Driver

There is no software driver support for the AZIO MK Retro, with all functionality being hardware based. As such, I have chosen to combine the Driver and Performance pages into one.

Performance

There is six-key rollover USB here, as Aqua's test confirms. Similarly, no key chatter was detected using Switch Hitter.

There is not much else to describe here which you have not already seen - the MK Retro is a fairly standard keyboard in that it does everything expected of a QWERTY keyboard, but better than most office keyboards. The keycaps are unique-looking, but I personally ended up taking longer than I would prefer to get used to them, with minimal support offered and a smaller-than-average concave surface offering little help for touch typing. After a week in, I got used to not relying on the keycaps to navigate my fingers around and ended up placing them on the right switches, which helped, but for a keyboard marketed for typists, it did feel like a weakness in the actual typing experience. I did appreciate the secondary functions tied in with the function keys as I found myself using them a lot. If a keyboard does not have dedicated media buttons, then do as AZIO did and assign secondary functionality.


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 AZIO MK Retro sample at ~85 WPM. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with clicky switches. I did bottom out here, although it is definitely possible not do so for a quieter typing experience. In terms of actuation and bottoming out, these O ARMY switches ended up being closer to Kailh Blue switches than Cherry MX Blue switches with an average actuation force of 59.82 cN averaged across twenty keys on the sample provided. Bottoming out seemed regular too, and nothing jumped out at me that was different from the rest. The variation itself was slightly higher than I would have liked, but I do like a heavier clicky switch, and these felt very smooth and had a substantial tactile bump, so liked them overall.