Hold on SK880 user. You have said that you haven't heard the PSR 9000. The PSR 9000 is way beyond the PSR 8000. So not having heard the PSR 9000, you cannot say that the SK880's amplifier runs rings around the Yamaha.

I was able to try out the SK880 where I live. If my impression is correct, the SK880 is like the WK8 but with no speakers and more keys. I found it very difficult to maneuver around, and I wasn't very excited with the way the styles sounded. I didn't play it for very long, but I soon realized why people said that it isn't in the same league as the X1 nor the PSR 9000.

Maybe the keyboard would grow on me, on the other hand. It's true, the best thing would be to try every keyboard. But if the distance is too great ... maybe you have to take a chance on a keyboard everyone is raving about (like the X1 or SD1)and make sure you can return it if you don't like it. You'll lose over $100 on shipping, but ce la vie.

I owned an X1, got rid of it because it wasn't suited like the PSR 740 for my job and performance style. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful keyboard, and if I could have afforded to own two keyboards, I would have kept it.