth Audio

On top of the physical audio jacks that you've got underneath this also receives Bluetooth audio from your portable smart device. And I've got my phone here, it's an Apple phone. And just to kind of show you just how easy it is to take advantage of this feature. So, I just have the Bluetooth screen up here. And if I go into the Bluetooth devices CN39 audio is one of the devices that's sitting here waiting for me to connect. So, I'm just gonna press that right now. And now CN39 is connected. That means now I can go into my music app and select something to play. Yeah, why not? Let's play some Bill Evans. And there we go.

And so, I've just turned my Kawai CN39 into a really high-end wireless stereo. And the range on that Bluetooth is quite good, I can be completely on the other side of the room. I've tested this up to like 60 or 70 feet through a wall, and it's working just fine. So, if this is sitting in your living room, and let's say it's a room that your TV is not in and you don't have your main stereo there, you can actually use this as your main, like an entertaining stereo when you've got company over or whatever. Of course, tons of obvious applications within a lesson, or when you're practicing by yourself, if you don't have an audio cable, you can just be playing along with an audio track of your choice using that Bluetooth connection. Now, I'm gonna mention something that's really critical because we get this question a lot. If you can send Bluetooth audio in, can you send Bluetooth audio out, i.e. can you use a set of wireless headphones? No, you cannot do this. Do not buy a set of wireless headphones, you know expecting this to work just because it says words Bluetooth and audio on the spec sheet, it doesn't work like that. One of the issues with Bluetooth audio is there tends to be a latency issue. And so, for something with it involves immediate live playback where there's not an ability to buffer a little bit, what you're gonna find is you're gonna press that note, and then you'd be hearing the note like a split second later, it virtually makes it unusable. So, I am not at this point aware of any digital piano company that is making...giving the ability to use wireless headphones off a piano. That might change in the future as the technology improves, or the speed of the process has improved, but at this point, not a thing. But certainly in terms of sending Bluetooth audio in, there's no issue at all, and it's a great feature.

Wireless Apps

While we're on the Bluetooth MIDI front, Kawai also makes two apps themselves which utilize the BLE protocol (bluetooth low energy midi specification). Those apps are named "Sound Museum", as well as "Virtual Technician". Now, Sound Museum allows you to basically remote control the instrument. So, we're just going to pull that up right now. So, connecting the Sound Museum essentially allows me to get a visual of all the onboard sounds. And there are a lot as we've mentioned. It also allows you to put it into split-mode, to dual-mode. Dual-mode, of course, meaning that you've got two sounds at once, split mode, meaning that the two instruments are split between the left and the right hand. You can also have two-player mode where the top and the bottom are the same range, really good for students and teachers if you've got one instrument. And so selecting the sound is very, very, very simple. You just pull it up, of course, I'm not sure if you can see that. But we'll try and get some B roll of that just to quickly show you, but very, very easy to select between the various sounds.

Super easy to use, and it's also nice and visual. I think they've done a nice job. At this point. I think it's only available for iOS. That's an important question because we will, of course, get some comments asking whether it's for Android. At this point, whatever it is, we're in October of 2019, not a thing, but could be a thing literally any day, I know that it's something that they have been working on releasing.

The second app is their Virtual Technician app. And that gives you control of 19 different parameters. That's something that you can control onboard, but you can also use the app to do it. And the Virtual Technician app works really, really well. I know on the iPad, it's particularly well suited, so clear exactly what all the parameters you're editing. This would be like how far the lid is open, the string residence, how much you hear the damper noise when it comes back and touches the string, like all these tiny little microscopic elements that our ear detects as a you know, a difference between an authentic piano sound and you know, digital piano sound. It's all there, which is really great because I think 19 parameters from them is close what you get even with the Roland V-Piano, with all of their parameters, and that's a full modeling engine, whereas this is sampling with some modeling on top. So, we've got the apps, we've got the Bluetooth audio, we've got the audio jacks in and out, which is a really great feature, we have things like the transpose, the dual-mode, the split-mode, of course we've already covered the sounds. You can access more of the Kawai CN39's music apps from the 128x64 pixel OLED display such as the metronome function or integrated piano lessons from Czerny, Burgmüller, Beyer, Chopin or Alfreds Basic Piano Lesson Book.

The complete list includes:

Burgmüller 25 (25 Etudes Faciles, Opus 100)

Chopin Walzer (1-19) lesson book

Czerny 30 (Etudes de Mécanisme, Opus 849)

Czerny 100 (Hundert Übungsstücke, Opus 139)

Beyer 106 (Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Opus 101)

J.S. Bach: Inventionen

Sonatinen Album 1

Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Lesson 1A

Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Lesson 1B

Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1A

Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1B

Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course Lesson Book Level 1

The CN39 is also equipped with a USB Audio Recorder similar to the ES8

Cabinet

And last but not least, let's talk about the cabinet. The Kawai CN39 comes in three different colors. The one you see here is called premium rosewood. It's beautiful. I mean, we sell all three colors, which is the mahogany, the satin black, and the rosewood. The rosewood by far is the most popular amongst our customers anyway. I think because of its versatility. In a room where it's a lot of warm tones, the browns kind of seemed to come out. And in a room where it's surrounded by more cool colors. It does seem to feel neutral. So, it's a bit of a chameleon. It's great. But the satin black is available, as well as mahogany, which is a lighter tone wood, goes really well with cherries and maples and oaks and things like that. It also comes with a dust cover. And it's actually a really...like it feels substantial. This is not a flimsy little piece of wood that feels like it's gonna break every time you move it. It rolls really nicely. It's pretty satisfying. And then you've got legs on the toe block. So, very, very sturdy. And it comes with a bench right out of the box. You don't have to worry about picking the bench up. So, it's kind of a complete package straight out of the box. And then, of course, we've got an adjustable music rest. So, we're just gonna review the features right now and then we'll be back in a quick second with the comparables and of course a final sum up of what we love about the CN39.

Conclusion

So, the instruments the CN39 is going to kind of compete directly against, on the Roland side this is going to really from a wattage standpoint, polyphony standpoint, quality of the piano sound, quality of the action, the DP603 is a really good comparator on the Roland side. It's one that we sell quite a bit of as well and the CN39 and the DP603 often get compared to one another. I know on the Yamaha side, there's gonna be some CLP products, some of the entry-level Clavinovas starting to creep into the mid-range. Clavinova is gonna be often compared to this. Again, with any of these, try to make it into a showroom so that you can compare the action and you can compare the sound. The sound is starting to get so good on all of these that there is no such thing as a bad digital piano when you're ready to drop $2,000 or $3,000. But the differences are becoming nuanced. They're becoming subtle. And so I think people's expectations are becoming higher. And it's worth spending the time to really figure out what's gonna give you the most satisfying experience.

For me, the CN39 is essentially the CN29 with all of the frills that they've kept off the 29 to keep the price lower. You're getting substantially more sound, you're getting a beefier amplifier, you're getting the two tweeters for added definition, all of your in and out ports, you're getting the Bluetooth audio, which is a really great feature. And you're also getting a slightly nicer looking cabinet. But you have to get into a showroom, you have to try these things side by side.

Who's the ideal customer for this? Well, I think an advanced student who doesn't have the space or desire to maintain an acoustic piano, I think everyone except maybe an advanced classical student is gonna be thrilled with an instrument like this. I could see an adult who's had an acoustic piano and sort of plays at a hobbyist level, their downsizing, could see them being very, very satisfied with the CN39. And, of course, one thing that I didn't mention but for educators who are using the CN39 as not just a practice instrument, but as a teaching aid within the lesson, this is equipped with 12 different book series, all programmed in so that you can playback the repertoire within those books series as reference points as you're going back and forth between the books, I could see that being a really big benefit.

So, a super-wide audience for this CN39. Very versatile instrument, very well made instrument, and something that's been evolving over many, many years. So, virtually no kinks left to be ironed out of a piano like this.So, thank you, very, very much for stopping by, and supporting us by watching, supporting us by subscribing. I hope you've enjoyed this look at the Kawai CN39 digital piano. And by all means if you're in the Toronto area, and you have a minute to come and say hi, we're open seven days a week. We'd love to meet you. Thank you so much for your support. Happy shopping. We'll see you soon.

The post Kawai CN39 Digital Piano Review and Demo | Virtual Technician, Bluetooth® first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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a Tremendous-Easy Sound Bar That Hits the Proper Notes – Assessment Geek

http://tinyurl.com/y4ebm4wz Ranking: 7/10 ? 1 – Absolute Sizzling Rubbish 2 – Sorta Lukewarm Rubbish 3 – Strongly Flawed Design 4 – Some Professionals, Tons Of Cons 5 – Acceptably Imperfect 6 – Good Sufficient to Purchase On Sale 7 – Nice, However Not Finest-In-Class 8 – Incredible, with Some Footnotes 9 – Shut Up And Take My Cash 10 – Absolute Design Nirvana Worth: $250 Anker Anker is a widely known model within the cellular house: the corporate’s battery packs and different equipment are easy, purposeful, and thrifty. Anker hopes to carry that very same vibe to its Soundcore sub-brand, now increasing into residence theater. Here is What We Like Nice, highly effective sound Easy interface and distant Compact dimension with built-in subwoofer ARC help And What We Do not Questionable Dolby Atmos utility Prime-mounted interface lights are exhausting to see The Infini collection consists of two cheaper soundbars, the usual and “Mini,” each providing stereo sound at underneath 100 bucks. However the Infini Professional is an fascinating proposal from Anker: premium, highly effective sound, with a easy setup that appeals to non-audiophiles who need higher audio from their TV. It makes use of a 2.1 setup with an built-in subwoofer and only a few frills when it comes to connections or settings however provides in Dolby’s Atmos kinda-sorta-surround sound and Bluetooth to assist justify the upper $250 price ticket. And for probably the most half, it succeeds. Anker’s minimalist method to design will undoubtedly be welcome by individuals who don’t know—or care—what ARC or optical audio cables are. The straightforward setup makes it simple to get good sound from kind of something with barely any thought. This comes on the expense of flexibility and the next value—$250 could be greater than some are keen to spend. Preserve It Easy, Soundbar Constructing off the essential success of the Infini and Infini Mini, Anker retains issues easy with the Professional. At a little bit over three toes broad and 4.5 inches deep, the bar is larger than many on this value vary however justifies the dimensions with the built-in subwoofer and top-firing Atmos audio system hiding behind the material wrapping. The upward-firing Atmos subwoofer drivers are exhausting to identify: discover the faint circles on both facet of the management cluster. Michael Crider There’s one thing notable in its absence, nevertheless: a display. Even low cost soundbars usually embrace a small LED for fundamental audio and supply administration, however the Infini Professional does with out.  As an alternative, it makes use of a brief row of LEDs, reverse the {hardware} buttons on the highest of the central unit, to point connection and enter standing. The Infini Professional is a little bit over three toes broad, with devoted tweeters, woofers, and subwoofers. Michael Crider By itself, that’s not a foul thought. Maintaining the consumer interface to a minimal is an efficient name for one thing that’s going to be sitting in entrance of your TV. However whereas the LEDs are pleasantly obscured once you’re watching from a chair or sofa, meaning you’ll want to face as much as see if the enter you’ve modified has any impact. It’s a shocking whiff when it comes to usability. There’s a Bluetooth-powered app, but it surely doesn’t supply any extra choices than the distant. Michael Crider Elsewhere within the field, you get some minimal documentation and an infrared distant, which has a simplified management setup that appears similar to the mini remotes from Roku, Apple TV, et al. The distant is minimalism achieved proper, with an intuitive structure that nonetheless manages to discover a logical spot for each perform. After a few days, I may management the whole lot I wanted to with out counting on a backlight. Which is sweet, because the distant doesn’t have one. You’ll additionally get some small, flush brackets for mounting the soundbar to a wall. Not Wanting For a Hookup The Infini Professional’s enter choices are a bit sparse, however they need to get the job achieved for the overwhelming majority of customers. HDMI pass-through and HDMI ARC will maintain issues for many TV and receiver connections—although if in case you have an audio receiver, I doubt you’d be searching for an all-in-one soundbar resolution. Optical audio enter and an ordinary headphone jack are there if you wish to preserve issues even less complicated. The rear panel contains what appears like a USB 3.Zero port, however the handbook says it’s for service solely: it will probably’t be used for an audio connection or instantly loading native music. The Infini Professional provides customary HDMI, HDMI-ARC, optical audio, and a headphone jack. Michael Crider One additional trick is Bluetooth 5.0, permitting the consumer to play audio instantly from a cellphone. (Or a laptop computer or a pill or perhaps a tv, however let’s be actual right here: you’re going to attach out of your cellphone.) This can be a good inclusion and appears to be anticipated above a selected value level as of late, however I can’t say it’s one thing I depend on frequently. If I’m already in entrance of my TV with my cellphone, I’ll be utilizing Chromecast or simply manually opening music by way of the Roku interface. And yeah, that’s just about it when it comes to I/O. One further perform of the flamboyant Bluetooth is which you can management the Infini Professional out of your cellphone; nevertheless, the Soundcore app doesn’t do something that the distant can’t deal with sooner and extra effectively. You can too management energy, quantity, and supply with the buttons on the bar itself, however they’re contact buttons as an alternative of extra conventional tactile buttons, so that is extra of a trouble than anything. Once more, the distant is the much better choice. The Sound of Shock As somebody who loves low cost TVs, I’m no stranger to low-end soundbars, since they’re vital in order for you to have the ability to hear, effectively, something on a low-end mannequin with its piddly built-in audio system. So I used to be anticipating the Infini Professional to be a minimum of reasonably higher than a budget LG 2.Zero bar I’ve been utilizing for years because it’s greater than twice as costly. What I wasn’t anticipating was simply how a lot better it might be. Regardless of solely a nominal enchancment in total sound and energy (the Infini Professional has 120 watts throughout its tweeters, woofers, and subwoofers, in comparison with the LG’s 100w), the distinction in total sound was dramatic. The upward-firing subwoofers, the “.1” within the Soundcore’s 2.1 score that pull double responsibility as its Dolby Atmos {surround} sound function, supply an enormous enhance to total quantity and steadiness. Resonance chambers add to shocking bass energy. Michael Crider “Built-in” subwoofers are one thing I’ve solely seen on way more costly soundbars, the sort that attempt to mix good sound with a touch of magnificence by ditching the devoted subwoofer field. Anker’s managed to get that function on a relatively economical design. I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I used to be blown away by its energy or high quality, however contemplating the value, the amount, and the comparatively small dimension of the soundbar, it’s a wonderful mixture of options. What about {surround} sound? That’s a bit more durable to make a definitive name on. Dolby’s Atmos system simulates actual {surround} sound by bouncing sounds off the partitions of a room, which is iffy at finest. The Infini Professional’s Atmos mode didn’t make a distinction to the Netflix motion pictures I watched with it (5.1 Atmos-compatible sound enabled); it simply made them louder and extra bassy. That is sensible because the upward-firing subwoofers are the supply of the {surround} channels. The Atmos drivers are exhausting to see, however right here they’re shaking Samus. Michael Crider My lounge isn’t a pristine audio testing chamber, however with my TV and sofa equidistant from partitions on the facet and never removed from the again, it’s fairly splendid for Atmos. Even so, I couldn’t hear any particular profit from the {surround} channels. It may very well be that my surroundings isn’t nice, or it may very well be that it simply isn’t all that efficient in a 2.1 setup (different sound bars with built-in Atmos have a 5-channel tweeter/woofer association within the bar itself). The underside line is that I don’t advocate you purchase the Infini Professional as an alternative choice to a {surround} setup, for all that Anker is pushing the Dolby Atmos function. Premium Options for a Easy Setup At $250, the Infini Professional is a big step up from the underside tier of funds sound bars. And that leap comes with just a few drawbacks, like a comparatively easy setup for I/O, poor {surround} efficiency, and settings which can be exhausting to see from a sitting place. In order for you a sound bar that basically enables you to dig into its settings or connect with half a dozen completely different sources without delay, this isn’t it. The highest-mounted buttons and LED indicators are exhausting to identify when sitting on the sofa. Michael Crider Having mentioned all that: the Infini Professional hits all of Anker’s excessive notes. It’s easy, with a effectively configured distant and an interface that gained’t confuse even novices. And whereas it’s costlier than some choices, it’s punching above its weight when it comes to options, dimension, and sound high quality. When you’re prepared to speculate a little bit extra in your leisure heart’s sound, with out increasing to a full {surround} setup or one thing that wants a number of house, the Infini Professional is a wonderful selection. Right here’s What We Like Nice, highly effective sound Easy interface and distant Compact dimension with built-in subwoofer ARC help And What We Do not Questionable Dolby Atmos utility Prime-mounted interface lights are exhausting to see !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');fbq('init','1137093656460433');fbq('track','PageView'); Source link

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Kawai CN29 Digital Piano Review and Demo | Onkyo, Virtual Technician, Bluetooth®

Introduction

The CN29 offers up a huge slate of features, and in 2019 was one of Kawai's most popular digital pianos. It represents an interesting confluence of technology and value within their overall line-up. It's the lowest price point where you get the RHIII action (triple sensor, escapement / let-off), the Onkyo architecture for its main amplifiers as well as the headphone amplifiers, the Grand Feel pedal system, and the SK-EX individual-key sample set. Go one step down into the KDP series and you lose all of those features...go one step up, and and all of the feature add-ons are in non-pianistic areas (number of sounds for example).

For a $2000 digital piano, it genuinely sets a new standard for tonal clarity and sound technology, with other high-end editing functions as well like stretch tuning, reverb, spatial headphone sound control, onboard lesson function, and an excellent set of Onkyo full-range speakers.

We hope you enjoy this video + article from Stu Harrison of Merriam pianos on Kawai's CN29 Digital piano.

Kawai CN29 Digital Piano Review Video Transcription

Hi everybody, and welcome to another digital piano review here at Merriam Pianos. My name is Stu Harrison, and in this video we're talking about Kawai's brand new CN29 Digital Piano. We're going to be covering it's action, it's sound, and all of the other critical features that you get with this instrument. It's connectivity, who the perfect customer for this might be, and of course, if it's your first time to the channel, please do subscribe. We really appreciate the support. Also, be sure to check out the videos of the CN29 where all we do is play the instrument so you can take the sound in rather than listening to me talk away. Thanks so much for joining us. Let's get started right away.

Sound and Tone - Comparing the CN27 and CN29

So, let's talk about the sound on the Kawai CN29. Of course, I can't play the CN29 without referencing the CN27 because of course, it's sitting right next to us. But also, we've been living with the CN27 for about three years. We're very used to it. And I would say the CN27 represented one of the absolute best values in the entire Kawai lineup when it came to sound production. And so with the CN29, I had very high expectations. I've been in here playing it for a couple of hours this morning, just ahead of doing the review to get a fresh perspective, getting really familiar with the instrument but also also having the advantage of being able to play it side by side with the CN27. And I have to say that there are some differences that I did not figure would be there.

I knew that we were coming in with the new a control interface and display with the pixel oled for better contrast. I knew that we were coming in with a very slight update to the cabinet with a new topboard, and a refresh to their popular premium rosewood finish. And an improvement to their virtual technician functionality with some half-pedal adjustments, damper resonance, minimum touch settings, hammer delay, and a few other interesting features that I thought I'd enjoy.

But I wasn't expecting as big difference with the quality of the tone itself. And here's what I'm hearing. When I turn the CN29 all the way up to the top and I'm in their main piano sound, (which is an SK-EX Acoustic Grand Piano , which they've sampled individual note samples by the way, really exquisitely done), the Onkyo onboard processing, which the CN29 has and the 27 didn't, is providing such a beautiful clarity and control to the wave structure that there's no woofiness in the base. In fact there's no distortion whatsoever in the base. The speakers are Onkyo speakers, and so I'm hearing much tighter sound reproduction out of those speakers. And so, I guess the best way to sum up on the piano sound, what I'm hearing out of the CN29 is very tight, clear, punchy sound, which never really distorts in any way no matter what volume you're playing at it. And to be able to say at an instrument that's kind of in the $2,000, $3,000 price range, like the CN29, it's remarkable. There aren't very many instruments on the market that can do that. And that just makes it more satisfying because you wind up not thinking about having to keep the volume pulled down.

Anyone who's played a digital pianos a lot, you know, through their lifetime and certainly over the last five years knows that it's kind of an unspoken rule that you never really turn the volume all the way up because the minute that you do, if you really push the keyboard, the speakers start breaking up and the speakers start distorting. And I can say absolutely with confidence right here, you push the CN29 all the way up to max volume, play at a fortissimo level, and it's going to sound just as clear as if you had headphones on. Absolutely remarkable.

Now, as you get into the mid-range and into the top end, what I hear is a more realistic stereo field or a stereo image that you're getting between the left and the right side as you're mixing your left and right hands on the CN27 and really a lot of other digital pianos, you kind of get this hamfisted very overly simplistic, stereo image, which means like as you go down the left side, literally your ear can kind of track the sound, like just moving down to the left and moving off to the right. And you know that when you're in front of an acoustic piano, it's much more subtle than that. Because you still have sound reproduction coming from the entire soundboard using Kawai's Progressive Harmonic Imaging technology. It's not just this one little pinpoint. So, I feel like that's something that they've really nailed on the CN29 this time. And I probably need to credit as again, as we're talking about this Onkyo circuitry and the Onkyo stereo system. I've mentioned the piano sound and of course, that's the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX individual sampled notes

It's truly a very warm, very complex tone that they've loaded in there. Running through the various patches here, they've got the SK concert grand, which of course is more colourful. It's definitely got a wider tonal palette than anything they've ever really loaded into an instrument before. And it's just great to hear it presented so beautifully through the speaker system and through the processing. Also on here, they've got the EX Concert Grand Piano, which an earlier version of their concert grand, it's a bit brighter, almost kind of reminds me of like a Yamaha CFX in terms of still being a very beautiful grand piano sound, but just a little bias towards the treble and a nice bright attack. And so, we've got that right here.

Aside from the fundamental tone production, the Progressive Harmonic Imagining adds quite a few other nuances that add to the realism of the piano experience. The Key Off simulation, Fall-back noise, the half-pedal adjust function, adjustable soft pedal depth, adjustable temperament key

Again, just to hear the contrast. So, that's the SK Concert Grand and EX Concert Grand Piano. So, quite a difference. So, it's nice that you've got both to choose from when we're talking about the CN29. Then... That is an upright piano patch. Quite impressed with that as well. And then one they call studio grand. Kind of a seventh quarter sound. Compressed and more treblely. Mellow grand. So, a really wide variety of acoustic piano sounds. And I would say that they're all really high quality. But of course, the SK Concert Grand is the one that's got the individual note sampling and you can tell that it's the beefiest, it's got the most audio information when you're playing it.

The CN29 also has a fairly basic collection of quite usable electric piano sounds, sort of a Rhodes. And I believe this is the same electric piano samples as you'd find on the ES8 for people who are familiar with that model. And a pretty decent B3, and if I'm not mistaken, yeah, your una corda, your left pedal actually activates the Leslie speaker.

Church organ is...I normally wouldn't even discuss the church organ sound because it's not something that I think has a ton of application in the modern world, but there are still quite a few users out there who look for digital pianos within a worship setting or also just enjoy the sound of a church organ. So, this is worth mentioning because we review all kinds of digital pianos on this channel. We review all the Kawai's and the Roland's and the Casio's and when we have them, you know, from trader, whatever, we'll review Yamahas. And church organ sounds in this price range usually quite frankly, are abysmally terrible, especially the ones that have sort of the full range kind of pipe organ stuff. So, you've got eight foots and four foots and two foots and mixtures turned on and they always sound really distorted and fake. And I don't know why it's that difficult, but Kawai actually manages to get a pretty satisfying pipe organ sound. So, thanks Kawai for that. And of course, harpsichord, vibraphone, strings, low strings, all your kind of your normal digital piano sounds that you'd expect to be there are there. So, it's a nice collection. There are 19 voices and max 192 polyphony that you've got the option to use.

So, we've got the usual slate of instruments that allows you to use this as a piano, as an electric piano, as an organ or just as some basic pad to kind of thicken it up. And of course you've got the playing modes like a duel, which layers two sounds on top of one another, or forehands, which is really handy. That's where essentially you can break the keyboard into two halves, but have both halves have the same range. This is something that sometimes teachers really appreciate. So, you can teach on one instrument sort of having two instruments side by side.

So, a few other things about the sound on the CN29. One of the coolest parts of this if you're a piano player is the Virtual Technician functionality that they have built into this. And on the 29, there's 17 different parameters that you have the ability to go in and edit. So, we're talking about things like the touch, the damper noise, the tuning, you can have, you know, how high the lid goes, you can talk about string resonance, you can talk about the case resonance, all sorts of things. And of course, the best way to make use of this is by connecting it to an iPad or an iPhone where the Kawai Virtual Technician app will allow you to manipulate Virtual Technician completely. It is so cool and actually a lot of fun because you essentially get to build your own personal piano. It saves to it, and you never really have to edit it again. It just gives you one extra way in which to personalize the overall experience.

With all of that Onkyo circuitry we're talking about comes a few extra little gizmos that for people who use headphones, they're really going to appreciate this. So, you get to select the type of headphone that you're using. So, if you've got sort of an open back headphone versus a closed or versus an earbud, it actually changes the processing of the sound to optimize that for the type of headphone you wear. That is really cool. And then on top of that, it's also got sort of like this atmospheric spatial processing going on so you can affect the sense of space that you have with the headphone. The bottom line is this, when you plug headphones into CN29, you really start using all the features that you have at your disposal. There is not much on the market that is going to beat the level of authenticity when it comes to an acoustic piano experience playing on this instrument without getting into like a $10,000 spend. Pretty incredible value.

So, let's move on to action. But before we do, we're going to throw up all the specs on the slide so you can check them out in writing. So, thank you so much for sticking around. Action's up next.

PHAIII Action

The Kawai CN29 comes equipped with the Responsive Hammer III keyboard action. This is an update to the graded counterweight action design that Kawai has been perfecting for many, many years. But they've kind of reached a new pinnacle with this action, and that's something that's validated in the wider industry because just last year Nord selected the action for their new Nord Grand model.

So, what about it makes this so great? Well, the first thing is that it does have escapement; that's something that's becoming fairly commonplace in a lot of the better actions that you can get out there. It creates a realistic movement on the key, and for many players that have an acoustic piano background, improves the authenticity of the piano playing experience. That's, of course, that little extra little kind of nub about two thirds of the way down where on a real piano that would be the jack slipping off the knuckle. And of course, it's simulating it here just to increase the authenticity. Because why not? It's also got a triple sensor. And so, this is the kind of a feature that becomes really obvious for people who are using it's Bluetooth MIDI output capability because you can actually see in the data how accurate and how smooth all of of the data figures are as you're recording into a sequencer or something like that. It's so smooth.I find the other thing that it allows you to do to have that accurate sensor, is you don't really have to turn the volume up quite as much because you've got a wider range of dynamics to play with just at the control of your fingertips instead of really having to sort of set a narrow dynamic range with the volume slider and then you're just kind of playing within it. It's pretty satisfying actually.

It's a nice keyboard. I'm going to mention the top of the key surface because Roland is putting on this ivory texture as well, Kawai calls it their Ivory Touch key surfaces . It's kind of this micro-texture. You can see it when it glints in the light. And that's there of course to provide a little bit of friction. It's also there to absorb a bit of extra moisture. When this first came out of the box, I found it actually to be a little bit slippery. But having played it now just for even a few hours, it's now feeling the way it's supposed to feel. There's some nice grip, but it's definitely not sticky in any way.

And the action feels tight. So, not feeling a lot of lateral motion at all, I'm not hearing any clicks whatsoever. There's no mechanical sounds that you're getting. It's a very, very satisfying action. So again, this is the Responsive Hammer III keyboard action that's in the CN29 digital piano. Such a nice key touch to play on. So, we're going to throw up the specs for you on the screen right now before we move on to features. Thanks again for sticking with us.

Other CN29 Features and Connectivity

So, when we get into the features of this instrument, I guess one of the reasons I consider it to be very high value is because almost all of your dollars are going towards audio processing and the quality of the amps, the speaker system, and kind of the core sound system. But it's a little lightweight when it comes to the rest of the features. And that's either a good thing for somebody because they don't want to pay for all of that and they want most of their money going toward just the guts. Or, it may be the kind of thing where somebody looks at the Kawai CN29 and goes, "It doesn't do enough things for me. I need a higher entertainment value." Or the application that I'm thinking of just requires us to have more stuff. And that, of course, is when you can maybe get into Kawai CN39 or an instrument such as the Roland DP603, which is also kind of in and around the same kind of price range that just ups the number of features that are available to you.

But what is on here, we already made mention of this. You've got forehand mode, you've got dual mode, which basically blends the keys. It's loaded with Kawai's company-wide feature called "Concert Magic", their propriety rhythm learning module. Of course, you've got the basics like transposition. You've got metronome, which is also, you know, kind of critical, especially for practicing aid. You've got some internal memory to record some basic songs. It also has the transpose function, four hands mode, layer mode, and the ability to store a unique startup setting. I know people who use this as a practice aid as well just to hear yourself and kind of be brutally honest with what's going on or what's not going on. And then you've got Bluetooth MIDI in and out. You've got standard MIDI in and out through the USB cable and it accommodates both the quarter-inch jack and 3.5 mil jack for your headphones. Does not have a discreet audio out. So, what we're doing today is you're hearing a direct line out of the headphone jack and then that's running into an audio recorder and we're just running an auxiliary cable out of the recorder into an amplifier so that I can also hear it in the room. But otherwise, you don't have the ability to take a discreet audio line out.

In terms of the case, the Kawai CN29 comes with a bench, which is very handy, right in the box. So if you're getting this from a dealer, really is an all in one package. It's got an adjustable height music rest, which is also great. And Kawai comes...offers this in three different finishes. So, you can get this in a satin black (CN29B), satin white (CN29W), you can get it in Rosewood (CN29R), which is what you're seeing right here. I really like the Rosewood because it's kind of a chameleon color. It's dark enough that if it is in a room full of blacks, it blends very well, but there's still some warmth to the finish. And it also comes in mahogany, which is a lighter wood tone. It's a small thing, but that desk or that sort of...the key cover on this slides out really satisfyingly smooth. Sometimes you have to fight with these things or they kind of rattle their way out. Whatever they've done on that, it's a really, really nice smooth in and out.

It's also equipped of course with a triple pedal board, which includes the damper pedal, sostenuto pedal, and soft pedal (una corda). As mentioned earlier, this uses Kawai's Grand Feel Pedal System, which uses different spring tensions to properly simulate the individual weighting of the pedals just like on a real acoustic grand piano.

And not to be left out of the move towards better power consumption, it also has the Bluetooth Low Energy Midi Specification (BLE MIDI) which saves power on the connecting device.

Very last thing I'm going to draw your attention to on the CN29 is the control surface. For people who are familiar with earlier generations of the Kawai keyboards and the CN series or the KTP series, you'll know that although it's very functional, it hasn't always been the prettiest control surface that they've put off to the side. The CN29 has a brand new, completely redesigned OLED control surface and we'll make sure that we get a quick B-roll shot of it so you can see it. There is now a nice OLED display screen so you can see exactly where you're navigating and what the function is that you're on, really reduces the amount of memorizing you have to do of the shortcut keys. And they've restyled the keys and restyled sort of the icons underneath it. It's a small thing, but it just kind of makes me feel like I'm truly in front of an instrument fit for, you know, 2020 instead of something that feels more like 2010. So, we're going to just wrap up features and conductivity, through a slide up and then we'll summarize.

There's also an excellent selection of pre-loaded educational book repertoire in the CN29, including selections from:

Burgmüller 25 (25 Etudes Faciles, Opus 100)

Czerny 30 (Etudes de Mécanisme, Opus 849)

Beyer 106 (Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Opus 101)

Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1A

Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1B

Chopin Waltzes (1-19) lesson book

Conclusions

So, just to wrap up the review on this Kawai CN29 digital piano, I really, really liked the instrument. I mean, that's the bottom line. I think for people who are in the market for their first serious piano and they're looking at either digitals or maybe even a sort of browsing Craigslist and Kijiji for used acoustics in the $500 to $1,000 or $2,000 range. The CN29 presents a pretty strong argument for this to be the first instrument in the house. I would rather have this than a 50-year-old acoustic piano with uneven keys, temperamental tuning, and something that you're having to keep in, you know, a particular humidity range, something where you're really never going to have exactly the same sort of key technique on all 88 notes. And so, that can be really frustrating for somebody who's younger and doesn't really know how to accommodate a temperamental acoustic yet. This provides a totally consistent touch. The touch is completely inline with a basic acoustic piano. And now with the Onkyo processing onboard, you are getting an incredibly tight, clear, full-range, very colorful sound, even at max volume. Whereas that was just not the case on the CN27. You had to back off the volume a little bit. And now in comparison, the base actually sounds a bit whoofy. This sounds just so controlled. So, great tone, really great processing. We mentioned about the headphone processing. That's a cool feature as well. You've got the convenience of the Bluetooth, but bottom line, if you're somebody who is willing and ready to sort of look at the $2,000 price range and you're considering all of your options, if your main use is going to be playing piano, get to see a CN29. It is going to impress you just as much as it's impressed me.

Thank you very much for watching. It's been another review here for Merriam Pianos. Check out the CN29 in a showroom anywhere close to you. Of course, if you're in the Toronto area, come see us. We'd love to meet you. Thanks for watching. We'll see you back in another review soon.

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