🎹Kawai GX-2 vs Boston GP178 Grand Piano Review & Comparison - Both Built by Kawai in Japan🎹

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#GX2 #GP178 #GrandPiano

Hi everyone, and welcome to another piano comparison video here at the Merriam Pianos YouTube channel. Today we’ll be comparing to oft-compared grand pianos, the Boston GP178 and Kawai GX2. In many ways, cousins by way of a common ‘birth-place’, Hamamatsu Japan.

The information on the differences or similarities between the Boston and Kawai pianos has always been a little vague to say the least, so we hope to shed some light on the important points of difference as well as commonality between the two leading instruments.

Tonal Differences

It’s our impression that whereas the Kawai has emphasized more cabinet tone in proportion to its overall tonal output, the Boston - by way of it’s lower tension scale design and larger soundboard, appears to have prioritized the soundboard tone. They each have their appeal: the Boston has a clear and open tone that’s lively with plenty of dynamic output to the player. The Kawai has a thicker tone with - at least with the two examples compared here - a longer sustain and a more active cabinet resonance.

Boston recently added hardrock maple inner rims to their pianos, bringing them more inline with the GX offering, vs the first edition Boston’s which were primarily Mahogany. That said, The GX rims appear to be slightly thicker, and their use of the fully-integrated stretcher bar also speaks to the emphasis on cabinet tone.

The Boston can brighten easily, and the bass is brassy and prominent. The transition from the mid-range to the bass is better smoothed on the Kawai, but with a different bass character than what the Mapes-made coppers deliver.

Action Differences

Boston uses a Steinway-designed action which is largely built by Kawai at the factory to Steinway spec. True to form, it’s an all-wood action with standard geometry, and regulated well. The feel is a little lighter than the Kawai, which with its lengthened keys plays like a 7’... lots of depth and control, but for lighter fingers, will take a bit of muscle building to ramp up to compared with the Yamaha-esque feel of the Boston.

Lower dynamic control is excellent with the Millennium III action, something it’s explicitly designed for, and at all volume levels feels like a more precise tool - however the Boston is so fluid and easy to play through the mid and upper dynamic ranges that in some settings, it’s going to be the more ‘care free’ instrument to make music on.

Conclusions

Different designs, built to the same quality standards by the same people at the same factory - a rare setup within the industry that within the retail sphere, has made for strange bedfellows. Despite lots of vague rhetoric to try and create lots of daylight (or minimize it depending on who’s doing the evangelizing), the differences are remarkably easy to articulate, and those differences manifest in a distinct tonal experience. While ridiculous to try and make the argument on either side that one somehow ‘rises above’ the other from a quality or heritage stand point, people will no doubt have a preference based on their clear musical differences. What’s yours? Thanks for watching!

For those interested in a more intense listen (raw, unmixed...you'll notice both will be a little left biased, since the large diaphragm mic's were giving us a bit more signal into the left channels).

Kawai Audio
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c1Yd...

Boston Audio
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ld8p...


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