You are the first person I've heard who made a major point about the difference in the piano sound in different registers. Timbre? Usually, it's a love or hate for the whole 88.

You mentioned hardware. I don't use any VSTis. I have used Roland hardware forever (over 20 years?) to reproduce my MIDI sounds. Currently I have an Integra-7 with what they call Supernatural sounds. The grand sounds pretty good to me, but I admit, I'm producing composer demos to send to my band, and the sound quality is not that critical.

I'm going to shoot a message to John Ford to look at your post.

BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors