Yamaha YDP 103 vs P 125

Most of us are already familiar with how good Yamaha instruments are and since they are offering both beginner and professional line of products, we can choose freely. For those who are currently in intermediate or with more experience, Yamaha YDP 103 vs P 125 are two nice digital pianos to go for the quality and capability. If you are also considering these model, go check our article below to make sure you are already picking the most suitable instrument for your need.

In this article, we are going to give you information about:
– Why Choosing Digital Piano
– What are Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125
– What Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 Look Like
– How are the Keyboard in Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125
– How are the Sound Quality on Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125
– What else Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 can offer to you
– Yamaha YDP 103 vs P 125

Digital Piano
Piano is indeed one of the most if not the most popular instrument to learn because not only it will gives you some benefit from mastering how they are played, the way they are used to create sound is also tempting new beginner to learn the instrument. Compared to other musical instrument, piano is probably the easiest to start with, since fine-tuned equipment will always produce a nice sound with a simple press on the key unlike when you are learning violin or flute.

For piano learners and players, owning a piano at home is a must so we can learn and master the skill we have learnt in school or course better and like the old saying, “practice make perfect” so make sure to allocate some of your free time to sit down and play your piano. When it comes to the instrument, we are often confused whether to invest on the acoustic one or just go with the digital or portable instrument.

While good piano will mostly give a pleasant sound, we need to decide which to purchase for home use depend on our need. Of course many of us are preferring the acoustic one but they are not very convenient when you are living in a small apartment or house and need to travel with your instrument a lot such as to live performance and gigs. The reason why digital piano is created is to bridge these parts so players will be more convenience with minimum drawback.

In addition to its form and convenience for being a compact and smaller option of the real instrument, digital piano is also loved for the price point because let’s be honest, acoustic piano is never cheap and many of us may not really understand how to maintain them properly to make sure they are always in top condition. A digital piano is a cheaper option and won’t need much maintenance either thus, we don’t have to worry when not in use.

About Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125
If you are already making up your mind to pick a digital piano, now is the time to check what the market has to offer. To quicken your selecting process, it is better to look from your favorite brand or those recommended by other people first since famous name usually have the kind of instrument you want with several important capabilities and of course a good quality to accompany your journey. One of the most popular digital piano manufacturer out there is Yamaha.

This brand is a nice option for those who need to find a digital instrument like piano because they are providing both beginner and professional level equipment so we can match our skill and budget to the piano. If you are already having some experience and need an instrument to polish your skill, Yamaha YDP 103 and P125 can be a nice option to go for both of them are coming with enough capabilities and of course a nice sound quality.

Just like the piano on our Yamaha DGX 660 and YDP 143B, YDP 103 is a model from the Arius line which is made to be a beginner friendly instrument but is a little bit more fascinating due to comes in a whole cabinet set matching the piano. This model is the most affordable option from the line so don’t be surprised when seeing a lot of similarity between it and the portable P line.

At the other hand, Yamaha P125 is said to be the big brother of its P 115 which is very popular and a nice start for those who want a mid-range piano. However, if you expect it to be hugely different from the older unit, there is actually few upgrades here that makes it worth noting in case you already use the previous model.

Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 Design
Without the cabinet, both of Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 are equally compact piano but due to the be mounted on the cabinet, we can’t really see the whole piano only and when you take out the piano, it is quite heavy for about 82 pounds and even heavier when you count the whole assemble. This model comes in a big box with all things you need and around 30 minutes of assembling process with Philip screw. Its piano is black and the cabinet is in dark natural brown color.

At the other hand, P 125 is looking like any portable piano from the line and very similar to the P 115 with a compact design for those who plan to travel with the instrument since it weighs around 26 pounds only. The key has red ribbon and several buttons at the top for control with two different color options; Black and White. If you only plan to use it at home, we can also purchase additional accessories including the table and triple pedal like in Arius series.

Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 Keyboard
On the keyboard style, both of them are a full-sized 88 style keyboard so they are a perfect option for those older player who plan to play an acoustic instrument later or playing more complex songs. Like many beginner and affordable Yamaha pianos, YDP 103 and P 125 are only featured with the Graded Hammer Standard or GHS to stimulate our hand by providing a similar feeling to the real piano because it gives a weight effect into the keys which is heavier on the low side and lighter at the opposite.

While they are not the best out there, GHS is still good enough to help student and players get a similar nuance to acoustic piano. Since these models are touch-sensitive, the volume or timbre of sound will change by how you press the keys. There are several adjustment or level as well from Fixed, Soft, Medium, and Hard. The Fixed option will make the sound dispensed stay the same whether you play it hard or soft while the Hard option will require you to press the key harder to produce a louder sound.

Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 Sound Quality
The first important difference from these piano is from the sound quality because they are featured with different technology; AWM Stereo in YDP 103 and Pure CF Sound is P 125. Both of them are the basic tone generator the brand’s currently have but if you are comparing them, AWM is actually the most basic one. This is because Pure CF is recorded multiple times at different velocities to recreate the richness and dynamic range of the real CFIII 9 grand piano while the other is similar yet not as good.

On sound collection, they are also decently packed with several variations to make sure you always have the sound you need on board. YDP 103 is featured with 8 other instrument in addition to the grand piano including 2 electric pianos, 2 pipe organs, 2 harpsichords, strings and vibraphone while Yamaha P 125 have 24 built-in tones in total from 4 grand pianos, 4 electric pianos, 4 organ pianos, 4 vibraphone, 4 strings, and 4 basses. In polyphony, YDP use 64 notes and P 125 use 192 notes.

Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 Features
On the additional features part, Yamaha YDP 103 and P 125 are also different because the most common modes we can find on this brand’s pianos are Dual, Duet, and Split Mode which the latter is not available in YDP 103. Dual mode is also called as layering mode because it let player to use two different sounds at once and played together while Duet Mode is the one we used to separate the piano into two parts with the same notes which commonly used to learn and teach piano.

The Split Mode is very similar to Dual model since it used to layer two sounds but it is different because now they are played on different part; one from the left and one from the right. While not all people need this feature, it is still necessary if you are planning to accompany a sound with another.

Comparison
Now, let’s compare Yamaha YDP 103 with P 125. As you may already know, the difference between both pianos are on the design, sound quality, and the additional features. Overall, P 125 is a better unit because it is already using the Pure CF sound engine, comes with more sound collections and have a higher polyphony count as well as more complete additional playing mode.

Yamaha YDP 103 vs P 125

Conclusion
All in all, the decision is all yours because we may have different need and budget to spend but based on the comparison above, if we are to choose, we will recommend you to pick Yamaha P 125 since it has many better capabilities than the other for those who need a more capable digital piano.