http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhWT-D8uYts

Opinions?

Definitely the S950 has a warmer sound....not to mention both KBs arent EQ'd the same either.

I'll try to be more articulated:
1- Jazz-swing: I liked more the S950 sax and the overall Yamaha sound is more polished, but here emerges the big problem with Yamaha: the styles have short loops (usually 4 bars long) and so after a while tend to become repetitive, even if they have live drums, like this one.
2- In the second song the Yamaha piano is more polished, but the Korg has definitely a different equalization and seems more distant. Even the Yamaha strings seem up front.
3- Wonderful tonight, or the big comeback by Korg: the PA-900 has definitely more punch and sounds like a live recording, while the S950 seems more like a studio recording and the overall sound is kind of aseptic, by comparison.
4- Classical: I was expecting a better performance by Yamaha, but was pleasantly surprised by Korg.
5- Country: Korg wins again; same considerations as in Wonderful tonight.
6- Blues: listen to the Korg bass and tell me if you can keep your foot from tapping; the rhythm section is much more like the "real thing", and the same goes for the harmonica and the electric guitar. Overall, I would say that the Korg sounds like a band from the Chicago ghetto and the Yamaha like a band of high school white boys trying to play the blues.
So, in the end the choice is -like always- subjective: do you prefer "Tutti frutti" sung by Little Richard or Pat Boone? Do you prefer the Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers or the Modern Jazz Quartet?

Both keyboards sound very good. However, there are some distinct differences, at least to my aging ears.

The Swing and Jazz rendition sounded much fuller when played on the Yamaha. And, the right hand voices were sensational by comparison.

The piano and string rendition of Lion King was excellent sounding on both. Again, the overall depth provided by Yamaha's piano and the robust quality of the strings was far superior to the Korg.

Unplugged styles used for Wonderful Tonight were great in both keyboards. The song chosen was not really suitable for the style, though. The guitars on both were very good, but again, I would have to give Yamaha the nod for the realism of the guitars.

The Orchestra Tuti styles were both pretty good, but the depth of Yamaha's overall sound was far superior.

The Country Strum was a real toe tapper on both keyboards. The right hand voices on the korg, however, sounded thin. There was far more depth and expression on both the style and right hand voices with the Yamaha.

The blues styles were nearly identical (great style for Mustang Sally). The drums were definitely hotter with the Yamaha, the distortion guitar was outstanding, but Yamaha's harmonica sounded a bit thin.

Obviously, the EQs were set a bit differently, but the difference in EQ probably did not account for the overall differences in sound quality. Overall, for this particular demonstration, which was very, very good and appeared to to compare apples with apples better than any I've previously seen and heard, the nod would, IMO, go to Yamaha. The S-950 had depth, polished sound quality, and better sounding drums. The Korg sounded good, but it seemed to lack the expression and depth I wanted to hear from a quality, arranger keyboard.

A big thanks to the folks in the UK that took the time to put this together,

Gary

... very interesting to read Dreamer's and Gary's opinions ... brought to mind Ricky Nelson's "You can't please everyone but you got to please YOURSELF" ... just further proof to play what YOU enjoy !!! ... before you can please a client YOU have to be happy ...
I would have been surprised if Gary liked the KORG over the Yamaha - he BOUGHT a 950 didn't he ???

Tony, I used to own a Korg i3, but that was many, many years ago. At the time I really liked it. Then I tried out the PSR-500 and sold the Korg the following day. Believe me, I was being very objective with my overall assessment of these two keyboards. I'm still not 100-percent sold on the S950 over my old PSR-3000s, but I'm still in the learning stages with the S950.

Cheers,

Gary

What is extremely important for me is that layered strings or pads would'n sound endlessly when the sustain pedal is pushed. Because otherwise it's practically useless. And I noticed that on Korg there's such a problem. Who knows if it can be fixed?

Hi Kabinopus, I was interested to see your comment, because I have completely the other perspective. It always frustrated me that Yamaha strings would not hold the sustain if the pedal was pushed. In a real musical situation, the strings may continue even when the piano is silent, at least Korg gives that option while your hands are doing something else: changing variation, adding or taking away voices, fills...

So, Tony's Ricki Nelson quote is very appropriate!

Did they change the meaning of "warmth" and "thin"?

In this comparison..I have to disagree with my buds...The Yamaha does not have more warmth than the Korg..in fact it is very digital...and the instrument with the thin sounds are with the Yamaha...

I think it is a case that you guys are just use to Yamaha sounds..

I pretty much agree with Dreamer's view..and I liked his comment about the High school boys..it hit the mark..

Our friend from Russia , had a good comment..the decay of the strings with the piano was very un-natural..

I did think the Korg had the edge with the wonderful tonight demo...but both of these boards are on par with each other...

Makes me glad I own what I play

I'm a Yamaha guy. I own a Tyros 3 and a Motif XF6. After several years with the T3 I have found that I love the acoustic voices particularly the SA and SA2 voices but I think the overall sound of the T3 is too refined, especially drums. The Motif on the otherhand is bold, live and exciting. So I use the T3 only for it's voices and not it's styles. Once you hear the difference with the Motif there is no going back. In this comparison I hear the same thing. The Korg is so much more livelier, especially the drums. At first I thought it was a Reverb difference (more on the Korg and less on the Yamaha) but it is more than that. I thought the Korg won every comparison except maybe for piano. However if there were any SA2 voices on the 950 they would have been better than the Korg version.