The upper mid-range part of the home digital piano market has been increasingly popular over the last few years with families, adult beginners and experienced pianists who need a versatile practice instrument.
The Casio AP710 vs Roland HP702 are two popular options in this category, and they happen to be priced close together in most markets as of recently. That said, they’re very different musical offerings, so we’re going to do an in-depth comparison for you here.
Both are 88-key weighted action home digital pianos with very nice grand piano sounds, solid actions and cabinetry offering great warranty coverage that won’t look out of place in a living room.
This comparison wouldn’t really have been all that appropriate had we tackled it a year or 18 months ago because the AP710 was priced considerably above the HP702. This is no longer the case, and the price gap between these two pianos has shrunk.
Let’s start with a comparison of the sound engines.
Casio AP710 vs Roland HP702 – Digital Piano Sound Comparison
Roland HP702 Sound Specs
Roland’s SuperNATURAL Piano Modeling
Starting with the Roland, the HP702 uses some of Roland’s more recent technology as it’s equipped with the SuperNATURAL Piano Modeling engine, making it the least expensive home digital piano from Roland to feature full piano modeling.
Piano modeling technology is an approach to sound that synthesizes all of the aspects of the piano sound in real-time, as opposed to a sample-based piano tone engine that triggers a recording of a real piano. Every aspect of the piano sound, including how you’ve engaged the pedals and a whole multitude of adjustable parameters like duplex scale, hammer noise, damper resonance, single note volume, single note character, single note tuning, key off noise, damper noise, soundboard type, key off-resonance, cabinet resonance, hammer response, full-scale string resonance and more are all generated via a series of algorithms.
Thanks to the OLED screen and intuitive layout, you won’t need to study the owner’s manual to get the hang of editing the parameters.
You can find versions of this technology throughout the upper half of Roland’s lineup in models like the Roland HP704, the FP90X, and their entire flagship LX line.
The default tone is a very nice rendering of a concert grand piano, and there are a number of other nice piano category tones as well, all of which have limitless polyphony. Roland’s Headphones 3D Ambience feature enhances the experience when playing with headphones.
Non-Piano Sounds
The HP702 has a great selection of 324 total onboard sounds, and once you’ve moved passed acoustic piano tones, the polyphony comes in at 384 notes, which is still very powerful.
The core sounds are excellent, whether that’s electric pianos, strings or organs, but much of the 324 sounds come from the General MIDI 2 sound bank.
Dual Speaker System
In terms of the speakers, the HP702 is equipped with dual downward-facing speakers. The specs sheet looks a little underwhelming when you see that the speaker power is only 28 watts, however, the design is so good that these speakers are still very solid.
Casio AP710 Celviano Sound Specs
Casio’s Multi-Dimensional Morphing AiR Grand Sound Source
Flipping over to the Casio Celviano Series AP710, things get very different here. The AP710 is using Casio’s AiR grand sound source which is a sample-based engine complimented by resonance modeling engines that fill in certain areas of the sound.
There’s a C. Bechstein tag right on the front of the piano due to the presence of the C. Bechstein D282 concert grand piano sample set (Berlin grand), but it’s important to note here that the full C. Bechstein collaboration occurs with Casio’s Grand Hybrid Series grands where the action is also co-designed by Bechstein (it’s a more basic Casio action here.)
In addition to the Berlin grand, there are two additional high-quality sample sets of legendary pianos here with the Hamburg grand (Hamburg Steinway) and Vienna Grand (Bosendorfer). One of the chief appeals of the AP710 is these three core concert grand piano samples, all of which sound great and distinct from one another.
Polyphony is 256 notes so that’s also very strong.
Like with the HP702, the user is given quite a bit of additional control over the sound with access to some reverb engines with the Hall simulator, Brilliance, as well as other resonance simulators like Damper Resonance, String Resonance and more. There are also effects like Chorus and DSP for non-acoustic piano tones.
Non-Piano Sounds
The AP710 does not have the GMII bank built-in, so the total number of sounds is quite a bit less than the HP702 at 28 sounds.
Now, it’s important to keep in mind here that all 28 of these tones are core sounds, and in this case, they all happen to be very high quality and generally on par with the HP702.
Of course, if you need lots of sounds, the HP702 is the obvious choice here, but if you’re mostly focused on acoustic piano, this won’t matter.
6 Speaker System
The AP710 has a killer 6-speaker system, with a very robust 60 watts of output. While there’s not a direct linear relationship between rated power output and total volume with amplifiers, there’s no question that with more than double the rated power on the AP701 that it packs much more punch than the HP702.
The treble presentation is also much better on the AP710 courtesy of its 6 speakers, as is the overall clarity of the tone.
Overall Sound Comparison Impressions
The clarity of the AP710 is just undeniable, especially compared to the HP702. There’s just a more direct and more clear presentation of the treble and the upper mids on the AP710. The presence of those extra speakers and more power amplifier is making a big difference here.
Due to the three concert grand samples on the AP701, there’s also a greater variety in the character of the acoustic piano tones.
The HP702’s SuperNATURAL Piano Modeling is undoubtedly high-powered and complex, but the speaker/amplifier combination here isn’t able to coax out the full potential of the sound engine. In Roland’s higher-end digital pianos with the same engine, the speaker configurations are strong enough to maximize the sound engine.
That said, with some tweaking and time with the Piano Designer feature, this sound engine can be better optimized for its specific speakers, so if you go the Roland route, we’d recommend exploring this.
And there’s no doubt that some folks are going to prefer Roland’s approach to the sound here given how different the modeling approach sounds from a sample-based approach.
Casio AP710 vs Roland HP702 Digital Piano Action – Tri-Sensor vs PHA-4
Both pianos boast actions with triple sensors, so that important box for folks looking for an accurate and responsive action is checked. That said, the weighting and physical feel of the two actions is quite different.
Key Weighting
The AP701’s Tri-Sensor Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard II keys are weighted exactly 55 grams, both in terms of their static and dynamic weight, with static weight referring to the amount of weight required to get the key in motion, and dynamic weight referring to the weight required to keep the key in motion.
On the HP702’s PHA-4 Standard Keyboard action, the dynamic weight is the same as the Casio action, but the static weight is about 10 grams heavier, and this creates a pretty stark difference in the feel of these two actions with the Casio action feeling lighter and shallower.
Key Escapement
The AP710’s Tri-Sensor action does not feature an escapement sensation, whereas the HP702’s PHA4 action does. Escapement is the unique mechanical effect a grand piano action has, and in theory, allows for faster repetition speed.
When combined with the heavier weighting, the PHA4 feels a little more substantial and the sense that you can dig into it more.
Textured Key Tops
Both piano actions have textured simulated ebony and ivory keys, and this is a big plus because the keytops absorb moisture from the player’s fingers, and provide a good just the right combination of grip and glide.
Yamaha’s GHS action, found on popular models like the YDP-144, does not have any texture on the keytops and can lead to the keys being too grippy in certain playing situations for example.
Action Wrap-Up
Both of these actions are popular, well regarded, and can be found on models throughout each manufacturer’s lineup including the Casio Privia and Celviano digital pianos, as well as Roland’s FP and RP series.
We personally prefer the PHA4 action overall due to it’s meatier feel and escapement feature, but your mileage may vary.
Connectivity – Audio In/Out, Bluetooth, MIDI and Additional Features
Bluetooth & MIDI
A pretty significant difference between these two pianos from a connectivity standpoint is that the Roland HP702 is equipped with Bluetooth ver 4.0 technology, offering both Bluetooth MIDI and Bluetooth Audio. This makes connecting with Roland’s Piano Every day app or streaming music from your smart device a breeze.
The AP710 doesn’t offer any Bluetooth functionality, so you’ll have to use a cable to connect to a smart device or computer to send and receive MIDI files. If that wireless Bluetooth connection is important, this could of course be a deal breaker.
Other Connector Ports
Aside from missing Bluetooth, the AP710 is fairly well equipped from a connectivity standpoint for a home-based digital piano with USB to host, a USB flash drive, MIDI in and out, dual headphone outputs, a L/MONO, R line in, L/MONO, R line out jacks and a port for the AC adaptor.
The HP702 is virtually the same except that the line-in is a stereo mini.
Additional Features
Both pianos have quite a bit going for them in terms of additional features, including great built-in music libraries. The AP710 has a library of 60 songs, and you can adjust the tempo and isolate right and left-hand parts, while the HP702 has a whopping 392 songs, many of which are popular piano etudes, exercises and the Roland Piano Masterpieces.
The AP710’s offers Casio famous Concert Play feature which allows you to play along with an orchestra recording, while both pianos cover staples like duet mode (twinpiano on the HP702), transpose and a metronome.
Both pianos also feature built-in MIDI recorders as well as Audio recording/playback (WAV format). Both also have built-in triple pedal systems (damper, sostenuto and soft) and beautiful cabinet designs and built-in key covers.
The AP710 is available in Black, while the HP702 is available in 4 finishes – Charcoal Black, Dark Rosewood, Light Oak, and White.
Final Thoughts
We’ll sum up our final thoughts on the Casio AP710 vs Roland HP702 here as such; the biggest highlight of the AP710 is the three beautiful grand piano patches paired with the powerful 6-speaker system and 60 watts of power.
If you’re intending on using your piano almost exclusively for playing acoustic piano music and you’re not going to be using headphones primarily, the Casio AP710 is going to offer an excellent playing experience for the price. The action is solid, and with a triple sensor on board, you’re going to get very accurate triggering if you’re working with VSTs in any capacity.
On the Roland side, you’ve got an instrument with modern updates like Bluetooth connectivity, very extensive sound editing capability, as well as tons of onboard sounds and a robust music library. We prefer the PHA4 action overall, and if you’re going to be playing with headphones a lot of the time, this critical deficiency in comparison to the AP710 becomes moot.
We hope this comparison has been helpful. Another great option in the category to consider would also be the Kawai CN-301, so add that one to your wishlist to check out as well.