The Rog Azoth keyboard from Asus is a high-end custom wireless mechanical keyboard with many features, including interchangeable, pre-lubricated switches, a keyboard maintenance toolkit, and even… an OLED screen.
- Exceptional typing quality
- Very solid construction
- Convenient multi-function wheel
- Oled screen to display technical information
- Full backlighting and key-by-key operation
- Very good battery life
Cons
- ABS keys
- Heavy
Overview
Custom keyboards are usually the preserve of manufacturers who allow users to choose every component of their model, from switches to keys, casing, materials, cable, PCB and many other options. While they are often wildly expensive – easily £300 to £500 – they allow you to get a device ideally suited to your use and taste, right down to the smallest detail.
To our knowledge, Asus has jumped into this market to offer a ‘custom’ model, the first from a consumer brand. We’re putting inverted commas here because, in reality, it’s not possible to choose your components when you buy them. Still, the Rog Azoth has elements that are characteristic of custom keyboards. It is upgradeable as it features pre-lubricated, hot-swappable mechanical switches and a tool kit to lubricate the whole thing and change certain parts if necessary. The brand’s asking price is sky-high at just under £300, and the Rog Azoth joins the club of ultra-high-end keyboards alongside the Corsair K100 Air and the new Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro.
Ergonomics
The Rog Azoth immediately shows its solidity when you pick it up. Its very well-finished case is covered with a thick aluminium plate. It is presented in TKL format (without a numeric keypad) but a little wider (326 x 136 x 40 mm) than the usual 75% format because of its Oled screen, which we will return to. We appreciate this format because it saves space on the desk and leaves room for the mouse on the right-hand side, but it still weighs 1186 g; a weight that certainly makes it robust and secure but which could prove to be a nuisance for those who want to transport it regularly. A small palm rest would have been welcome, given the thickness, but the internal construction is otherwise impeccable, with no less than three layers of foam and silicone pads to absorb keyboard noise and vibrations.
The Oled screen located in the upper right corner of the Azoth is its originality. Although it’s a bit of a gimmick, it does offer some attractive features. It can display images or animations pre-recorded by Asus or of its own making by integrating them into the Armoury Crate software, making a pixelated black-and-white transcription. Instead of an image, you can also display system information, such as CPU and GPU temperatures or operating frequencies. A handy tool for those who want to monitor this data without displaying it on the screen.
The scroll wheel on the right-hand side allows you to quickly make various settings and scroll through the menus on the small screen. It offers four possible actions: push up, pull down, click on it or click the button on the edge to change the menu. Seven menus can be displayed, from backlight control to motherboard fan control to volume control or music tracks being played. While not all of these are essential, having dedicated media buttons are nice.
The battery life is claimed to be 2000 hours with the screen and RGB switched off. In practice, and with these elements switched on, the battery lasts much less time, but it does very well against the competition. We only had to recharge it twice in several weeks. Of course, this will depend on usage and the number of hours spent playing and working daily.
Typing
For its flagship keyboard, Asus has chosen Rog NX red switches whose characteristics are halfway between those of the MX red switches from Cherry and the GX red from Logitech, with an activation force of 40 cN and an activation travel of 1.8 mm. The keyboard is also available in NX brown tactile and NX blue clicky versions with different properties. The polling rate is 1000 Hz, as on most gaming devices.
The Rog Azoth is one of the best keyboards we have ever played and worked on. The fact that the keys are pre-lubricated and many layers of vibration and noise attenuation make for a typing experience that borders on perfection. Everything is smooth, with an efficient bounce and no resonance. Admittedly, the red switches may not be to everyone’s taste, but they can be changed for others if required.
Conclusion
The Asus Rog Azoth is a great gaming keyboard with advanced features and design, with hot-swappable and pre-lubricated mechanical switches, effective absorption foams and a dedicated settings wheel. The OLED screen is interesting and fun but optional, and the typing quality is good. We also appreciate the lubrication kit provided by the manufacturer, which will help maintain this quality over time. The Rog Azoth is a reasonable basis for building a custom keyboard, provided you are willing to pay the price.
