Review and Opinion of the Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius and Where to Buy it

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, mainly musical instruments and electronic devices. The Arius series of digital pianos are true bestsellers. You can find this model at a very rocking price, although the cheapest ones can be found at around €792/$899/£722. Below we describe the features of the Yamaha YDP-S34:

• 88 weighted notes (Weight that the keys of an acoustic piano have and that digital pianos try to imitate to equal the touch of the piano. The keys in the high register are heavier and in the high register less. This is different from the sensitivity on the keyboard which serves to regulate the volume of the note. But a weighted keyboard always has sensitivity in the GHS keys.
• Pure CF Sound Engine sound technology.
• 192 notes of polyphony (Number of notes that can be played at once. This includes accompaniments that also consume notes. So if you play on top of an accompaniment more notes will be accumulated).
• 10 sounds (Different sounds of piano and other instruments).
• Three factors that help to improve the experience of playing this piano and make it more similar to playing an acoustic piano:
  • Intelligent Acoustic Control: When you turn down the volume on a digital piano, the lower and higher frequencies are not heard properly. IAC helps balance this frequency imbalance so that they sound even.
  • Acoustic Optimizer – Detects speaker connections, measures distances from the listening position, and automatically optimizes speaker settings, such as volume balance and acoustic parameters, to suit the room
  • Stereophonic Optimizer: Interesting feature that adjusts the distance between you and the piano when you play with headphones so you have the feeling that the sound is coming from the piano and make the experience of playing the piano even more real.
• Reverb Effect (Reverb Effect).
• Chorus effect.
• Simulation of the damping resonance for a better acoustic piano feeling.
• Dual function (Dual mode allows you to combine two sounds to create a more complete one. Typical is the combination of piano + stringed instrument sound) or layer.
• Duo function. This function allows the piano to be separated into two keyboards. and one person can play accompanied by another. Ideal for learning to play with a teacher and for studying snacking and hand play.
• Metronome (Basic study element to study and practice the tempo of a piece of music).
• Recording a song.
• Triple footswitch integrated into the stand.
• 10 demo sounds and 50 preset songs.
• Wall mounted piano body.
• USB midi (MIDI allows you to do such wonderful things as connect your keyboard to your computer, record a sound track and with certain programs click through what you’ve played to musical notes on a score. MIDI tracks store the information of the musical notes).
• 2 Jack outputs for headphones or speaker systems.
• 2 powerful 8 W speakers.
• Lighter weight than the 35.9 kg YDP 143 and measures 1353 x 792 x 296 mm.

It offers a very good sound, which can make it comparable to any acoustic wall piano. It also offers the possibilities of portable digital pianos, such as playing and experimenting with different sounds and styles: playing like an organ, playing jazz style, etc.

It also offers the possibility to connect with the USB MIDI to other devices (smartphones, tablets, PC’s) and use the piano with learning software, music notation software to take out the scores or for your songs or performances.

Another possibility it offers is to connect with headphones, so you can listen to yourself play the piano and not disturb anyone. It includes two headphone outputs so that you can listen to yourself or another accompanist (such as a teacher), and whether you are playing alone or accompanied with the duo mode.

You can find this piano in different color models: white or black.

Now that we have listed and described the features of this piano, there is nothing better than taking a look at the following video where they tell us more about the Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius and you can hear how its different sounds sound.

 

Related post you can be interested in

• Ranking with the best digital pianos
• My selection of cheap musical keyboards.
• Basic concepts you need to know about digital pianos.
• The best resources to learn to play the piano by yourself.
• The best Yamaha Digital Pianos.

Now let’s compare the Yamaha YDP S34 with its more common alternatives. Also at the end of the post you will find a section with the best shopping possibilities for this digital piano. But you can go directly to that part of the post by pressing the following button.

Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius vs Yamaha YDP-S54

The Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius piano can have a difference of 200 Euro with the Yamaha YDP-S 54 that is around €990/£899. Although these models share many features, let’s focus on the ones that make the Yamaha YDP-S34 piano better:

• Sensitivity and weighted keys. While the YPO-S34 has a GHS keyboard that provides a lower weight and bounce rate of keys than a GH3 keyboard. The latter provides a keyboard fidelity that we can find in a grand piano thanks to the exhaust sensor and a higher key bounce.
• Piano sound quality: Yamaha CFX. This piano is designed to achieve the most faithful possible sound of the award-winning Yamaha CFX grand piano.
• More powerful built-in speakers, 20 W.

Although the differences between these models seem minimal, they are important for professional pianists or advanced conservatory students. If you need a professional piano and only have a small space in your study room, this piano model allows you to practice as closely as possible to a grand piano.

The Yamaha YDP-S34 is a more economical option, and is more suitable for students (due to the availability of the Duo function) who want to study with a digital piano that is as close as possible to an acoustic wall piano.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns so that it is easier to see their similarities and differences:

Below is a video showing the features of the Yamaha YDP-S54:

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Yamaha YDP-S54.

Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius vs Yamaha YDP-144 Arius

The Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius keyboard is usually about £25 more expensive than the Yamaha YDP-143 Arius that is around €845/$1200/£774. This difference can be compensated for if your budget is very tight or with the price difference you want to acquire the accessories that are indispensable to a piano of these characteristics: an adjustable piano chair or stool and headphones of sufficient quality to appreciate the nuances of the sound.

In the case of not having much space in the living room or room where the piano is going to be installed, it is advisable to opt for the Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius, as it takes up much less space. This is the main difference between the two pianos.

Otherwise they are almost the same, although it should be noted that the Yamaha YDP 144 has a duet mode so that teacher and student can play at the same time by dividing the piano in two.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns to make it easier to see the similarities and differences:

And now a video of the Yamaha YDP-144 Arius to hear how it sounds even though the quality is the same as on the S34

If you want to know more about this model do not miss our review of the Yamaha YDP-144 Arius.

Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius vs Korg LP-380

Finally we will have a comparison of these two Yamaha YDP-S34 Arius keyboards and the Korg LP-380 that is around €738/$1150/£679, which have a close difference of about $60, with such a small difference it is worth to analyze their similarities and differences in the following face-to-face:

Both digital pianos offer 88 weighted and pressure-sensitive keys each with their respective technology. Furthermore, each keyboard has a sound engine and the Yamaha offers 30 sounds with 192 polyphonic notes, while the choir offers 30 voices with 120 polyphonic notes. Here we find an advantage of the Korg, in the amount of sounds.

In the Yamaha we find Acoustic and Stereo Optimizers that help the simulation or a real acoustic piano. It should be noted that both have sustain pedal input and triple pedalboard, making them good instruments for decent piano study.

Let’s put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns so it’s easier to see the similarities and differences:

And now a video of the Korg LP380:

If you are interested in knowing more, we invite you to see our Review of the Korg LP380.

Where to buy Yamaha YDP S34

Amazon

• Free Shipping and possibility of shipping in one day with Amazon Premium.
• Full Guarantee but they are no experts in music equipment.
• Sometimes better price.
• He’s got worse stock than Thomann.

 

Thomann

• Free Shipping.
• Full warranty. If you have any problems, they take care of everything.
• 100% reliable payment.
• Leader in trouble-free shipping.
• Usually Best price.
• Best Reputation: They are the leading online store in Europe and have the best catalogue and information.

Check below related models with similar price and features:

• Thomann SP 5600
• Yamaha YDP 143
• Roland FP 30
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• Hemingway DP 201 MKII
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