I don't have space for a big piano in my apartment and I'm thinking about whether I should get something like a Yamaha P-525 instead. I'd mainly use it for practicing, but also jam with friends sometimes. Have digital pianos really gotten that good these days?
Sure, digital pianos have gotten really damn good these days, I gotta say. The P-525 is a solid choice if you don't have much space. For just practicing it's totally fine. The key weighting system nowadays is so close to a real piano that the difference barely matters for normal players anymore. The sound isn't that synthetic crap from 15 years ago either - there's a lot of sampling behind it.
But honestly: if you wanted to pursue a real piano career, I'd eventually recommend getting an acoustic piano, just because the touch dynamics and finger feel are something else. But for your situation - practicing in your apartment and jamming with friends - the stage piano is just more practical. You save on space, money, and dealing with room acoustics. Plus, a good digital one is portable and you can practice with headphones without killing your neighbors.
One important thing: make sure you get a good 88-key with weighted keys, not some mini version. And if you wanna jam with friends, check beforehand whether the piano has good MIDI and audio outputs so you can run it properly into a PA system. The P-525 doesn't make a fuss about that, it's from Yamaha and pretty reliable.
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