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Comment by theoh | Hacker News Reader

An electronic piano with headphones may even be an acceptable alternative.

I actually have an electric piano as well and even though it has a mechanical action but it still doesn't come close unfortunately.

I guess I am relatively serious for an amateur but the piano is a very difficult instrument to master and so I just feel like since I have such a limited time to practice I rather make that time as effective as possible. That means playing on an acoustic and thus making a lot of noise sadly..

Sorry for accidental downvote. I have an electronic piano in my flat; it works well for managing noise levels outwith acceptable hours.

No. Just no.

There are full acoustic/electric hybrid pianos with mechanical actions that have the ability to be used with headphones only.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/keyboards...

I actually had one of these and can tell you that unfortunately the technology just isn't there.

The action is the same but the way it reacts and sounds isn't, and at least for classical music, learning the nuances of the sound (and pedal!) is the hardest part..

That's a shame :-(. I've never played one myself but I definitely imagine it to be superior to most/all keyboards.

Why not? In a former life, I used such pianos.

The "make it sound like a wood-and-felt-and-wire piano" issue is solved. The "make the key action feel like a physical piano" is (based on my extensive side-by-side testing) close enough to solved that -if one's concerned about bothering the neighbors with the sound of your playing and one has the money- purchasing a good model is a no-brainer.

Yeah, things like http://www.rolandus.com/products/v-piano/ are absolutely competitive with acoustic pianos. Multiple acoustic pianos, in fact.

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