Comparison Chart
Yamaha Disklavier ENSPIRE Comparison Chart: CL vs ST vs PRO
A Disklavier is a Yamaha acoustic piano that plays itself. The CL plays back; the ST also records and plays silently; the PRO records in the finest detail.
The Disklavier ENSPIRE is Yamaha’s player piano: a Yamaha acoustic piano with a drive system that plays its keys and pedals, so it can perform 500 built-in songs, thousands more from Yamaha’s online store, and streaming piano radio. Yamaha makes it in three versions. The ENSPIRE CL plays back; the ENSPIRE ST adds recording and a Silent Piano system; the ENSPIRE PRO records and plays back at the highest resolution Yamaha makes. This chart sets them side by side.
The Differences in Brief
- ENSPIRE CL: playback only, for background music and entertaining. It has no key sensors, so it cannot record, and no silent system.
- ENSPIRE ST: playback, recording and Silent Piano practice with Yamaha CFX sound in headphones. It comes on Yamaha’s uprights and smaller grands.
- ENSPIRE PRO: everything the ST does, with grayscale hammer sensors, a higher-powered drive, and recording of 1,024 levels of key and hammer velocity and 256 increments of pedal position. It comes on the C3X and larger CX grands, the SX series and the CF series.
- All three: 500 built-in songs, Yamaha’s ENSPIRE Controller app, wireless networking and MIDI.
Yamaha Disklavier ENSPIRE Specifications
| Specification | |
ENSPIRE ST |
ENSPIRE PRO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playback | |||
| Plays the piano by itself | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Key drive | DSP Drive System | DSP Servo Drive System: servo-controlled solenoids with key sensor feedback | DSP Servo Drive System: high-power servo-controlled solenoids with key and hammer sensor feedback |
| Pedal drive | Damper pedal | Servo-controlled solenoids | Servo-controlled solenoids |
| Built-in songs | 500 (380 solo piano, 72 with instrumental accompaniment, 48 with audio) | 500 (380 solo piano, 72 with instrumental accompaniment, 48 with audio) | 500 (380 solo piano, 72 with instrumental accompaniment, 48 with audio) |
| Song formats | PianoSoft, PianoSoft Plus, PianoSoft Audio | PianoSoft, PianoSoft Plus, PianoSoft Audio, SmartKey | PianoSoft, PianoSoft Plus, PianoSoft Audio, SmartKey |
| Voices for song playback | 480 XG voices and 12 drum kits | 480 XG voices and 12 drum kits | 480 XG voices and 12 drum kits |
| Recording | |||
| Records your playing | No | Yes | Yes, at Yamaha’s highest resolution: 1,024 levels of key and hammer velocity, 256 increments of pedal position |
| Key sensors | — | Non-contact optical grayscale shutter sensors on all 88 keys (position, key-down and key-release speed) | Non-contact optical grayscale shutter sensors on all 88 keys (position, key-down and key-release speed) |
| Hammer sensors | — | Optical shutter sensors (on the C1X, C2X, GC1, GC2 and the uprights) | Optical grayscale sensors |
| Pedal sensors | Damper | Damper and soft: continuous position; sostenuto: on/off | Damper and shift: continuous position; sostenuto: on/off |
| Silent Practice | |||
| Silent Piano system | — | Yes: a motor-driven hammer shank stopper | Yes: a motor-driven hammer shank stopper |
| Piano sound in headphones | — | Yamaha CFX, binaural sampling | Yamaha CFX, binaural sampling |
| Voices to play | — | 16 | 16 |
| Headphone jacks | — | 1 | 2 |
| Connections | |||
| Network and USB | LAN, wireless LAN adaptor, USB to device (×3), USB to host | LAN, wireless LAN adaptor, USB to device (×3), USB to host | LAN, wireless LAN adaptor, USB to device (×3), USB to host |
| MIDI | In and out | In and out | In and out |
| Pianos | |||
| Made on | The GCB baby grand (and the earlier GB1K) | The U1 and YUS1, YUS3 and YUS5 uprights; the GCB, GC1, GC2, C1X and C2X grands | The C3X, C5X, C6X and C7X; the S3X, S5X, S6X and S7X; the CF4, CF6 and CFX |
Specifications from Yamaha (Yamaha’s ENSPIRE CL, ST and PRO specifications and overview pages).
Head-to-Head Comparisons
Yamaha Disklavier ENSPIRE ST vs PRO
Both record and play back, and both are Silent Pianos with Yamaha CFX sound in headphones. The PRO records and plays back at the highest resolution Yamaha makes, 1,024 levels of key and hammer velocity and 256 increments of pedal position, with grayscale hammer sensors and a higher-powered drive. The ST comes on the U1, the YUS uprights and the GCB, GC1, GC2, C1X and C2X; the PRO on the C3X to C7X, the SX series and the CF series.
Yamaha Disklavier ENSPIRE CL vs ST
The CL plays back only: it has no key sensors, so it cannot record, and no Silent Piano system. The ST adds recording, headphone practice with CFX sound, 16 voices to play and SmartKey songs. Yamaha currently makes the CL on the GCB baby grand.
Which Is Right for You?
If you want the piano to play for you and your guests, the CL does that. If you also play, the ST is the one most families choose: it records your playing, plays it back on the keys, and lets you practice through headphones. The PRO is for serious pianists, teachers and studios who want the most accurate recording, and it comes on the larger grands. The piano matters as much as the system; see our CX series chart and SX series chart.
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