KEYCHRON Does it AGAIN! Keychron Q2 Review + Modding

welcome back to the channel this is scott in 2021 there were many highly anticipated keyboard launches and this was one of them the key crown q1 and for good reason too for 169 for the fully assembled or 149 for the bare bones kid people quickly realized that the q1 punched way above its weight class when it came down to typing feel and sound and this it wasn't perfect out of the box it required a little bit of modifications but when you got it right man was it right today we have this the kikron q2 it's essentially the q1's little brother it's a 65 and yes it's smaller but is that it or in the six months of time the kikron had did they make a better keyboard out of the q2 from the q1 that's we're gonna find out today let's get started so this is my q2 after some tinkering this is the final form in terms of looks as well as typing sound and feel this is how my q2 flexes and this is how it actually sounds like the q1 before it a well-tuned q2 types and sounds beautifully but unlike the q1 the q2 it comes pretty polished and good to go out of the box let's explore that a bit shall we the box is a nice and simple design with an outline of the q2 and its key map drawn out in addition the format i have here is a knob version as listed in a square box as you see right here behind the box you can see some major features of the q2 listed out like its 65 layout pc and mac compatibility qmk and via compatibility the gasket mounting structure screw and stab compatibility cnc aluminum body and foam finally you can see the three different color options you can get with the q2 which includes the black the gray and the blue that i have right here so what's inside this box keycron included some basic tools like the keycap puller the switch puller an allen key and screwdriver all things that allows you to open up the q2 it also includes a simple usb cable no coiled aviator this time and some hardware and extra gaskets also and of course you get the key crown q2 mine is a striking navy blue one of the most vibrant blues i have seen it actually reminds me of the montego blue metallic that bmw uses on their cars overall the q2 is a 65 layout gasket mounted keyboard with the cnc aluminum case and a black painted steel plate that's right this time around q-crown decided to use a steel plate versus an aluminum in the q1 for extra heft it doesn't feel that much different because of the flexible gasket mount speaking of flexible check this out yup like the q1 before it it definitely has that bounce and finally this is the knob version so it has a nice little knob on the upper right hand corner it's removable and you can see also that it's made of aluminum as well bottom of the case is plain and simple and the anodization was perfect very metallic but perfect regardless so remember what i said about this thing being pretty good out of the box what happens if you buy it as a fully assembled unit with some gataran red switches and some key crown abs caps well it will look like this it's not too bad oem profile caps and all but it's still pretty clean what about the sound this is essentially how the q1 came out of the box so here's a quick sound sample of how the q2 is out of the box with stock components you know overall it's a bit hollow and the kikron abs caps aren't the best but it's not a bad keyboard remember the q1 it has some crazy pinging out of the box yeah the q2 doesn't really have that but from what i know the q2 actually has a thicker lower case that helps to control that metallic ringing that its older brother suffered from the q2 also has a new proprietary screw instead that key crown has developed rather than the gataran version the original q1 came with it's actually not too bad even just out of the box but what if he did something that most people buying this board may actually try keep everything stuck but upgrade the switches and caps that's exactly what this is right here i used some lubed and filmed gataran cap yellows and some aqua pbt caps to see how it fares i think this is a fantastic looking combination with this nice and striking blue case so let's also check out how it sounds you know that is not half bad the cap yellows have a nice and poppy sound and the thick pbt caps eliminate the chatter you heard from the thin kikron abs caps i think most people might actually be satisfied with this but for me nah i want it perfect and that is what we're gonna try to achieve but before we tear this down to upgrade a quick word from our sponsor keeps for all keeps for all is a los angeles based keyboard and keyboard components company that is in fact one of the first of its kind to be woman owned the keyboard and its owner is focused on creating easy access and low cost to high value keyboards and catering to the enthusiasts and beginners alike in this unique market as you can see from some of their in-house keyboard offerings like the freebird 60 and the freeber tkl which i have done reviews on they are dedicated to delivering great products at affordable prices and no compromises to quality the site offers everything you need from keycaps to switches to accessories and many many doggy themed desk mats and wares and pretty much everything else in between plus the approach they take to the serious keyboard market is fun and accessible who doesn't like a carrot switch made to look like an actual carrot right i have had nothing but great experiences dealing with cubes for all and candace the owner has been just a great person to work with you can always find her and our team on keeps for all discord and they have always been a great support and someone to chat with about keyboards i am an affiliate so remember to use code keyboard and you get five percent off on every purchase from keeps for all check them out in the description below alright once you remove the eight screws below you can lift up the upper case and the plate on the pcb assembly by lifting up and out then you can see what's below in the lower case yup very similar to how the q1 was a very thin piece of foam but you know what's interesting this foam is probably thinner than even the original q1s it's see-through however under it is weird plastic sheeting i'm not really sure what it does once you lift that out you can see the lower case and how much chunkier this is versus the q1 hence less case ping another interesting thing you'll notice is how they drilled holes in each corner usually flat surfaces have a tendency to resonate force easier you can help break this by adding in obstructions or in this case or drill holes if you recall my aqua mod review the mod 003 had a similar concept as well and it does work another reason why the q2 case is less pingy the case also has cutouts for the cables to sit in which is a nice clean touch similar to the q1 the plate and the pcb cannot be separated from the upper case without removing the small daughter board here once you have the plate out you can see the guide pins in the upper case similar to the q1 once again however the guide pins on the q1 was kind of like shrink wrapped but these are actual plastic caps in the q2 so another evolution as discussed before the plate is a painted steel plate so so much more heft and a little bit stiffer underneath the plate you can see the included plate foam as well here is a better look at the keycron screw and stabilizers as well so it's a very green design as mentioned earlier the q2 like its predecessor is fully qmk and via compatible out of the box which i was able to confirm one thing that i really do like what kikron did was putting the reset switch in an accessible spot on top without having to disassemble the whole entire case this is really nice for qmk programming the pcb is nice and simple with south facing orientation and per key rgb flip it over you can see the gataron hot swap sockets below as well however the rotary knob is actually soldered on i like discovering little easter eggs like this this is a little blurb from kikron about its q2 nice alright let's get to modding so what did i do for this q2 well we start with the case i want to remove that thin foam and use something more substantial but also very thin so i'm gonna grab my 50 ml kill mat let me show you what this thing can do however to make sure i maximize the room for the keyboard to flex into i use the roller to flatten the kill mat even more it's pretty simple and easy to do then i took a look at the upper case and i did my force brake mod in certain cases especially for the q1 the metallic sounds were exacerbated by how the upper case resonated adding a double layer masking tape squares by the screw points helps to create a break between the lower and the upper case and dramatically reduces its transfer of energy and hence it reduces the ping alright moving on to the pcb i heard really good things about the owl labs owl stabs so i decided to try these out you know these are fantastic why because you don't need to wholly mod them they just kind of work really great with just crytox 205. i made sure to stock up on this these actually before this video in case y'all jump on them and they're sold out well also i added one layer of masking tape under the pcb think of this as a modifier that shapes the characteristics of the board if you like what it does use it if you don't you don't have to i'm using it because i want to shape the board to my liking specifically now something different not using pe foam this time like i did with the q1 i am using this a paper towel what a of on my discord let me know that oddly the paper towel adds some pop to the switch without making it sound like a jelly but you know what it really does nothing crazy or dramatic but it adds a little bit of shape to the sound to this board so a nice little touch here finally i put everything together and decided to go with the gadaran box ink blacks for this build i wanted that deeper sound to work with this board to achieve a certain result i wanted it to be lively but not quite lively like my q1 and be unique in its own way then i threw on some gmk hammerhead which i think looks fantastic on this board and now check it out my version of the ultimate q2 for me even with all these mods the thickness of the kill mat preserves the flex and the bounce of the q2 and as you have heard earlier i think this sounds fantastic here is the full clip before my final thoughts one thing that irks me it's hard to get the right caps for these two little switches nothing really works right so that is my q2 between the q1 and the q2 i have a set of key crown brothers that are both great to type on but sound and feel different from each other my intent was never to make the q2 the same as my q1 and i don't think it's even possible because they're actually different from each other like brothers they share similarities but won't exactly be the same given all this what is my final thought on the q2 the q2 is an evolution it's nothing drastically different from the original q1 nor is it the exact same but just in a smaller size in the six months kikron really did take what they learned from the q1 and made sure the q2 is a more refined board biggest difference is that the q2's usability out of the box is actually better as you have heard this is a board that will work great stock just throw on your favorite switches and keycaps and you're pretty much good to go but if you're like me and you want to push it to the max you sure can do that too before i leave you i know the burning question here that i need to answer so the q1 or the q2 which one is a better board honestly they are equal in terms of standing but they are also very different so pick what you like the q1 has a more airy and open sound the q2 sounds and also feels more solid and dense the q1 has more flex than the q2 probably the thinner case and finally the q2 feels slightly better constructed than the q1 so i don't know in my opinion the q2 is also the better looking brother but i kind of like 65 so take your pick what matters to you more will be what you will ultimately choose thanks

Channel: Keybored

Views: 225,038

Keywords: Mechanical Keyboard, ASMR, Taeha, brandon taylor, taeha types, badseed tech, glarses, hamaji neo, squashy boy, :3ildcat, randomfrankp, taekeyboards, Custom Keyboard, keybored, custom mechanical, Keyboard Kits, TKL Keyboard, best budget mechanical keyboard, Bouncy, gateron ink black, ink black, box ink, box ink black, box ink pink, smooth linear, thoccy linear, thoc, Divinikey, Gateron, Keychron, Keychron Q1, Keychron Q2, Q2, Q1, Kilmat

Id: oaaEcTGsXLY

Length: 14min 1sec (841 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 12 2022