Works well, rattles horribly: Folding piano disappoints in the test
19.12.2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Martin Jungfer
Pianos from Steinway or Schimmel sound good, but are not particularly easy to transport. Is there therefore a gap in the market for pianos that can be folded?
My wife plays the piano and our daughter has also been going to piano lessons for a few years freiwillig und gern. The annual visit to the grandparents is coming up at Christmas. Mum and daughter were supposed to play a Christmas carol - and I was supposed to sing along. But (fortunately) that didn't happen. The reason: the Blackstar folding piano stays at home. Unusable - that was the joint verdict of the family test.
A good idea, but nothing more
Our plan was: because there's no piano at the grandparents', we need one to take home. And indeed, the folding piano emerged from the depths of the Galaxus search. 88 keys, the full range of the Yamaha «Arius». Zack, ordered!
The first thing that catches my attention when unpacking is the folding mechanism. There are three pairs of hinges that fold the piano into four layers. It is then 33 centimetres long, nine centimetres high and 13 centimetres deep. So it's smaller than a shoe box. The construction seems reasonably stable, even though the piano is a lightweight at just 1.6 kilograms. It doesn't inspire much confidence that only half of the hinges are made of metal, the rest are plastic.
The manufacturer will provide a cloth bag for transport. It also has space for the foot pedal and a USB-A charging cable with micro-USB connection, charging plug not included. So you should have an old thing with 5 volts for it. Speaking of charging: Whether the battery in the device currently has power, or even how much of it, remains a mystery. When the battery is running low, I can tell by the display flashing once a second. The instructions say that the piano switches off three minutes after the start of the flashing. That sounds drastic. A battery status display would be nicer, but that's wishful thinking. If the device is charging, I can only guess how long it will last. Three dots flash on the mini-display during charging. They stop when the battery is full.
With a full battery, up to eight hours of operation should be possible. Our patience didn't last that long during testing. The hope is that this is true and that the battery will survive many charging cycles. After all, the manufacturer does not intend to replace a battery that has become weak.
I unscrewed one of the sheet metal back panels for the test so that I could take a look at the folding piano's technology. The following photo shows what I found. At least the electronics all look neatly soldered.
Sound of a tin can
As much as the folding piano scores points as a concept, it disappoints in the most important disciplines: sound and playing. There is a tiny two-watt speaker on the left and right of the piano. The sound from these is almost as tinny as that from my 486 Monkey Island. Decades ago. That must be better in 2025. Even my iPhone 17 sounds richer and it has less space for sound membranes.
To give you an idea of the sound, I managed to convince my wife zwingen müssen to play a few bars of Christmas music. However, I had to promise that I could only use the video if I also wrote that she normally plays quite skilfully, but that the «rattling thing» takes away any joy of playing, hence the abrupt ending.
Is the folding piano at least suitable for our daughter to practise on the go? After all, the device is equipped with a headphone connection (3.5 mm jack). The piano actually sounds a little better through the headphones.
I could also connect speakers to improve the sound. There is a USB plug at the back of the piano for this purpose, which would transport the signal via the Midi standard from 1982. I no longer have a compatible speaker in the house, nor an aux cable, so I can't tell you how good (or bad) that sounds. It would also contradict the idea of a foldable piano if I had to pack a couple of speakers for it. Has Blackstone realised that Bluetooth or Airplay are available?
Keyboard instead of keys
Piano virtuosos like Schumann or Chopin would probably turn away in horror if I put them in front of the Blackstar device. Both my wife and my daughter agree that the feeling when playing has nothing to do with a piano. Even I, as a layman, agree. The Yamaha electric piano or even the «real» piano in the music school have weighted keys, which the Blackstar device lacks. When I press a key there, it feels more like an office keyboard than a musical instrument, including a very short stroke.
However, a good office keyboard would be ashamed if it rattled as loudly as the Blackstar folding piano. There is no damping: plastic meets plastic when you press. What's more, the proportions between the white and black keys are unusual. The black ones are so short that my wife has to perform finger acrobatics to play them well.
Support for beginners
Manufacturer Blackstar writes that the folding piano is an «ideal tool for beginners, music teachers and musicians who travel a lot». Well, at least beginners might enjoy the 128 voice presets. It's a nice gimmick when the device sounds like a harpsichord, a synthesiser or something very remotely reminiscent of a church organ. However, at least half of the presets are no longer instruments. The sounds would be more suitable for dubbing old computer games.
The metronome, tempo setting or accompanied playing are more useful. You select the appropriate help via the buttons on the left-hand side. A tiny LCD field can display three numbers or letters in the segment look of the 90s.
In a nutshell
It doesn't work with us
Okay, the "Folding Piano 88" from Blackstar is inexpensive. Not much more expensive than a toy piano. And yes, you can make music with it. And yes, folding it makes it super compact. But, and this is a big but: it sounds terrible. The stereo speakers are a disgrace in the year 2025. The disharmony is made perfect by the rattling keys. You don't even know where not to listen first.
Pro
- Headphone connection
- Compact folding size
Contra
- Mediocre workmanship
- No charging plug included in the scope of delivery
- Missing Bluetooth
- Outdated connections
- Lousy sound from the loudspeakers
- Rattling, relatively loud keys
Martin Jungfer
Head of Content
Martin.Jungfer@digitecgalaxus.chJournalist since 1997. Stopovers in Franconia (or the Franken region), Lake Constance, Obwalden, Nidwalden and Zurich. Father since 2014. Expert in editorial organisation and motivation. Focus on sustainability, home office tools, beautiful things for the home, creative toys and sports equipment.
Audio
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
These articles might also interest you
3 comments
later