ASUS ROG Azoth review: On another level

  ❘   Printed: 2023-01-04T16:12:01

  ❘   Up to date: 2023-01-04T16:12:10

ASUS just lately introduced the ROG Azoth, a brand new 75% gaming keyboard meant to be an possibility for players and customizers alike to deliver their gaming and typing expertise up a notch.

Gaming keyboards have been stagnating for an extended, lengthy whereas. Greater manufacturers have fallen behind the likes of Higround and Wooting, which incorporate enthusiast-level options for the consumer whereas retaining that essential gaming expertise. ASUS has straight responded to this with an possibility that, actually simply blows just about all of the competitors out of the water.

The ASUS ROG Azoth is a 75% gaming keyboard with a hotswappable PCB, dense layers of silicone and poron dampening, detachable screw-in stabilizers, PBT keycaps, and an OLED media operate. It’s additionally geared up with an OLED display for media controls and premium PBT keycaps. If that laundry checklist isn’t sufficient, there’s much more inside.

The ROG Azoth additionally comes with a change lubing station, full with Krytox lube along with a change opening software and brush. From the outset, that is only a deeply spectacular effort.

Key specs

• Swap sort: ASUS ROG NX Pink (Pre-lubed, Sizzling-swappable)
• Keycaps: PBT 
• Connectivity: Wired (USB-C), Bluetooth, 2.4GHz
• Kind issue: 75%
• Lighting: North-facing RGB
• Options: Pre-lubed, OLED display, three-way management knob, adjustable toes, silicon & poron dampening, silicone gaskets
• Battery life: As much as 130 hours 
• Worth: TBC
• The place to purchase: TBC

Included within the field: ASUS ROG Azoth, Swap opener, keycap puller, change puller, lube station, lube brush, Krytox 205 lube, 3x ROG NX switches, 8x Stabilizer mats, USB dongle, USB extender, USB-C to USB-A cable.

Design

Dexerto

The ASUS ROG Azoth is extraordinarily paying homage to different expanded 75% keyboards just like the Keychron Q1. With a gunmetal end and metallic high body, the board oozes high quality from the second you are taking it out of the field. There’s a delicate two-tone end to the keycaps, in black and darkish gray, when you get a shine-through legend. Whereas we’re not big followers of the ROG lettering, the board feels extremely premium to the contact, and we’re simply getting began.

On the right-hand nook, ASUS has stuffed a greyscale OLED monitor, which is customizable by way of their software program, along with a three-way quantity rocker. Our solely gripe with the amount rocker right here is that it’s fairly straightforward to actuate, and we discovered ourselves by chance placing the amount up, as a substitute of muting it as we meant.

On the high, you’ll discover the housing divides right into a plastic backside, the place you will discover the connectivity choices, which embrace Bluetooth and a 2.4GHz mode, one thing that many fanatic boards lack. You additionally get a small slot to position your 2.4GHz dongle, whereas the Kind-C port is nestled all the best way to the left.

Contained in the ROG Azoth

Dexerto

Whereas it’s fairly on the skin, the ROG Azoth has an entire host of options inside that we’ve been clamoring for in mainstream gaming keyboards for months. You get a wholesome dose of froth dampening, which even extends to the spacebar, whereas the bottom of the board is additional dampened through silicone. That is primarily for acoustics, as is the complete lubing of the switches out of the field, which extends to the screw-in stabilizers.

The switches and stabilizers are all made by ROG themselves, that are certainly serviceable, however you may simply customise them with the included instruments to actually personalize your setup.

Right here, the PCB is gasket-mounted, although we felt zero flex whereas the board was assembled. Sadly, the ROG Azoth makes use of north-facing RGB LEDs on its PCB, which can trigger some conflicts with switches, barely going in opposition to the DIY-ness of the keyboard.

Equipment

Dexerto

The equipment included with the ROG Azoth are nothing in need of staggering. You basically get a full lubing equipment to boost your typing expertise, in addition to a few switches to follow with, too. That is extraordinary within the mainstream keyboard house. So, the ROG Azoth provides us an extremely welcome addition. It turns the ROG Azoth from a high-end gaming board, right into a DIY keyboard equipment.

Efficiency

Dexerto

Out of the field, the ROG Azoth is nothing in need of implausible, the acoustics of the board make it buttery clean out of the field, that means that you simply basically solely hear the switches, and nothing else. Do you have to select to swap out the switches and lube up one other set, you may step it up one more stage.

We discovered typing easy and straightforward, although we desire different switches, whereas the wi-fi performance allowed us to make use of the board throughout units with out a single hitch. This extends to gaming as nicely.

Whereas the board can’t preserve tempo with the likes of Wooting, it’s no slouch, and we went by way of video games of Civilization, Overwatch 2, and Gundam Evolution with out a lot as a slight adjustment interval.

Do you have to purchase it?

In the event you’re searching for a gaming keyboard with heaps of options, and wish to dip your toes into the DIY keyboard scene, there is no such thing as a higher place to do it than the ROG Azoth.

We nonetheless don’t have agency pricing or a launch date, however if you’re searching for a brand new gaming keyboard that merely has all of it, the ROG Azoth is completely unmissable. We simply wished that it had south-facing RGB.