Brand Y is Yamaha, of course. They make wonderful pianos–both acoustic and digital. Team member Linda Gould has a long history with Yamaha instruments. She owned a chain of four piano stores in Canada and was a Yamaha dealer. Her own acoustic grand piano is a Yamaha G2. Its only fault (for Linda) is the standard 6.5 inch octave keyboard. Linda purchased a 5.5 inch octave keyboard for it over 20 years ago.
Linda has also owned multiple Yamaha digital pianos, using them both for teaching and performing. She and her sister, Sue Gould, have performed as the Dragonfly Sisters for several years, giving concerts at community venues in British Columbia. The portability of digital pianos makes these concerts possible. For many years Linda had the luxury of her 5.5 scale acoustic piano at home, but performed on a 6.5 scale Yamaha digital for her gigs away from home.
That changed in 2021 when the first NK5.5 prototype became Linda’s concert instrument. Now Linda performs on the NK5.5 while her sister Sue (blessed with larger hands) continues to perform on a Yamaha P120. Their performances include the online Stretto Festival, which showcases keyboards narrower than the standard 6.5 inch octave. (Sue can only be part of this festival alongside Linda and her NK5.5.) Their duets let us listen to just how well the NK5.5 keeps pace with the Yamaha P120. We challenge you to find any evidence that the NK5.5 fails to match the performance of the Yamaha. The NK5.5 is an excellent instrument for interpretation of advanced piano repertoire.