Closer Examination

The Input Club Kira comes in a plastic wrap out of the box, which helps keep it free of dust during transit. With that removed, we get our first good look at the keyboard, and head-on from the front, it looks like a compact full-size keyboard at first glance, which it is. From any other angle, however, reveals the modular nature of the keyboard as well as the design that has gone into making it look different from the norm. Indeed, my sample here has the CNC anodized aluminium frame in black, which no doubt adds to the heft of it compared to the injection-molded plastic frame with a metallic silver finish (both materials have either color options), so that alone makes for two ways the Kira can look and feel different from the usual. The many angles and frosted finish plastic casing for the bottom piece combine to also make for an attractive package. This is before we even get to the stock keycaps, which come in three different colors—white, gray, and orange. There is no branding on the front or sides, which ties right back into the open-source design philosophy of the company.

Owing mostly to the use of the thick aluminium frame here, the bezels are about average in size, and the highly angular nature of the keyboard means there is a distinct elevation already in place with as much as a 2 cm height differential from top to bottom. The Kira is a 95% form factor keyboard with 99 of the standard 104 keys in the ANSI layout, and there is a single bank of keys here. This means there is no room for dedicated indicator LEDs where they would normally appear, and Input Club put them off by the side in the top-right corner with three holes in the frame for light to seep through. Secondary legends are underneath the primary ones on the keys traditionally associated with the numpad column, as well as above it. The reverse is the case with the number-key row in the traditional alphanumeric section. Given the lack of backlighting, this hardly matters, aside from this reversed trend also applying to the relevant modifier keys in the alphanumeric section. I have seen inconsistency in how various companies choose to display this, and my personal preference is to always have the default action be the primary legend at the top (or the place of prominence in case of front-facing legends).


Flipping the keyboard around, we see a small certification sticker sandwiched between two large strips of rubber to protect the underside of the keyboard from scratches and add friction against the resting surface to prevent the keyboard from moving around in use. These rubber pieces extend slightly past the plastic casing, although not by enough to really affect the keyboard's integrated elevation, something I am still not convinced about. There is also a small hole in the bottom strip that exposes the button on the PCB to flash the firmware, and we will get back to it in due time.


Knowing already that the cable is detachable and uses a USB Type-C connector on one end, the presence of a Type-C port on the keyboard should be no surprise. It is included in a recess on the front typically facing your monitor, and USB 2.0 will suffice for power and data alike even though there is no lack of USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) these days on most systems.


From the side, we get the best-possible view of the highly angular nature of the keyboard, as well as the relatively steep elevation. Helping assuage concerns that it may be too steep is the Cherry profile for the keycaps, as opposed to the more popular OEM profile. The Cherry profile allows for shorter keycaps with a more subtle sculpting of the six rows, and in practice, it does not really feel weird at all—this is coming from someone who uses a different keyboard every couple of weeks, most of which use the cookie-cutter formula. The provided keycap puller works well even for this single bank of keys with no real gap and a non-floating design for the keycaps. As expected from our look at the replacement keycaps before, the stock keycaps are of the same type in that they use dye-sublimation for legends on thick PBT keycaps and allow no light through. Any and all light heading upward will turn into side lighting with these keycaps.


There are nine different switch options for the Input Club Kira when purchased assembled as a keyboard: Hako True, Hako Clear, Hako Violet, Cherry MX Brown RGB, Cherry MX Blue RGB, Kailh Speed Copper, Kailh Box Red, NovelKeys Box Royal Purple, and NovelKeys Box Pale Blue. All but the Cherry switches are manufacturer by Kaihua (Kailh), and all are RGB switches even if not explicitly mentioned in their name. The Hako switches are pretty new, developed by Input Club after the Halo switches they previously were responsible for ended up becoming Massdrop property. My sample came with the Hako Clear switches, which makes sense considering the company would want to show off as much of their product line as possible, and we can clearly see the Kailh mark on the switch in case there was any doubt as to who manufactures these. The larger keycaps use Cherry-style stabilizers, which work fine in combination with the thicker, heavier keycaps here.


The steel plate is barely visible even though it has a decorative finish to round things off. In this case, it is a metallic gold, if you will, which probably will complement the metallic silver frame better than it does the black anodized aluminium on this sample. We also see that removing some keycaps provides access to screws holding the keyboard together, which is a handy piece of information for when we get to the disassembly section on the next page. The included switch puller works really well too, especially once you realize how to fit it to the notches in the switch body (detailed very well in the online manual). With a switch removed, we can confirm hot-swappable sockets that make assembly and disassembly easy and fun. We can also see the RGB LED for this particular switch, right underneath it and towards the top.


Since we can take the switches off the keyboard, it is only fair they are examined closely. The Hako Clear uses a clear plastic top body and frosted white stem with an opaque ivory-colored plastic housing at the bottom. A recess in the bottom allows for light from the LED underneath the switches to shine upward, and the rest of the switch diffuses the light before it shines outward. There are two thick metal contacts on each switch, which bodes well for when you end up having to push it in and out of said hot-swappable socket.


Here is a look at the keyboard with some of the provided replacement keycaps in use. I quite like the two-tone white and gray color scheme, and the colored accents on some of the keys just add a personal touch provided you happen to like one of the available colors. Depending on the switch option, and this holds especially true for the the Box switches, you may find that not all third-party keycap sets will work out of the box (pun intended).