Assembly and Testing

Since I only have one of each type going in this keyboard build, I decided to separate the assembly page and conclude here accordingly. Using the Ajazz Diced Fruit Peach switches on the MarvoDIY Undefined 61 is simple enough, just orient the pins with the switch socket and press vertically down. But be aware that one of the pins is consistently easy to bend on these switches, which made me pull out a set of tweezers to then "repair" the pins. This happened at least 5–6 times before I got in the rhythm of things. These switches look quite the part on the white plate and gray case of the kit.


Here is a look at the keyboard all assembled with the Charcoal keycaps installed, first with what I consider to be the default configuration and then with some of the replacement keycaps. I do like the colorway of the keycaps, and the bolder orange works favorably with the light orange hue on the white keycaps. There are plenty of novelty keycaps to choose from, but there isn't much room to use them on this 60% keyboard kit.


A look from the side confirms the relatively lower profile of the keycaps, which have the XDA profile in use. For those not as familiar with keycap profiles, do look them up before committing your money to a set you like since this heavily influences the typing experience. For some context, the XDA profile is slightly taller than DSA and less sculpted on various rows compared to the Cherry profile. This makes the surface relatively flat from the side, but more curved to type on, with less perceived travel owing to the lower profile.


Once all assembled, plug the keyboard in and ensure all switches work. The LEDs on the PCB might well light up anyway, but that is not indicative of the switch pins making contact as seen above. Tools such as Switch Hitter come in handy here, as they also confirm the base functionality of the switches assigned on the PCB. Aqua's test is handy to check for ghosting, which in this case was not the case with full NKRO available by default.


Here is a look at the keyboard all lit up, which reveals the connection is working and the PCB is fine. There are a few pre-programmed lighting effects, which work well enough on the RGB-compatible switches with the cutout for the north-facing LEDs, but the keycaps themselves are opaque and don't do much outside of accent lighting.


There are software drivers for the MarvoDIY Undefined 61, whose installer can be found on the product page under the Software tab. Given this is not a keyboard review, I am refraining from talking much about the software aside from showing its available features. These consist of key mapping, onboard profiles, macro recording and assignment, and RGB lighting customization. There are plenty of options here, and the software offers up a decent user experience, which in itself is more than I can say for many smaller brands whose products I have covered.


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 MarvoDIY Undefined 61 kit with the Charcoal PBT keycaps and Ajazz Diced Fruit Peach switches at ~70 WPM. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches. The slimmer nature of the case helps avoid reverberations, and the lubed stabilizers and thicker PBT keycaps combination also results in a bassier response than usual. The foam sheet between the plate and PCB further dampens the switches bottoming out, which is good given these switches are extremely prone to being bottomed out owing to the minor difference between actuation force and bottoming out force even with the more classical 2.0 mm actuation and 4.0 mm travel combination. The combination as a whole is still somewhat pingy, but this has more to do with the keycaps hitting the plate. The XDA profile doesn't help avoid it, but the switches bottoming out are the reason it even happens. Typing feels crisp and non-fatiguing overall, with the sound itself not my favorite, but one of the better linear switch experiences overall.

Prices

• The MarvoDIY Undefined 61 aluminium kit is a recent release and costs $149 from the MarvoDIY store. The company has kindly generated a 10% discount code for TechPowerUp readers using the code "TechPowerUp," which brings the price down to $134!
• The Charcoal keycap set costs $211 paired with the kit, or $69 by itself from the MarvoDIY store. The combo nets a 10% discount thus.
• The Ajazz Diced Fruit Peach switches come in a 46-pack SKU only that costs $18.99 from the Epomaker webshop.