It's the brand and its roots that make the difference, not the individual models. Steinway is American, it dominates the American market and thats why most music schools and colleges will have deals with the company to have all of their pianos supplied. The factory is in NYC (and its so worth a visit), and the "Steinway sound" is produced there, mainly by wrapping a single piece of (birch?)wood around the entire soundboard. It's bright and warm at the same time, its deep, harmonically broad and often referred to as a complex sound. Boesendorfer is Austrian. Its frame is built in (maple?) pieces, vertically right out of the soundboard. It feels a little easier to the touch, has a reliable and loud sound, but its very classical and simple build means you can grasp none of the range, intensity, and complexity that you can achieve with a Steinway. edit: in other words, nobody is gonna get caught playing jazz on a 'dorfer, but nobodys gonna complain about it before they start a Mozart sonata. in my opinion
To fix my edit: nobody is gonna get caught playing jazz on a 'Dorfer unless you're the second coming of Jazz Jesus.
for some reason i commented the same thing 4 times #bugski ._.