Lighting and Performance

The ASUS ROG Azoth supports N-key rollover USB and 2.4 GHz out of the box, which tested successfully using Aqua's test. It defaults to 6KRO with Bluetooth as expected. Switch Hitter confirmed no chatter with these keys either, and seen above are all the functions with dedicated keys on the base layer. You can of course use Armoury Crate to remap the keys as desired but this is a pretty good base layer in my books.

When the keyboard is first plugged in, regardless of whether the software drivers are installed or not, you will see the LEDs light up in a rainbow wave effect. This does a good job of confirming there's at least power being fed to the keyboard, as will the OLED display itself going through an ASUS ROG animation pattern in wired mode or showing you it's in pairing mode if you choose to turn on the Azoth in Bluetooth wireless mode itself.


I deliberately installed the 2/@ keycap the other way round so you can see how the @ legend is opaque and also how the backlight-compatible 2 doubleshot legend is not as bright compared to the others at the top given the use of north-facing LEDs here. Between these, the lack of any side/under-body lighting, and the barely floating keycaps, the ASUS ROG Azoth wouldn't be a top choice for those prioritizing a stunning RGB light show on your desk. They are plenty functional in lighting the primary legends in a dark environment though, and then there's the OLED display at the top to really grab attention. Seen above is the keyboard in a few different lighting effects to show there's not a lot of light bleed, color fidelity is on the better side of average, and there's another dynamic effect shown too which also has the OLED display in a fireworks GIF that comes pre-installed in Armory Crate as seen on the previous page.


The OLED display does more than just be a pretty thing on your keyboard for GIFs and custom logos. Combined with the multi-function control knob on the side, it acts as a visual indicator for the operating state of the keyboard as well as showing you the benefits of a screen to do more. Indeed, by default the up/down controls on the side work for volume control but then you can also use them for other things including changing the lighting effects which are all saved onboard the device, media playback controls, and even adjusting the display brightness to help avoid any burn-in issues. The keyboard indicator lights are here too and it also helps show the battery level, the connection mode, and the connected device too. This is handy given the ROG Azoth can be connected with up to three devices simultaneously in Bluetooth mode to make for a maximum total of five devices across the three modes. The user manual describes how to pair the keyboard in the wireless modes and we saw before how Armoury Crate helps customize the sleep state of the device to save battery life. That said, while we may not know the exact battery capacity inside, I can tell you ASUS promises up to 2000 hours with the LEDs off and over 100 hours with the LEDs on. Indeed, I have been using this keyboard for a couple of weeks now and I had to manually set all the LEDs to 100% (they are set to 50% brightness by default) and leave them on all the time to even get the battery low enough to merit charging the keyboard. I am more than happy with the battery life thus and the strong wireless connections with my laptop and desktop also meant this is one of the very few keyboards that you can legitimately treat as a wireless keyboard without feeling compromised. Charging is pretty much an overnight affair but really not an issue given you will only have to do it every few weeks in typical use.


This sample of the ROG Azoth comes with the ROG NX Brown tactile switch as previously mentioned, although you can also purchase the keyboard with ROG NX Red (linear) and NX Blue (tactile and clicky) switches. I could immediately this was going to be an early bump switch and ASUS's own force-travel diagram confirmed as much. This means the tactile feedback is purely for the typing feel and does not actually indicate to you whether the switch has actuated or not, and perhaps those who like tactile switches for touch typing and not bottoming out might not prefer it. On the other hand, most such new tactile switches are going this route to give you a more reliable actuation and reset pathway while the early bump is also a more pronounced experience compared to the likes of, say, the Cherry MX Brown which I maintain isn't tactile enough to be useful that way. The ROG NX Brown, on the other hand, will almost certainly be bottomed out given the peak force is at the tactile bump itself. It's otherwise a fairly standard full-size mechanical switch with actuation at 2.0 mm and a total travel path of 4.0 mm, and it should not be fatiguing for longer periods of use either with not only a relatively mild peak force of 58 gf but also the gasket mount and the various foam/silicone sheets helping absorb the bottoming-out impact to make for a dampened, supported typing experience that is nice to type on.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the ASUS ROG Azoth keyboard at ~85 WPM as it comes out of the box with the ROG NX Brown switches. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with tactile switches. I did bottom out constantly here for reasons seen above and I have to say that gasket mount in combination with the foam and silicone dampening throughout work well together to cut down on higher frequency pings and reverberations in the keyboard. The thicker PBT keycaps and lubed stabilizers also help to an extent, and you end up with a relatively crisp, dampened sound signature that is primarily from the pre-lubed switches bottoming out. The space bar key does feel like it could have used a heavier spring to make for a more even typing experience though, but It's still a better sounding keyboard in my opinion than pretty much all mainstream offerings and approaches the overall typing experience that keyboard enthusiasts are looking for.