Good quality keyboard but serious pinging
by DarrenFirst of all the build quality of the keyboard is very good and up to the usual ducky standard. I've had a ducky one 2 before this one (with MX browns) and this is the same build quality as that was. The main issue and reason I marked this variant of the keyboard down is that the silent red switches on this board give a substantial amount of pinging noise when typing (or even just tap the back of the keyboard and you'll hear the pinging) which lasts about 3 seconds after you stop typing. This pinging sound is coming from the springs in the switches themselves (you can test this by popping a switch out and flicking it - you'll hear the same ringing!). I have no idea why ducky didn't apply a bit of lube on the switches here considering the cost of the keyboard and the possible brand damage that could occur from the perceived issues. Also to note that while pinging is not unheard of on mechanical keyboards in general, the amount heard on this board is excessive and will bother you in a quiet environment. If you're generally wearing headphones or using this in a more noisy environment like an open office then you won't notice it and will probably enjoy the keyboard more without any further modifications, but if you're using it say for a work-from-home office environment then this will bug you a lot. However, if you're willing to spend 6 hours taking the keyboard switches off, lubing them and then reassembling them (they're hotswap switches here, so doing this isn't hard - but is time consuming) then the final sound from the keyboard is much more pleasant and the pinging will be totally eliminated! Of course, this requires a possible purchase of extra kit like Krytox 205 g0 lube (buy at least 10 grams for the full KB especially if this is your first time as you may mess up a few times and need to clean a switch or two and relube), stem holder, brush and switch separator (which you can get kits off ebay easily). It would also require some research if you've not done this before on the proper technique to do this (tip - do not over lube! less is more here, if you over-lube you'll end up with squelchy sounding keys), but its a rewarding and somewhat necessary step with this switch / keyboard combination. I lubed the keyboard and this was the first time i've done so. It was a long process and I had to clean and re-lube a few switches as I went over the top with lube initially and ruined the sound of a few keys. The final result is a fantastic sounding keyboard overall now with smooth motion, no pinging and a satisfying thock sound! Other points of note. 1. Coming from a one 2, the keycaps on this keyboard are really hard to pull off so give it more force when removing keys. 2. When popping off the two enter keys and the numeric plus key, its not unusual for the whole switch to come out with it, as the clips are non-functional on these keys as the stabiliser holes mean the clips don't make contact with the plate. 3. the LEDs are super bright and can be annoying, you can adjust these with the hotkeys though (FN+ALT+arrow up/down) on this RGB version (non RGB versions you're stuck with it from what I hear) 4. There's no ducky branded spacebar anymore with the one 3 which was disappointing (though the ANSI versions you see people reviewing do seem to have it!)
