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Will the ROG Azoth be the miracle cure-all to ASUS’s keyboard line-up?
Up to date: Jan 6, 2023 1:18 pm
Desk of Contents
Desk of Contents
At the moment, we carry you our full ASUS ROG Azoth assessment. Expectations are unusually excessive this time, as ASUS’s personal advertising and marketing supplies describe it as ‘bristling with DIY options historically discovered on premium {custom} keyboards’ and able to ‘unprecedented typing experiences’.
Will these daring guarantees develop into pure advertising and marketing waffle as they often are? Can the Azoth maintain a candle to a conventional {custom} mechanical keyboard? Can we write any extra rhetorical questions? Let’s discover out.
It’s no secret that the {custom} mechanical keyboard group has been lightyears forward of the massive corporations for some time now. Customized boards permit for a lot extra customization, providing decrease costs, and customarily providing gaming efficiency on par with what high canines like Razer, Corsair, and ASUS are bringing to the desk.
Properly, it seems that massive manufacturers have lastly began to note their lack of recognition within the {custom} scene. Final yr we reviewed the Corsair K70 Professional Mini Wi-fi, which galvanized us with being hot-swappable and giving us PBT keycaps out of the field.
This made us hope that different corporations would observe go well with. So, let’s discover out if that’s the case right here too with our ASUS ROG Azoth assessment.
ASUS ROG Azoth specs
ASUS ROG Azoth mechanical gaming keyboard
Change kind
ROG NX Purple, Brown, or Blue
Connectivity
USB Kind-C, Bluetooth 2.0, 2.4GHz wi-fi
Sizzling-swappable?
Sure, with 3-pin Cherry-style switches
Execs
Pre-lubed switches
Sizzling-swappable
Included lube package
Feels tremendous stable and weighty
Simply dissassembled
Cons
Costly
Toggle change for the display screen will be too delicate
ROG NX Purple, Brown, or Blue
USB Kind-C, Bluetooth 2.0, 2.4GHz wi-fi
Sure, with 3-pin Cherry-style switches
What’s within the field & setup
ASUS ROG Azoth mechanical gaming keyboard
Change opener
Keycap puller
Change Puller
Lube station
Lube brush
Small tub of Krytox 205 change lube
3x spare ROG NX switches
2.4GHz wi-fi dongle
Dongle Extender
USB Kind-A to Kind-C cable
Stickers !
Fast begin information
Guarantee information
The ROG Azoth is available in a really safe field that’s frankly just a little over-engineered. We’re grateful for this, although, because the 1164g/2.5lbs board may do some severe injury to itself if insecure in transit.
As such, you get loads of foam, plastic peels, and gentle anti-scratch baggage to maintain the whole lot wanting tidy, so unsurprisingly our press pattern arrived in pristine situation.
What was shocking, nonetheless, was the sheer quantity of equipment included with the ROG Azoth. Hidden proper underneath the keyboard lies a kind of newbie {custom} keyboard package, together with fairly just a few issues that we’ve by no means seen in a big-brand gaming keyboard earlier than, however we’ll get to that once we speak in regards to the switches. Spoiler alert, it’s excellent news.
Earlier
Subsequent
The setup was the identical because it ever is. Plug it in with the included USB Kind-C cable, use the two.4GHz dongle, or join through Bluetooth 2.0. Every of those connection strategies is as straightforward as normal, and none of them offered any further noticeable latency.
As normal, there’s some software program to think about, on this case, ASUS Armory Crate. The OLED display screen on this keyboard makes us advocate really utilizing the software program greater than we in any other case would, so set up that too.
Design
In the previous couple of years, we’ve seen massive manufacturers develop up a bit. Gone are the extreme logos, flame decals, and overwhelming quantities of superfluous plastic.
The one remaining pimple left over from the final couple of years of puberty is RGB lighting, nonetheless, similar to grownup zits, it’s solely a dealbreaker for many who are very choosy. Not like grownup zits, nonetheless, it may be turned off on the flick of a change.
We get the sensation that this keyboard is designed to be as interesting as attainable to the {custom} keyboard crowd, not solely with its typing expertise and building however with the design too.
The ASUS ROG Azoth has an excellent commonplace 75% from issue. That is an more and more well-liked format as of late because it retains a full row of perform keys, arrow keys, and nice-to-haves like Ins, Del, PgUp, and PgDn.
Not like a variety of the {custom} competitors on the market, there isn’t a conventional quantity knob or typical media buttons within the higher proper. as an alternative, ASUS ROG has seen match to offer us with a 2-inch, 256×64-pixel, grey-scale OLED display screen right here as an alternative, with bodily, addressable controls positioned on the right-hand-side border of the keyboard.
The OLED display screen can be utilized to show enjoyable gifs or system info in real-time, nonetheless, that’s nerd stuff so we discovered one thing really helpful to placed on there. Cheers, Charlie.
The legends on the keycap nonetheless retain the characteristically angular and bullish look of the Republic of Players, nonetheless, they’re clear sufficient and never fairly stylized sufficient to be disliked. The shine-through legends additionally illuminate splendidly because of the per-key RGB lighting, which will also be personalized any manner the consumer likes through Armory Crate.
For the much less artistic amongst us, there are many presets saved on the board itself, which will be cycled by means of utilizing the management on the sting of the OLED display screen. We discovered this button to be a bit too delicate really, shifting the board round shortly can typically actuate it, although that is solely an occasional annoyance.
We additionally discovered a peculiar hooded determine on the nearside of the F12 keycap. Confused and apprehensive, we tapped it and watched in amazement as each open window was minimized instantly. We aren’t certain precisely what ROG had in thoughts once they designed a key able to hiding the whole lot you’re immediately. Though, we will be certain the youngsters that make up a not-insignificant share of their goal market will recognize this characteristic.
Construct high quality
Supreme is the phrase to explain it. The combination of cold-to-the-touch steel and agency, premium plastics feels beautiful. With a big 1164g/2.5lbs weight, there aren’t any doubts relating to the Azoth’s solidity.
The entire included equipment echo the keyboard’s sturdy nature, except for the lube brush, with our artsy photographer and due to this fact de facto brush critic describing it as ‘promiscuous‘. Wait, what?
Erm, anyway, we’re additionally blessed with PBT keycaps and nearly no flex by any means, regardless of the plastic backside shell, which in line with ASUS’s advertising and marketing materials is to make sure a dependable wi-fi connection as a completely steel outer casing would disrupt the sign an excessive amount of.
Moreover, many keyboard fans desire partial or full plastic building as it may enhance the sound and bodily typing sensation, talking which:
Typing & gaming efficiency
We’ll get this out of the way in which proper now. the ASUS ROG Azoth is just not fairly nearly as good as what will be constructed by a talented {custom} mechanical keyboard particular person. This shouldn’t come as a shock, however for these of you hoping that massive gaming manufacturers have lastly caught up, we’re happy to report that they’ve by no means been nearer.
ASUS needs to be proud that they’re the closest up to now, as, out of all of the gaming keyboards we’ve examined through the years right here at WePC, that is the closest one has ever come to feeling like a custom-built board.
Cracking the Azoth open, (mercifully straightforward with the elimination of 10x hex bolts) it will seem that ROG has spared no expense right here as we discover layer upon layer of enjoyable stuff, lifting off the highest case we discover the next:
Earlier
Subsequent
Silicone Gaskets to insulate the change plate each the mounting plastic and the steel high plate
A 3.5mm silicon noise-absorbing pad
A PORON foam pad to cut back case-ping, bettering acoustics
One other silicon pad to stop the plastic backside case from echoing.
These of you acquainted with r/mechanicalkeyboards will acknowledge this checklist of fabric, which additionally signifies that ROG has been being attentive to the group. Sadly, it’s a notoriously hard-to-please group, in order that they’ll nonetheless discover an issue with this keyboard, however that’s fans for ya.
Asus Did an excellent job of factory-lubing the stabilizers right here. We’ve seen pre-lubed stabilizers earlier than, however not with this degree of consideration to element
Our pattern got here with ROGs NX Purple linear switches that are courteously pre-lubed as are the clip-in stabilizers, making the amusingly tiny pot of Krytox 205 the right measurement for topping up the Azoth through the years. The board is after all hot-swap appropriate with 3-pin switches too, so be at liberty to slap any of your favorites in there if and if you really feel like switching up your typing expertise.
It will additionally seem that ASUS even hopes that you’ll, as they’ve silk screened their emblem onto the PCB, along with the names of the corresponding keys above every socket. Not solely on the entrance, as every change is labeled on the underside of the PCB too. This makes the ASUS ROG Azoth far simpler for somebody to mod.
Talking of which, the out-of-the-box typing expertise is much and away the perfect we’ve seen from ASUS, and it manages to simply eclipse their contemporaries, like Razer and Corsair, even the mighty Mountain needs to be quaking in its snow-boots.
The mixture of foams, pads, and gaskets makes the ASUS ROG Azoth a dream to kind on. The gaskets present a extra mild backside out than a normal mount, and the symphony of fabric layers creates a satisfying, even marbled noise. Nonetheless, it falls in need of the venerable ‘thoc’, although some tactile switches would carry it very shut.
Gaming on the ROG Azoth can be an ideal expertise, which ought to come as no shock. Whereas ASUS is new to this degree of {custom} high quality, they’re well-practiced in the case of latency, polling price, and all the opposite technical stuff that’s essential for avid gamers.
The included {custom} package is beautiful too with a brush, change puller, opener, and naturally a pot of the gold commonplace Krytox 205. Annoyingly the ‘lube station’ is perfunctory at greatest, because it’s the dimensions of a enjoying card and about as well-suited to holding switches.
Nonetheless, we aren’t used to something even near this being included, so a budget laser-cut acrylic was nonetheless very spectacular.
ASUS ROG Azoth: Ultimate verdict
Seems, our considerations in regards to the advertising and marketing materials being superlative nonsense have been fallacious, and ASUS has managed to stay as much as their guarantees.
What we now have right here is one thing we’ve been hoping for over the previous couple of years, an organization that’s made a product that’s capable of compete with one thing passionately made by an fanatic.
We noticed child steps made with the aforementioned K70 Professional Mini Wi-fi, and a surprisingly tactile expertise from Mountain with the Everest 60, adopted by a glut of spectacular high quality boards from many different corporations.
The ROG Azoth is the fruits of those enhancements, lastly bringing a board to the desk {that a} {custom} builder could be happy with, with the reassuring connectivity know-how that stored most avid gamers coming again to the massive boys.
Will this development proceed? We hope so, however we all know higher than to get our hopes up.
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