I bought the ep-880 new in March 2007 from an authorised Roland UK dealer in Surrey.

I am pleased with the piano sound quality which is remarkably like an acoustic piano, with deep resonating tones in the lower octaves, long decay of sustained notes, and metallic string and hammer sounds in the mid range which accentuate the realism. The piano sounds chords with fullness and clarity, even with jazz chord substitutions (sus, dim, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths etc). The high notes clink like a real piano as well.

The key action is responsive and smooth, the weighted hammer action feels satisfyingly heavy when played, and key return is very natural. Importantly to me the ep-880 has 88 full-sized piano keys.

Back to the sounds, there is a ‘mellow’ piano variation which sounds quite muffled. I haven’t used the other sounds very much (epiano, organ, harpsichord) although I sometimes play piano layered with strings to provide backing for a couple of slow pieces, which creates a very pleasing performance. There are more sounds available in split mode (e.g. double bass, flute) which I haven’t used much.

There is a facility to record performances, but only one piece at a time can be saved in the ep-880’s memory (albeit 2-track). I guess I need to play MIDI output to PC for storage, and playback to the ep-880 via MIDI input. Not tried that yet. Also has line out but I’ve not had the chance to connect to an external amp – I’d like to know how the sound quality scales up. Works well with headphones – absolutely essential for late night practice.

One of the speakers developed noticeable fuzziness in the sound of the bass notes and Roland UK replaced the speaker without question under the 3 year warranty. In fact Roland arranged for their local repair agent to carry out the repair so I didn’t have to go to the trouble and delay of returning it to Roland’s headquarters, and I was only without the piano for a couple of days. The piano is perfect again, the repairer did a great job – there’s no visible sign that a repair has been carried out.

About me, I am a home player, self-taught, although I was taught music theory and woodwind instruments as a child/youth which helped a lot.

As there is so little information or reviews available on the internet for this great digital piano I thought I'd take the plunge and write a few words.

Firstly, I am not a professional musician, have not been classically trained, and do not claim to be a world expert. However, I recently upgraded my previous Digital Piano to a Roland EP-880 after a lot of shopping around, demos and head scratching.

All I can say, if you're in the market for a <£500.00 digital piano this makes a fantastic choice. The sampled Steinway sounds simply sublime, and the keyboard action is just silky smooth to the point you just want to keep on playing. The unit is not over-loaded in features, but I have 2-synths for bells and whistles. It does have Line Outputs (which the cheapers Yamahas do not), it has Midi out and in, comes with a high quality sustain pedal, and really nice sounding internal speakers. There's a two channel recorder which I've not even looked at and a few other bits. It does have the ability to layer and split sounds, and for teachers/students a useful function of turning the 88-key board into 2 x 44-keys (along with 2 x headphone sockets on the front).

Build quality and finishing seems very good. Its made in Italy, so hasn't come in from China or the Far East.

The big plus points are the piano sound and the keyboard respose/feel - which are both fantastic in the extreme, and really, if you're buying a digital piano, thats all you want.

Go get one!!! And no, I don't work for Roland :-)