- Grand pianos are the largest and best-sounding instruments in the piano family
- Discover the world of the best grand pianos
- Also, check out our guide to grand piano vs baby grand pianos
Grand pianos are the best-sounding and the most majestic-looking pianos, thanks to their long tails, increasing the sound power and quality as well as offering exquisite looks.
They are a treat for the ears and eyes, with their elegant tones and aesthetics.
However, it is an expensive and overwhelming as well as hard decision to purchase a grand piano as there are many different brands, types, models, and things to consider before buying one.
If you are not familiar with acoustic pianos, it can be a challenging process to choose the ideal grand piano.
However, there are many models and types on the market, meaning you can find the perfect grand piano for your house or hall if you learn a bit about the grand pianos and some critical features.
Let’s dive deeper to understand better what to look for in a grand piano and what are some of the best models to check out.
What Are The Best Grand Pianos?
There are many amazing grand piano brands (full list here) offering top-quality grand pianos of different sizes.
Baby grand pianos are the smallest and the most affordable, while concert grand pianos are the most expensive and the giant acoustic pianos.
If you are looking for a grand piano for your house, Yamaha GB1 Baby Grand Piano is our top recommended pick with its great sound, compact size, and good value for the price offered.
If you want a more budget-friendly piano, Steinhoven SG148 Baby Grand is another great baby grand that shines with its affordable price tag yet is high-performance with its great sound and looks.
If you are after a bigger, higher-end grand piano Boston GP163 from the mighty Steinway & Sons can be a perfect choice. Five of the best grand pianos to check out today are as follows:
- Yamaha GB1 Baby Grand Piano (Our Pick)
- Steinhoven SG148 Baby Grand Pianp (Best Value)
- Steinway & Sons Boston GP163 Grand Piano (Premium Option)
- Baldwin BP165 Grand Piano
- Kawai GL-10 Baby Grand Piano
1. Yamaha GB1 Baby Grand Piano
This 5' grand piano has a full, resonant tone comparable to larger pianos. Bring the concert hall to your home with the Yamaha GB1K Grand Piano.
- Perfect blend of price, quality, and aesthetics
- Compact size for houses
- Crisp and pleasant tone
Overview
Yamaha’s GB1 is one of the most famous grand pianos Yamaha offers. It is also the second smallest grand piano in Yamaha lines, perfect for living rooms with its amazing looks and powerful and pleasant tones.
Features
- Compact size and lightweight design: 146cm (w) x 99cm (h) and 261 kg
- Una corda, sostenuto and sustain pedals
- All-spruce soundboard with a polished finished
Review
Yamaha GB1 Baby Grand Piano is the second smallest grand piano Yamaha offers. It is the perfect grand piano if you want a compact acoustic piano for your living room with a great sound, thanks to its 4.8’ size.
The tones are slightly more simplistic than other grand piano options, but the GB1 provides a crisp and pleasant tone with an all-spruce soundboard.
It delivers a standard balanced action with wooden components and hammers. The mechanism replicates the traditional bigger grand pianos and offers a similar playing experience.
It was made in Yamaha’s most advanced piano factory in Indonesia, and the top-quality instrument is one of the most popular acoustic pianos in the market today.
The Yamaha grand piano is mainly preferred by beginner and intermediate-level players as more experienced players might need a keyboard with a bit more control over the keys.
2. Steinhoven SG148 Baby Grand Piano
Constructed to the highest standards, the Steinhoven SG148 offers tonal quality, touch, durability, and value for money.
- Super affordable price
- Compact size
- High-quality components
Overview
The Steinhoven SG148 Baby Grand Piano is one of the best budget-friendly baby grand pianos on the market, thanks to its high-quality components, excellent workmanship, compact size, and decent sonic performance.
Features
- Compact width, 4.8’ (148 cm)
- Spruce soundboard and iron cast frame
- Solid brass or chrome hardware
- 100% German wool and German Roslau piano strings
- Made in China
Review
Steinhoven SG148 Baby Grand Piano is one of the most affordable grand pianos by a relatively lesser-known brand – Steinhoven. The brand was founded in 2004 in Ireland and has been producing budget-friendly grand pianos since then.
The baby grand piano has a compact size with elegant looks, ideal for a living room. It is advertised as the best grand piano for home use.
Plus, it comes with high-quality components such as Solid brass or chrome hardware depending on your choice, 100% German wool, German Roslau piano strings, an all-spruce soundboard, and an iron cast frame.
The sonic performance is decent for the price, but of course, as this is a relatively affordable piano, the sound quality is slightly sacrificed. Still, it sounds more than great for beginners as well as hobbyist players.
In short, Steinhoven SG148 Baby Grand Piano is one of the best baby grand pianos on the market if you are looking for an affordable grand piano.
3. Steinway & Sons Boston GP163 Grand Piano
The Boston PE II builds on the best-in-class features that Boston is known for, is small enough to fit in any home, but possesses the sound of a much larger grand — thanks to its widetail design.
- Made by Steinway & Sons
- Deep, rich sound and greater tone quality
- Amazing aesthetics
Overview
Steinway & Sons creates magical-sounding and fantastic-looking instruments.
One of their more affordable models is the Boston GP163, which shines with its amazing sonic performance as a concert grand piano in a relatively smaller size.
Features
- Mid-size with 5.4’ (164 cm)
- All-spruce soundboard
- Duplex scale
- Shorter grand piano with a wide tailed design
Review
Steinway & Sons are one of the best piano brands globally that decided the piano standards in the industry.
Their Boston GP163 model is one of the smaller and more affordable models of the brand, which provides a full grand piano performance in a compact size.
The Boston GP163 is a mid-sized grand piano with a 5.4’ (164 cm) width. The all-spruce soundboard delivers a deep, rich sound, longer sustain, and greater tone quality.
It is a great piano for living rooms and small stages, which sounds great, filling the room with a rich sound.
Plus, the long tail allows for a more free vibrational movement of the strings, which gives rich sound projection.
Of course, as a Steinway Sons piano, it is a high-end grand piano that is suitable for large budgets, but if you have the budget, you can never go wrong with a Steinway Sons piano.
4. Baldwin BP165 Grand Piano
The BP165 is a small to mid-sized grand styled to fit where a larger grand might overwhelm the space while being equipped to deliver a world-class tone in the process.
- Classic design, handcrafted instrument
- Warm tone and exceptionally responsive action
- High-quality parts and construction
Overview
The Baldwin BP165 is one of the most-sold and popular mid-size grand pianos thanks to its great sound, looks, performance, and reasonable price.
The 5’5” grand piano provides a warm tone with great responsive action for beginners as well as experienced pianists.
Features
- Mid-size 5’5” (168 cm) width
- Alaskan spruce soundboard and a hard maple rim
- Individually weighted keys with different length strings
- A crisp bell-like sound and a reverberating bass line
Review
The piano features an Alaskan spruce soundboard and a hard maple rim. It comes with individually weighted keys for greater action along with a crisp bell-like sound along with a great bass line with reverb.
The piano is handcrafted and features high-quality parts and construction. Combined with the affordable price tag, the Baldwin BP165 is one of the ideal grand pianos on the market for ordinary piano enthusiasts.
5. Kawai GL-10 Baby Grand Piano
With the most complete set of music-enhancing features ever offered on a piano of this size, the GL-10 has everything a pianist needs to succeed.
- Great value for the price
- One of the most popular instruments
- Great feeling keys for beginners
Overview
The Kawai GL-10 is a highly popular baby grand piano as it is considered the best grand piano for home use.
The piano shines with its value-for-price ratio and comes with different finish options and great feeling keys.
Features
- Small-Mid size, 5’0” width
- The soft-fall close system
- Fluid action with longer keys for greater control
- Solid spruce soundboard
Review
The Kawai GL-10 is the most popular grand piano among beginner piano players thanks to its compact size, big sound, and, most important of all, great-feeling keyboard.
The instrument has everything you would need from a high-quality grand piano in a small package.
Its superb tone, outstanding touch, and exclusive design offer great performance for the price.
The piano was selected as the product of the year by MMR Magazine and many other authorities. It is one of the most popular and most-sold pianos in history.
The looks of the instrument are also amazing as it comes in multiple finish options, which can go well in any house or small stage.
The soft-fall close system is great to ensure safety if there are any kids around the piano.
The keyboard is the star of the show as it has a soft touch for fast repetition speeds with more fluid action.
The sonic performance is also good as it has a solid spruce soundboard providing a pristine clear and well-sustained sound for complex tones.
FAQs
What is the best grand piano maker?
The best grand piano maker is considered to be Steinway & Sons, which creates industry-standard instruments.
On the other hand, Steingraeber & Söhne, Bosendorfer, Shigeru Kawai, and Yamaha grand pianos are considered some of the other top-quality brands.
What is a good price for a grand piano?
Entry-level grand pianos usually cost from $7000 to $20,000, while high-end grand pianos like Steinway, Bosendorfer, or Yamaha have prices ranging between $65,000 to $300,000.
The size and piano brand have a great say in the price. For a first grand piano, a budget of around $15,000 would be enough.
Best concert grand pianos have extremely high prices going up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, as the best concert grand pianos require top quality materials and an art-like construction.
Is Yamaha better than Steinway?
Steinway grand pianos are usually slightly more expensive and higher quality than Yamaha pianos.
Yamaha pianos shine with good value for price ratios, while Steinway produces the top of top-quality pianos in terms of sound, aesthetics, key feel, and performance.
Steinway grand pianos are considered the best concert grand pianos while Yamaha is more suited to be the best grand piano for home use in terms of performance and price.
Yamaha grand pianos are thought to be the best grand pianos in terms of value for price ratios.
Do grand pianos sound better?
Grand pianos are the largest and the best sounding piano types. But, grand pianos also have different types categorized by the size of pianos.
Concert grand pianos are the best-sounding and the giant pianos, while baby grand pianos are the most miniature, cheapest, and lowest-sounding grand pianos.
So concert grand pianos are the best-sounding pianos while baby grands have a sound weaker compared to concert grand pianos but they are still slightly more powerful than upright and digital pianos.
Wrapping Up
Grand pianos are some of the most magical musical instruments with their fantastic sound, fantastic looks, epic history, and role in music culture and history.
They are some of the most expensive musical instruments, making it hard to choose the ideal one you need.
If you are not familiar with the grand piano world, we recommend checking Yamaha GB1 Baby Grand Piano and Steinhoven SG148 Baby Grand Piano, which shine with their cost-effective designs and great performances.
If you are after the top of a top-quality grand piano, Steinway & Sons Boston GP163 might be the ideal choice.
For more on pianos check out How Many Keys Does A Piano Have (All Types)?