Ne5 vs. Ns3

[WORSHIP_KEYS]

I was playing my church's Ns3 for service today and for some reason I felt like it sounded a lot better/fuller than my Ne5. I was using all the same settings, (Royal Grand 3d, EQ off, reverb, and kbd touch) but the Ns3 just sounded better. Am I doing something wrong with my piano or is the Ns3 just better piano sounds?

[Schorsch]

Which model of the NS3 did you use?

[WORSHIP_KEYS]

Compact 73. My Ne5 is a 73 semi weighted

[maxpiano]

The NS3 Piano section is the next generation compared to the NE5 one (it is the same as NE6), it includes the dedicated Piano EQ and full support for it in Nord Piano Library v6 and maybe also different velocity response curves; NS3 may also have newer/different DACs and OpAmps in the output section, the sum of all these may explain the difference you hear.

[cgrafx]

are you saying you normally play your NE5 at church, or you used the NS3 at church and you are comparing it to what you hear when you play your NE5 at a different location?

There are not really any significant audio chain changes between the NE5 and NS3. I own two NS3 and previously had NE5. I wouldn't say there was a big difference between the two. Any big difference in piano sounds will be due to better velocity sensitivity.

On the other hand if you are not comparing them side by side, Its more likely just a placebo effect and there aren't actually any major differences.

[maxpiano]

are you saying you normally play your NE5 at church, or you used the NS3 at church and you are comparing it to what you hear when you play your NE5 at a different location?

There are not really any significant audio chain changes between the NE5 and NS3. I own two NS3 and previously had NE5. I wouldn't say there was a big difference between the two. Any big difference in piano sounds will be due to better velocity sensitivity.

On the other hand if you are not comparing them side by side, Its more likely just a placebo effect and there aren't actually any major differences.

Good points, I assumed the test was done in the same condition, but that's the first thing to ask actually...

[cphollis]

There's a two year gap between the NE5 (2015) and the NS3 (2017) -- enough to account for a potential upgrade in the DACs (digital audio converters) which improve all the time. Much more likely the perceived difference is due to a bunch of other factors: listening conditions, program settings, etc.