Quick answer: The Kawai ES120 (listed at $999 on Kawai’s own US site, with promotions sometimes down near $949) pairs a Responsive Hammer Compact graded action with Kawai’s flagship SK-EX concert-grand sample — the same sample library used in Kawai’s $2,349+ CN201 and $3,749+ CA501 consoles — plus 192-note polyphony, Bluetooth audio/MIDI, and a 20-watt speaker system in a 27.6-pound portable chassis, per Kawai’s own spec sheet. The catch: Kawai’s own step-up ES920 carries a more advanced action and a higher polyphony ceiling for its higher price, so the ES120’s flagship sample doesn’t mean it’s the most capable piano in the ES-series.
Our best Kawai digital piano roundup already names the ES120 our overall pick. This review goes deeper on the one comparison that roundup doesn’t make — how the ES120 actually stacks up against Kawai’s own pricier ES920 — plus a real owner-reported weak point worth knowing before you buy.
Kawai ES120 at a glance
| Spec | ES120 (this review) | ES920 (step-up) |
|---|---|---|
| Key action | Responsive Hammer Compact | Responsive Hammer III (triple-sensor) |
| Piano sample | SK-EX concert grand + K-60 upright | SK-EX concert grand (shared) |
| Polyphony | 192 notes | 256 notes |
| Key surface | Standard | Ivory Touch |
| Weight | 27.6 lbs, per Kawai's spec sheet | ~37.5 lbs |
| Extra features | Bluetooth audio/MIDI | + Virtual Technician, rhythm section, Spatial Headphone Sound |
What you’re actually getting
Kawai ES120
- 88 graded keys on Kawai's Responsive Hammer Compact action — heavier bass, lighter treble, per Kawai's own description of the action's hammer weighting.
- Kawai's flagship SK-EX concert-grand sample, the same sample library used in the brand's $2,349+ CN201 and $3,749+ CA501 consoles, according to dealer comparison data.
- 192-note polyphony through a 20-watt (2 x 10W) speaker system, weighing 27.6 lbs, per Kawai's spec sheet.
A piano this size still arrives in a box heavy enough to need a hand getting through the door — try Amazon Prime free for 30 days for the two-day shipping that makes that delivery less of a guessing game. The ES120 earns its spot as our top Kawai pick because it’s the cheapest model in the current lineup carrying that flagship sample, and it doesn’t ask you to step up to console pricing to get it.
The flagship sample lives in the budget model
Here’s the part most buyers don’t expect: according to Kawai dealer comparison data, the ES120 doesn’t just inherit a scaled-down version of Kawai’s flagship sound — it carries the actual SK-EX concert-grand sample set, the same one used in the step-up ES920 and the far pricier CN201 and CA501 consoles, plus a K-60 upright piano sample and twice as many onboard reverb modes as the previous entry-level ES110. The sound engine at the bottom of Kawai’s lineup is, in this one respect, not a watered-down version of the sound engine at the top.
What doesn’t carry over is the action and the polyphony ceiling. The ES920 uses Kawai’s Responsive Hammer III action with triple-sensor key detection and Ivory Touch key surfaces, a genuinely different feel class than the ES120’s Responsive Hammer Compact action, and its polyphony ceiling sits at 256 notes versus the ES120’s 192 — the same gap our best Kawai digital piano guide already documents between the ES120 and the console-tier CN201. The takeaway: paying more for the ES920 buys you a better-feeling, higher-capacity instrument built around essentially the same flagship piano sound, not a noticeably different one.
The weak point reviewers keep flagging
Mixdown Magazine’s hands-on review of the ES120 praised the key feel directly — calling it one of the best-feeling actions it had played at the price point — but specifically called out the damper pedal response as a letdown relative to the keybed. That’s a useful data point if pedaling nuance matters to your playing: our best sustain pedal guide covers upgrade options, though swapping the included pedal only helps if your piano’s own sustain-sensing can read the difference — the Roland support documentation referenced in that guide confirms not every digital piano’s pedal input supports true half-damper response, so check your model before assuming a pricier pedal will fix the feel.
Who should (and shouldn’t) buy it
The ES120 is the easiest recommendation in Kawai’s current lineup if you want the brand’s flagship concert-grand sound in a portable chassis without paying console pricing. If repeated-note accuracy, a triple-sensor action, or the higher 256-note polyphony ceiling matter more to you than saving money, the ES920 is the one Kawai model built specifically to answer that — our best Kawai digital piano roundup covers where the rest of the lineup, including the CN201 and CA501, lands in between. And before you buy headphones to go with it, Kawai’s own support documentation recommends a 16-100-ohm range, covered in our best headphones for digital piano picks.
The bottom line
The Kawai ES120 earns its place in our best Kawai digital piano roundup on the strength of a genuinely graded action and a flagship sample most pianos at this price don’t carry. The thing to walk in expecting: that flagship sound sits inside a simpler action and a lower polyphony ceiling than Kawai’s own step-up ES920, and real owner reviews flag the damper pedal feel as the one part of the package that doesn’t match the keybed.