For many people, mid-range home digital pianos offer the ideal mix of price, performance and aesthetics resulting in this particular category of digital pianos being amongst the most popular.
Roland’s F140r was quite representative of the category as a whole, offering a great musical experience in a hyper-modern, space-saving cabinet. In fact, it was easily one of the best-selling home digital pianos we carried during its run.
Today we’re looking at Roland’s replacement for the F140r – the new F701, which was released at the same time as the new Roland RP701 (replaces the RP501) and a few Roland FP series instruments. We’re going to be taking an in-depth look at the F701, covering exactly what’s been upgraded from the F140r, and also discussing all of the important specs of the instrument.
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Roland F701 – Background
As mentioned above, the Roland F140r was a very well-received home digital piano that boasted some very high sales volume throughout its multiyear production, especially during the lockdown period of 2020 to 2022 when piano sales skyrocketed.
Perhaps you’re already a happy owner of an F140r and you’re wondering if it’s time for an upgrade, so naturally, you’re asking, does the F701 move the needle enough to justify a trade-in? Or perhaps you’ve narrowed down your shopping list to a home digital piano from the midrange part of the market, and you’d simply like to know where the F701 stands with some additional context.
With that in mind, we wouldn’t call the F701 some type of major leap forward where it’s going to be a resounding yes for every F140r as to whether or not they should quickly run to their newest piano showroom for a trade-up. That said, there are a number of key improvements here that solidify the F701 as an extremely relevant model in the marketplace, and some folks will absolutely want to go ahead and upgrade their F140r.
What’s New on the F701?
We’ll go into greater detail below, but the key upgrades the F701 has integrated involve doubling the polyphony from 128 notes to a killer 256 and expanding the amount and quality of the onboard tones, both courtesy of the high-powered new BMC sound chip.
They’ve also added Bluetooth Audio, greatly expanded the list of internal songs and redesigned the cabinet while maintaining the contemporary. space-saving look. So, the F701 is absolutely an improvement over the F140r and looks poised to be a popular model just like its predecessor was.
Let’s move on to a closer look at everything sound related.
Piano Sound
Roland’s new Behavior Modelling Core Chip
Like Roland’s other new releases, including the aforementioned RP701, FP-30X, FP-60X and FP-90X, the F701 incorporates the brand new Behavior Modelling Core (BMC) sound chip.
To put it simply, this is just a new higher powered processor, essentially meaning that the horsepower has been greatly improved over previous models with the old sound chip, such as the F140r.
So, even though the same sound engine as the F140r is ostensibly being used here, it may as well be a new engine since the BMC is able to derive far more complexity and depth from the sound engine. Which brings us to…
SuperNATURAL Piano Sound
The sample-based version of Roland’s SuperNATURAL Piano Sound engine returns once again, but as we just said, the BMC chip upgrades it to the point that it might as well be a brand-new sound engine.
And this doesn’t just apply to the acoustic piano tone; the electric pianos, organs, synths, pads, you name it, are all thicker and more complex.
Comparing the default concert grand piano tone side by side with the F140r and it’s very obvious that the tone here is much higher fidelity, especially with regards to the dynamic output; Roland digital pianos in the past have behaved in a very synthetic sounding way in lower dynamic ranges, whereas this tone is doing a much better job at recreating the timbre in the low range that you would get an acoustic grand piano.
Roland’s Headphones 3D Ambience effect makes for an exceptional playing experience when playing with headphones.
Piano Designer
Most mid-range and upper-tier digital pianos these days offer the user some degree of customization when it comes to the piano sound, and the F701 is no different with its Piano Designer feature, accessible onboard or via the music app of the same name for iOS and Android.
Within Piano Designer, you can edit a number of selectable parameters such as Key Off Resonance, Damper Resonance and Single Note Character to really mould the piano tone to your liking.
Polyphony
Another critical upgrade on the F701 as we mentioned above is that the polyphony has been doubled from a respectable 128 notes to a killer 256, again courtesy of the BMC chip.
But at 128 notes, if you have two layered sounds playing simultaneously, or you’re playing back a sequence with a general MIDI patch, it can actually be quite easy to run out of polyphony and have notes start dropping away.
Other Sounds
The F140r happened to have a lot of preset tones, however, the F701 expands the selection to 324 total onboard tones.
As mentioned above, even though many of the patches are likely the same, the quality of the tone is much improved across the board with even things like synthesizers sounding much more convincing.
Speakers
Roland brings back a dual 12-watt speaker system for 24 total watts of output amplifier power here. Roland tends to have the rated wattage of their instruments a little on the lower side compared to other manufacturers in the class, that said, Roland typically uses a speaker enclosure that combines with the cabinetry of the instrument in a more efficient way.
We tend to find that you can add a couple of notches to the rated power output as a result, so the 24 watts of rated power output might be closer to 30 from Casio or a Yamaha YDP product for example.
The speaker presentation to our ears sounds pretty similar to the F140r, but of course, the F701 sounds much better thanks to that BMC chip we can’t stop raving about.
Piano Action
PHA4 Standard Keyboard
The F701 is receiving the very familiar PHA-4 hammer action. This is an action that you find in many of the Rolands in the lower portion of the market. You can find it on three models in the FP series, the RP107, RP701, RD88 and more.
The PHA4 features a triple sensor, escapement, textured, with satisfying weighting on the heavier side, good repetition speed and solid responsiveness.
Who’s it For?
Our overall thoughts on the PHA4 are this; for people looking to put a digital piano through major commercial-level use, the PHA-4 isn’t really designed for that.
It certainly is used in a variety of professional situations, but if you’re looking for an action that really holds up to heavy use, Roland’s PHA50 which gets featured on models starting with the HP704 is going to be a better fit.
The PHA50 action along with some other high-end actions are designed for thousands and thousands of hours of use by professional players. With the benefit of numerous engineering cycles, any durability issues that come up are quickly resolved.
Light Commercial Use
The PHA-4 is part of a class of action that is designed for light commercial and medium-level use in the home. In some contexts, it feels just as nice as the PHA-50, but it will loosen up over time like any plastic key action eventually does.
That said, it’s still one of the top plastic key actions available, likely only bested by Kawai’s RHIII action. In fact, these two actions feel quite similar from a touch sensitivity standpoint, though the PHA4 is a little bit heavier and the edge goes to the RHIII due to the presence of counterweights.
Ivory Feel Keytops
Roland outfits the white keytops of the PHA4 action with their ivory feel texture, whereas the black keys have more of a micro-texture.
The keys have a good combination of grip and glide, with moisture-absorbing qualities for longer playing sessions.
Features/Connectivity
Bluetooth Audio
A key upgrade to the F701 from the F140r is the addition of Bluetooth audio, allowing you to stream music to the F701 through the onboard speakers, essentially turning it into a home stereo system.
Bluetooth MIDI was already present, but the addition of the Audio Bluetooth connection here really elevates the F701 to the next level.
Other Connectors
The F701 otherwise has a fairly standard complement of other connectors; there’s a stereo mini input, USB Type A and B, dual headphone jacks and of course a jack for the AC adaptor.
One downgrade from the F140r; whereas the F140r had a stereo mini line out, that’s no longer present on the F701 meaning you’ll need to use an adapter via the headphone jack to connect to an amp or PA system if need be.
Functions
You can now record (and playback) WAV files onto a USB key which you could not do on the F140r. It’s also equipped with a USB audio interface, which means you can send and receive USB audio digitally to and from your computer, either from a DAW or the system sound itself. This is going to be very handy for some users.
The F701 has a fairly large library of internal songs, as well as built-in accompaniment rhythms. All of the staples like a metronome, transpose, twinpiano, split and layer are covered as well.
Apps
The F701 pairs quite nicely with their apps, such as the Piano Designer app, and the Roland Piano App which has replaced the Piano Every Day app. The Roland Piano app gives the user remote control of the instrument, allowing you to manage and navigate everything from the convenience of a smart device.
Also, navigating the rhythms from the app is also a lot faster and more convenient than using the onboard data wheel.
Cabinet & Finish Options
The F701 is available in three distinct finishes; Light Oak, Contemporary Black and White. There’s also including a matching bench in the box now at no extra charge which is a very nice addition as the F140r did not ship with a bench.
The F701 of course comes with a cabinet, as well as an integrated 3-pedal system with damper, sostenuto and soft pedals. The striking, contemporary look of the F140r with its minimalistic design is retained as well.
Closing Thoughts
With the Roland F701, we ultimately have an instrument here priced at what will be a sweet spot for many people’s budgets. While it’s not a true replacement for a good acoustic piano as you’ve got to spend substantially more and jump up to something in the GP or LX range for that, it’s definitely a legit alternative to some used upright pianos and works great as a practice instrument for more advanced players.
Beginners are going to be served greatly by the F701 too of course and should be able to progress through several years of piano lessons. And college students needing a space-saving instrument for their dorm room should definitely check out the F701.
Thanks for reading!