Kawai’s Concert Artist series (CA Series) of musical instruments have been among the best high-end home digital pianos for quite a few years now, and for a time even occupied the top spot in Kawai’s digital piano hierarchy.
The release of the NOVUS NV series hybrid pianos a few years ago ultimately formed a new tier above the CA series, but the CA series digital pianos are nonetheless still high-end instruments for folks seeking high performance and aesthetics mixed with the modern technology convenience of a digital piano.
The new Kawai CA701 digital piano replaces the best-selling CA79 and occupies the second to top spot in the 4-model strong CA series lineup. The CA7* series pianos of the last few generations have been extremely compelling instruments from a value perspective given that they’ve incorporated most of the key features of the flagship CA9* series model while coming in at a significantly lower price.
Does the CA701 manage to continue this legacy of high-value, high-performance excellence? Let’s get into it and find out, and we’ll do so by starting with a discussion of the action.
Kawai CA701 – Digital Piano Action
Industry Leading Grand Feel III Action
The Grand Feel III Action (GFIII) was introduced on the CA79 and returns here. This isn’t much of a surprise since this is still a fairly new action, and most manufacturers will run several generations of models with the same action before an eventual update. It also happens to be among the top two key actions available in the class along with the Roland Hybrid Grand and Casio’s Natural Grand Hammer Action.
This is a wooden-key keyboard action with impressive specifications like counterweights, let off and triple-sensor key detection. But the big difference between this action and most digital piano actions is that the GFIII features full-length keys inside. If you’re new to the digital piano world and you’re actually just shopping for the first time, this is something that you’ll want to be aware of and take note of.
Benefits of Extended Key Stick Length
The reason key-stick and pivot length are such a big deal is quite simple; the longer the pivot length, the better control you have at any point on the key. Acoustic piano actions, particularly grand pianos, have much longer key-sticks than most digital piano actions, but the GFIII has a key-stick and pivot length inline with an average-sized acoustic piano.
This is of particular importance to people performing more demanding repertoire as the need to play all over different parts of the key becomes very common.
Durability
Because Kawai has essentially chosen to use an acoustic piano key for the GFIII, another added benefit is reduced maintenance over time. Well-maintained acoustic piano key sticks can last over 100 years, even if you wind up having to re-bush them at some point.
It’s the same idea here since the action is based on a design that attempts to simulate the weight of a hammer or the length of a key since it simply is just a key and a hammer.
Key Surfaces
The key surfaces on the GFIII’s keys are pretty well the most premium ivory key surfaces that Kawai makes for digital pianos. There’s a micro-textured surface on the top which is very similar to what they use on their acoustic grand piano keys.
The black key has slightly more texture than the white key, and this is a trend we’ve been seeing with other manufacturers like Yamaha as well, compared to previous designs which had a simpler raw ebony.
Key Cushioning
Another observation to note about the GFIII is that the keys are very nicely cushioned. If people are worried about the mechanical sound that the action makes for others in the room, don’t be. The GFIII is very well reinforced, and Kawai has even gone with real felts, so the mechanical noise here is very minimal.
Piano Sound
Two Sound Engines
The CA701 is equipped with two distinct sound engines – the SK-EX Rendering engine and the Harmonic Imaging XL engine.
The Rendering engine consists of a comprehensive multi-channel sample, combined with 88-note resonance modeling. The HIXL features 88-key stereo sampling with some modeling added on top as well, so the difference essentially comes down to the fact that the Rendering engine sample used more microphones from many different channels for a more complex overall sample.
With the Rendering engine, there are 10 different styles available to player, which are essentially different mixes of the same multi-channel sample. It’s very immersive, particularly with a set of high-quality headphones.
Polyphony is a solid 256 notes with both engines.
SK-EX Competition Grand
The CA79 and 99 also used the same two sound engines, however, Kawai has included a brand new sample of a second-generation Shigeru Kawai SK-EX Concert Grand, which they’re called the SK-EX Competition Grand Piano. The previous SK-EX sample is still available within the Rendering engine and is the basis for the HIXL engine, but having this second sample available within the Rendering engine offers some variety.
The newer version of the SK-EX acoustic concert grand piano utilizes a slightly thicker rim than the first generation SK-EX’s, and added laminations of Hard Rock Maple to what was previously exclusively Mahogany.
The result is more mid-range character, particularly on the attack of notes, and an improved overall sustain. These differences really come through between the samples too, with different partials getting emphasized.
Piano Resonance & Virtual Piano Artisan
Regardless of which sound engine you’re using, you’re able to access and edit the Resonance engines which consist of Damper Resonance, String Resonance and Undamped String Resonance, as well as Aliquot Resonance within the Rendering engine and Cabinet Resonance within the HI-XL engine.
Kawai has also expanded Virtual Technician which they’re now referring to as the Virtual Piano Artisan, and this offers a robust 20 editable parameters. This shows just how deep you can get with regard to the piano tone.
That said, if this level of depth isn’t your thing, Kawai has included 10 Virtual Piano Artisan presets, so you can simply toggle between these for some wildly different overall configurations.
So, the bottom line here is if you are a piano player looking for an instrument to be used primarily as an acoustic piano replacement, the CA701 offers an immense amount of customization, though it does of course play pristine right out of the box.
Other Sounds
While the SK-EX Rendering engine is definitely the highlight here in terms of acoustic grand piano sounds, the HI-XL has four of its own high-quality acoustic piano samples, and 92 additional tones covering a little bit of just about everything.
Beyond the SK-EX sample, there are also SK-5, Kawai EX and K60 upright piano samples. The K60 is one of the best captured upright pianos we’ve heard in a digital piano, and it’s going to work especially well in a modern pop or indie rock type of setting that seems to be very much in vogue these days.
The non-acoustic piano sounds are great across the board, and a real highlight is the pipe and church organ sounds. It’s been known for a while now that Kawai has really targeted the worship community, so if you’re a music director on a church council somewhere and there’s a need for a new digital piano, the CA701 and Kawai CA901 should absolutely be on your budget.
Speaker System
One area where we felt the CA79 could have used somewhat of an improvement was with regards to the speaker system as it needed some editing out of the box to optimize.
We’re happy to report that Kawai has delivered a definite improvement here, to the point that the speakers are one of the big stars of the show here.
The CA701 is using a six-speaker system consisting of four speakers on the top with 360-degree diffuser panels and two downward-facing mains for the powerful bass register, all being driven by dual 55-watt amplifiers. So they’ve increased the power by 10 watts, but more importantly, the balance between all the speakers has been much better executed.
This is likely the result of better angling and baffling of the speakers themselves which is sending just the right amount of detail and high end to the player’s ear.
Kawai has also mentioned improved Low-Volume Balance Control in their marketing literature, though this isn’t something we make a big deal of because we don’t generally advocate people playing their digital pianos on a low volume because it will result in the development of bad technique. If you need to play quietly, just plug in a set of headphones.
Spatial Headphone Sound
And on that note with regards to headphones, Kawai includes a discrete headphone amplifier with a ton of digital signal processing, which they refer to as Spatial Headphone Sound, which completely transports the player to a 3-Dimensional space when playing.
Now, you can’t just slap on a $50 set of headphones and get a particularly clear impression of this. Instead, you’ll need to invest in a set of headphones in the $250 or $300 range to really take advantage of this feature.
While that might sound like a very substantial cost for a set of headphones, it’s well worth it if you’re already investing in a CA701 and do a lot of playing with headphones.
CA701 Additional Features & Connectivity
User Interface
The LCD Touchscreen is another area that Kawai improved as they have included an anti-glare effect that makes the screen less reflective. You can also make the backlight disappear entirely which was a common request from folks who felt the constant backlight took away from the aesthetic effect of the instrument.
The general OS hasn’t really changed, and if you choose to operate the 701 from a smart device via the PianoRemote app for iOS and Android, the 701’s control panel is emulated on the smart device.
Functions
The CA701 has all of the basic functions one would generally expect such as layering, splitting, an onboard metronome, onboard rhythms as well, transpose and four-hands mode, which is very handy for people who intend to use the CA701 in a teaching setting.
There are also a crazy 578 lesson songs which does speak to the fact that Kawai expects these to be a popular teaching instrument.
There’s also a USB recorder/playback that can record Audio as well as MIDI allowing you to render MP3 and WAV files.
Connectivity
Like the CA79 before it, the CA701 features integrated Bluetooth® MIDI and Bluetooth Audio, which is awesome because it allows you to take advantage of the 701’s excellent speaker system and premium audio processing.
The 701 is also equipped with 1/4” L/MONO, R line outputs, dual headphone jacks, stereo mini line in, USB MIDI, as well as USB Type A and B.
Cabinet & Finishes
The CA701 features very high-quality cabinetry in the form of a traditional upright piano and is available in four different finishes – Satin White, Satin Rosewood, Satin Black and the gorgeous Ebony Polish available for a premium.
They all come with a nice matching bench as well.
Closing Thoughts
The question as to whether or not the CA701 continues the legacy of the famed CA7* series instruments can be put to rest with a resounding yes.
While not a paradigm-shifting instrument, the CA701 manages to improve the auditory experience enough over the CA79 to justify a new model name and its position in the Kawai digital piano hierarchy.
Thanks for reading!
