In order to fight against the keyboard of the king of rolls, Daryou made a youth version? ——Dareu A98 Youth Edition

It's strange to say that I thought the 75% mix last year would remain popular until the end of the year. But just when 2022 is about to wave goodbye to us, the 98 series has blown up a trend for some reason, making this series that was originally popular in 21 years come back again in 22 years.

It’s no wonder that the 98 series is more compact and portable than the full-length 104108 series, and with the advantage of a small keyboard, it is more versatile than the 75% 87 series at almost the same size. It can be said to take care of everyone’s needs. "Golden Arrangement".

Now when I mention the 98 configuration to you, you will all think of the "Volume King" keyboards that were popular a while ago.

Dahl chose to "downgrade" a keyboard that has been on sale for more than a year into a youth version during this time period, and its intention and purpose are self-evident.

After all, the molds and internal fillings of those "Volume King" keyboards cannot be said to be exactly the same as the A98 released a year ago, they can only be said to be twin brothers. As if taught by the same master.

Even looking at it now, the A98, which has been on the market for a year, is still very capable in terms of hardware quality and shaft feel.

This time, the A98 Youth Edition removes the power screen with weak functions on the previous A98, and the switch body is replaced by the newly developed Dream Firefly switch from the sky switch, and it also brings a keyboard color that is more in line with the current popular aesthetics.

Nominally, the A98 Youth Edition is a "downgrade" of the previous A98, but from my experience it is more like a "reverse upgrade". It seems that it is more appropriate to call it A98 2.0.

The color I got this time is called "Tiramisu". I don't know if you usually like to eat desserts.

The color matching of the entire keyboard reveals a sweet and greasy feeling, which makes people seem to have the urge to take a bite of the keyboard.

The shell and the main keys are soft and milky white, like freshly baked bread; the large keys are embellished with brown-red, corresponding to the thin layer of cocoa powder on tiramisu; Enter and ESC use orange-yellow to Increases the brightness and liveliness of the entire keyboard.

The keycap adopts MDA-like height, which is slightly shorter than common keycaps, and you can feel the feel of the shaft itself when you tap it.

PBT two-color process, the workmanship is excellent among products of the same price without any impurities and burrs, which is in sharp contrast to the workmanship of the keycaps of a certain "Roll King" keyboard.

The switch body is the part that has changed the most this time, from the well-received "sky" switch to the "Dream Yu" switch of Huannuo OEM.

The overall color is blue and white, POM axis, short spring design, 40gf trigger pressure, 55gf bottoming force.

The actual feel is as soft as the color scheme this time, like pressing on the hot bread that has just been baked. The satellite switch continues to use the previous "Purple Gold" satellite switch. The Caps key and the left Shift key have a slight noise, but the space sound and feel are surprisingly excellent.

Everyone has their own preferences in terms of feel, but in terms of shaft materials and stability, this "Dream Yu" is indeed not as good as the previous "Sky".

When pressing hard, the axis will shake a little, the bottoming is not stable enough, and the shell workmanship is not as delicate as the "sky". But fortunately, there are five-pin hot-swappable, so you can decide what kind of axis you want to replace.

Finally, let’s look at the dismantling. The entire keyboard case is fixed by buckles, and when you open it, you can see the empty welding position in the upper left corner that originally belonged to the small power digital display screen.

The interior adopts a silicone gas structure, and the positioning plate is made of white slotted PC. Although it is also a GAS structure, the feel of the A98 Youth Edition is not as soft and elastic as the A87Pro that uses fence GAS, and the feel is a little harder.

The keyboard has a total of 8 layers, from top to bottom are

● PBT keycaps

● Cover

● Dream encounter axis body

● PC slotted positioning plate

● EPDM sandwich pad

● PCB

● Customized silicone pad

● Bottom case

This time, the sandwich pad uses a new material "EPDM". It is a relatively unpopular material in keyboards, but it is very common in daily life. This material is used for the plastic track on the stadium.

The density and texture are harder than Poron, and the sound of the whole keyboard will be lower than that made of Poron material.

The wireless solution design is a more interesting place. This time, the A98 Youth Edition continues to use the A98 PCB, but does not include a small screen.

Both 2.4G and Bluetooth are integrated on a separate small board with independent antennas. The 2.4G wireless IC is BK2425, and the supplier is from Shanghai Broadcom Integration. The Bluetooth wireless IC comes from Cypress Semiconductor, the model is: CYW20730, and a 512KB onboard storage IC is also integrated on the Bluetooth small board.

The keyboard master adopts Huavenda HFD2201KBA, which is between two wireless small boards.

The internal parameters have not been found yet, and friends who know more can add it in the comment area.

There is also a TP4086 power charging IC on the keyboard.

The shaft seat is from Kaihua, and the RGB upper light position.

The empty soldering position of the digital display can be clearly seen in the upper left corner of the PCB.

Below the PCB is a custom silicone pad

The battery consists of two 2000Mah batteries connected in series, and the supplier is Shenzhen Tailiang Electronics.

Since there is no small digital display screen, I don't know how the battery life is these days.

According to the official data, turn off the lights for 180 hours and turn on the lights for 35 hours, you can refer to it.

Although the name is A98 Youth Edition, its interior is not inferior to its big brother A98, and the sandwich pad and small screen are reversed upgrades. The price of only 100 yuan cheaper than the A98 makes this youth version more like a "reduced" version without the small screen, rather than a "reduced" version that we usually understand.

Dareu lowered the classic A98 to this price to let this product face a group of people who have no factory, no research and development, and everything is ready-to-use; there is even no mature customer service and after-sales system. Runaway manufacturers. It must have been a big decision.

But I am not optimistic about the A98 Youth Edition. This is not a problem with the product itself, but the initial price of 499.

The price of 499 is higher than those of the "Roll King" keyboards, which brings about a comprehensive improvement in the quality of keyboard workmanship and internal materials.

But in today's era when the feel and sound of mechanical keyboards are king, it is difficult for these improvements to have enough positive effects in publicity.

No matter how qualified the quality control is, no matter how excellent the workmanship is, no matter how stable the wireless is. These invisible costs are far inferior to a powerful shaft, a thick piece of silicone, and a piece of soft sound-absorbing cotton in the mouths of users and KOLs.

If we can lower dozens of yuan during promotional activities and use the technology accumulation of major manufacturers to fight price wars, it will have a big impact on products at this price.

But who can tell what will happen in the future?

I'm Yui Yuzai Yui Hirasawa, see you in the next article.

The author declares that there is interest in this article, please respect the author and the content shared, communicate friendly, and make rational decisions~