Yamaha YDP 103 vs 143B

Learning piano is not easy and looking for the perfect piano is also not easy because we need to consider a lot of things depend on each player’s preferences. For those who want to have a stationary pianos at home, Yamaha YDP 103 vs 143B are two nice option to pick because these good quality models already coming with the cabinet. If you are currently confused about which to choose, go check our article below to see what they can offer to you and pick the better one.

In this article, we are going to give you information about:
– Why Piano is Very Popular
– What are Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B
– What Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B Look Like
– How are the Keys in Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B
– How are the Sound Quality in Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B
– What else Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B can offer to you
– Yamaha YDP 103 vs 143B

Piano Popularity
Playing a musical instrument is fun an all because music is fun to listen and to be able to create or playing them needs skill that can’t be achieved just by an overnight learning process. Practice makes perfect which is why we have to do more practice and learn the curve little by little to know how to handle the instrument properly and even find your own signature style. What we need to achieve them are a firm motivation, discipline and a good instrument.

One of the most popular musical instrument learn by young children and adult people is piano because since long time ago, somehow new beginners always start with a piano to mark their music journey. This fact is not separated from how easy piano is to start with because to produce a sound, we only need to press a certain key at the right time and let the instrument gives you a good output as long as the instrument is well-tuned first.

It is fairly easy when compared to another instrument such as trumpet, flute or violin because these types of instruments are going to require a harder start to just produce a good sound. As an example, flute will need the player to learn and manage their breath first to create a nice sound and violin will need a proper, more complicated handling technique to play. With an easy start, people are more interested to play piano compared to other instrument even for smaller children.

However, outside how the instrument is played, piano is not an easy journey to walk through because it is very complex when we are moving above to learn songs for there are things we have to get used to and see the curve. This is why those who learn piano or other instrument need to have at least one at home to practice when we have time since learning in class without repeating it at home won’t be an effective way to master a skill.

About Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B
If you are planning to purchase a piano to support your learning time, now is the time to look for the instrument. For adult or bigger children, the most suitable piano will be those 88-keys full sized type because complex songs are going to need this piano to play. Due to the huge options out there, it can be hard to decide which brand and model to choose but if you want to save more time, it is best to look from popular brand like Yamaha.

This is because they have been in the market for quite the time and has a long history on making both beginner and professional players alike with their huge range of pianos and other musical instruments. If you are planning to use an electric or digital piano that can be a stationary instrument to add a little touch to your house, purchasing a piano set with their cabinet will be a great idea because we don’t have to look for the table or cabinet separately.

Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B are a good choice because they are coming in a set with the cabinet, made with the company’s standard technology and suitable for players who want to polish their skill. Since they are a stationary item, we do not recommend artists or those who plan to travel and move a lot with their instrument to pick them because there are many other more compact models to pick to ease the user.

YDP line is also called Arius series and as you may already expect, 103 is currently their lowest model so the capabilities and technology will most likely to be not as good as the big brother YDP 143B or 143 for the alphabet here means to state the unit color option. It is also made to upgrade its lower model so do expect some better technology on board.

Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B Design
First let’s talk about the design because both of them looks very similar as a piano so when put side by side, it is very hard to determine which the more expensive and which the more affordable piano. Both comes with the cabinet or table and has several choices on color especially the Yamaha YDP 143 that comes in black (B), white (W), and dark rosewood (R) as opposed to only dark rosewood in YDP 103. The whole piano is quite heavy at around 80 pounds but it will be heavier in their box.

Each model have 3 pedals included in their package and they are not going to come like in the picture since we need to assemble them manually first, so prepare some time, read the instruction manual and don’t forget the Philip-head screwdriver. On the control part, Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B are very different because we will have more adjustment in the more expensive model yet, they are similarly work with “key+key” operation.

Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B Keys
Going deeper into the instruments, both of these models are still using the standard Yamaha Graded Hammer technology that we used to see on their “P” or portable line. It is actually using little hammers to mimic the feeling of an acoustic instrument to allow player feel similar experience. Their keyboards are also touch sensitive which means the way we play the keys will affect how strong the sound produce to add an enhanced experience like the real acoustic piano.

We can adjust their sensitivity as well to allow our body getting used to them depend on each player’s skill level. There are Fixed, Soft, Medium and Hard; Fixed setting will deactivate the touch sensitivity because no matter how soft or strong we strike the keys, the sound will be the same while the Hard setting will require player to strike harder to get a louder sound.

Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B Sound Quality
The next important thing when looking for a piano is the sound and we are going to see what sound technology they used here. Due to being the lowest model on Arius line, YDP 103 is only featured with AWM Stereo Sampling which is currently the lowest level of Yamaha 3 basic tone generator that include CF Sound Engine in YDP 143B. However, both technology use grand piano sound recorded at different velocity levels to recreate the natural dynamic range of the real instrument.

In addition they also have bunch of sound collection on board when you need to be more creative with a song. In YDP 103 and 143B, there 10 sounds in total including 2 grand pianos, 2 electric pianos, 2 pipe organs, 2 harpsichord, strings and vibraphone. The amount is not numerous like in composer keyboard but are wide enough to provide variations.

Sound quality will be affected by the speakers as well and both pianos also have the same amount of power speakers, 2 points at 6 W each which should be enough to fill a small room but for a larger space, we will need an additional amplifier. As for polyphony, YDP 103 only use 64 tones while the other is at 192 notes, making it more suitable for those who want to play a complex song. Read also: Yamaha YDP 103 vs P 125.

Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B Additional Features
The next is additional features we will found on these pianos because we may need them to support our playing or learning journey ahead. In this part, Yamaha YDP 103 and 143B still have the same capabilities as well because both can only do duet play mode and layering mode without the split mode. Duet play mode will split the keyboard into two parts with the same pitch and very useful when playing side by side like when teaching a student.
The layering mode is used to layer sounds or make the piano give two different sound that plays on top of each other while split mode is similar but instead of played together, it split into two different sounds from left and right.

Comparison
Now, let’s compare Yamaha YDP 103 with 143B. The prominent difference between them are controls, the sound technology used, and polyphony which in general will make YDP 143B the better item because it has a better or higher sound quality, more controls on board, and a higher polyphony to avoid drop notes when playing more complex songs.

Yamaha YDP 103 vs 143B

Conclusion
All in all, the decision is all yours to make because it is better to pick the one that seem to provide the kind of capabilities you want. However, if you have no issue against the budget or have more to spend, we do recommend you to pick the higher-end model Yamaha YDP 143B.