The same touch grade, opposite ideas about sound

The Kawai CA-401 and the Roland HP-704 are the two obvious mid-range consoles for a player who has outgrown an entry model but is not shopping at flagship level. They list close together, with the Kawai slightly above the Roland. On our spec-derived touch scale they grade identically — which is unusual, and it means the decision has to be made somewhere else.

That somewhere else is the sound engine, and the two makers could hardly disagree more. Kawai gives you nineteen voices. Roland gives you three hundred and twenty-four.

A note on method: this is a spec-based head-to-head. We have not played the two side by side, so rather than ruling on feel we set out what each maker built and who benefits.

The actions: our scale cannot separate them

The CA-401 uses Kawai's Grand Feel Compact; the HP-704 uses Roland's PHA-50, the wood-and-composite hybrid Roland has fitted across its console range for years. Both instruments finish the keys with an ivory-feel surface, so even the thing your fingertips touch is comparable.

Our touch grade puts them level. That is a statement about published construction, not about how they play — and two actions can score the same and still feel nothing alike. Grand Feel Compact and PHA-50 have distinct reputations among players, and neither camp is wrong. If you can only test one thing in a shop, test these two keyboards back to back and let your hands decide. Nothing on this page overrides that.

Sound: nineteen voices against three hundred and twenty-four

The CA-401 runs SK-EX Rendering, built around Kawai's Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand, and stops at nineteen voices. That is a deliberately narrow instrument: a small number of tones, chosen and finished carefully, with the acoustic piano at the centre of everything.

The HP-704 runs SuperNATURAL Piano Modeling and carries 324 voices. Modelling costs Roland nothing to extend, so alongside the pianos you get organs, electric pianos, strings and a great deal else. If you play in a band, accompany a choir, or simply enjoy wandering through sounds, that library is a real feature rather than a spec-sheet number.

The honest framing is that these serve different players. Nineteen voices is not a weakness if you only ever want a good piano; 324 is not clutter if you actually use them. Ask yourself what you played last month.

Power and cabinet: the Roland is louder, the Kawai far lower

The CA-401 puts 40 watts through four speakers. The HP-704 puts 60 watts through four. The Roland has the larger amplifier of the two; both will fill a domestic room, but the extra power tells when you play over other musicians.

The cabinets differ more than the weights suggest. The CA-401 is 1360 mm wide, 485 mm deep and 915 mm tall at 57.5 kg. The HP-704 is 1377 mm wide, 468 mm deep and 1113 mm tall at 59.5 kg. The height is the number to notice: the Roland stands nearly 20 cm taller. In a small room, or anywhere you would rather see over the instrument, that is the difference you will live with daily.

Practice features — and where they part

Both are well equipped for daily work. Each has two headphone jacks with headphone optimisation, which is what makes late-night practice comfortable rather than merely quiet. Each has Bluetooth Audio and Bluetooth MIDI, USB MIDI, app connectivity, onboard recording, a lesson function, layer and split, metronome and transpose. Both include the stand and the damper pedal. Neither has a microphone input.

Polyphony is one place they separate: 192 notes on the Kawai against 384 on the Roland. Both figures cover solo repertoire without trouble, but the Roland keeps far more headroom for heavy pedalling and layered sounds.

The HP-704 has a line output; the CA-401 does not. If you plan to feed a mixer or an audio interface, that settles it — the Roland connects directly, while the Kawai would need a workaround.

The built-in song libraries mirror the voice counts: 382 pieces on the Roland against 176 on the Kawai. If you work through built-in repertoire as practice material, the Roland gives you more to go at.

Who should buy which

Buy the Kawai CA-401 if the acoustic piano is the whole point. Nineteen voices built around the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX and a cabinet that sits nearly 20 cm lower. It is the pick for the classical or solo player who wants one very good piano sound and a lower piece of furniture.

Buy the Roland HP-704 if breadth matters. 324 voices, 384-note polyphony and 382 built-in pieces make it the more versatile instrument for anyone who plays across styles or accompanies other people; it also has the larger amplifier and the only line output of the two, and it lists lower. Accept the taller cabinet.

Since the two actions grade level, the sensible way to decide is to ignore the keyboard argument until you have played both, and settle the sound question first: one carefully finished piano, or a library you will actually use.