The ROG Falchion wireless keyboard we got this time is an extremely simplified style product, with a compact style of 68 keys, light and easy to carry, 65% key arrangement compared to 60% arrangement style to increase the most important directional keys and Page up/down and other practical keys, the full keyboard is made of PBT material, support translucent RGB AURA SYNC, keycaps are PBT The keyboard supports N-key rollover and the biggest highlight is the touch volume bar on the left side, which can be edited separately for other functions to aid gaming.

So, let’s dig into the detail!

Package Appearance

Package Front

Package Back

Internal Package

The accessories are included a package content card, manual, sticker, a Type-C-A adapter and a Type-A-C cable

Product Analysis

Keyboard Main body looking. Also comes with a polycarbonate protection case

The polycarbonate cover front and back looking
An adhesive pad with the ROG logo on the inside

Staggered brushed design on the bottom with ROG eye logo

When the case pad is underneath, there are openings on the side at the volume slider

The bottom support foot is a single segment design

On the top side are the on/off switch, Type-C connector and 2.4G wireless receiver storage slot, the slot has the Magnetically-attached design to avoid the loss

The wireless receiver

Quad-sides view of the keyboard

Take off a keycap, we can find the actual Cherry MX RGB Red switch

The net weight of the keyboard is 525g

The full weight of the keyboard and back cover is 677g

The keyboard is connected by both wired (Type-c) and 2.4G wireless but unfortunately does not support Bluetooth for easy multi-platform adaptation. The volume slider on the left side is responsive and can also be set to match different sliders for different applications.

RGB Backlight effects

Software Usability

ASUS peripherals are integrated into the Armoury Crate, allowing you to change AURA SYNC, lighting effects, and keyboard-related settings via Armoury Crate

The Keys settings in Armoury Crate

The Touch panel settings, this slider bar supports four different actions, swipe up, swipe down, top tap and bottom tap, which can be tied to each of the four functions

The Power settings allow the user to adjust the on/off and sleep time of the light effects, as well as an instant battery level display

The usage experience

Let’s start with the key experience, Cherry’s MX Red has been around for a long time, and as a gaming keyboard, the lack of a paragraph feel to the strikes does feel like something is missing, but the silence does solve a pain point for many users, and the quick rebound, as well as the easy trigger, is really an easy way to increase hand speed. Secondly, from a gamer’s point of view, the 68-key configuration does meet most of the usage scenarios, but unfortunately, it is extremely unfriendly to users who use function keys in the office area, and symbols and functions that require 2-3 layers of key combinations to press out must take a long time to get used to, which is why keyboards like the HHKB are simply not suitable for the average user. Plus, Falchion’s keycaps are slightly higher than Cherry’s, making the overall keyboard taller, it is best used with a handrest, whereas the Asus does not come with it and users need to purchase one separately. Once again, as a portable gaming keyboard, it’s a real shame that there’s no Bluetooth, although the 2.4G wireless is effective in reducing latency, the good thing is that the hibernation wake up time is very quick. As for battery life, ASUS officially says it can last up to 450 hours with the lights off, but unfortunately, the 4000mAh battery really won’t last that long, after close to 2 months or so of testing we found that the real usage time is around 320 hours without RGB, turned RGB on and adjusted to a moderate brightness (50%), it will support about 1 week around of moderate use. When testing the key conflict, we found that the Falchion did not achieve N-key rollover, and under the game ‘DJMAX Respect V’, any combination of 7 keys could not be pressed at the same time, this means that the keyboard is very unfriendly to multi-key music games

Disassembling analysis

This time, we disassembled the Falchion keyboard. Compared to other brands, the Falchion does not have many locking screws, which makes it relatively easy to teardown, and we also found very interesting things, which will be explained below.

All parts after disassembly

The main control board front and back

The Touch panel part is a touch-sensitive strip that often used on monitors for menu adjustment

The STM32L412 from STMicroelectronics is used as the main control chip

The wireless chip is one of the interesting things we found, the CC2640R2F from Texas Instruments. This chip is actually a Bluetooth wireless MCU and supports Low Energy BT version 5.1. But for some reason, Asus has not enabled all the features of this chip

Very sexy white PCB

The second very interesting point is the lithium-ion battery used in this keyboard, model C11P1707, 4000mAh, which is actually used for Asus  ZenFone Max M1, and this battery has not been modified at all for any connection, directly using the original BTB interface, we tested replacing a battery of the same model, the keyboard can light up and successfully identify the power in Armoury Crate. In other words, if the battery decays after more than 1 year of use, it is possible to solve the problem of lack of battery life by replacing it with customers themself. In theory, a C11P1706 battery with the same interface but a higher capacity of 5000mAh may also be directly replaced, but unfortunately, we did not have this battery and were unable to test

SUMMARY

Overall, this keyboard stands out in its category and is very well positioned in the market. In this current climate, more users prefer a lightweight and portable keyboard design language, and ASUS’ move into the 65% size at this time is indeed a major trend, after all, the bar for custom keyboards is now getting lower and lower, and pricing at around AU$239 is not stable in the Australian market, but this wireless keyboard competing with the Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini does have some price advantages. In terms of portability, the use of a 4000mAh battery and the support of fast charging does greatly extend the usage time, which really dispels the blind distrust of many users towards wireless keyboards and breaks the spell of “not only office peripherals deserve to have long battery life”.

EPIC PC RATE SCORE : 96/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED, DESIGN AWARD

ASUS ROG FALCHION OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE

This time, the Keris mouse focuses on a lightweight design, with no external holes but honeycomb support inside to reduce the weight, and a sensor fitted with a maximum of 16,000 dpi and a 1000Hz polling rate. It also inherits the same interchangeable Micro switch design(push-fit switch sockets) as the Gladius II series, and the interchangeable magnetic side buttons allow for more personalisation of the mouse. The mouse comes with RGB lighting effects and supports Asus AURA Sync. The included cable uses a Type-C connector and the Asus’ own ultra-soft ‘Paracord'(similar to Razer’s SpeedFlex cable).

So, let’s dig into the detail!

Package Appearance
The outside packaging
New mouse features are printed on the back of the packaging

The inside packaging

The mouse, connection cable and the replacement side buttons

Instructions menu, ROG stickers, replacement feet pads and Omron switches

Product Analysis
In terms of size, this mouse is a medium-small, mid-rear bulge setting and is only suitable for right-handed grips, which will take some time to get used to in larger hands

In terms of materials, the mouse has a zoned setting, with a matte finish on the PBT polymer buttons and left/right side grips and a smooth surface on the rest of the mouse

The scroll wheel is made of translucent plastic and the RGB light effect can be projected directly through the wheel

The ROG logo on the back has the same effect and brightness is guaranteed

The mouse feet pads have a novel design, with a triangular design spread over the four corners, the reflective prism is in the middle, the DPI toggle button on the upper left and the pairing button is next to it; the switch on the right is responsible for switching between wireless and Bluetooth modes, at the bottom is the USB receiver storage slot, a very thoughtful design

The front looking – Cable connection with Type-C connector

The back looking

The side-looking
The included side keys have a black translucent design and are magnetically replaceable. But the keys feel very loose in the hand

The interchangeable side keys are available in two colours: grey and pink

The weight of the mouse is 115g with cable, the weight of the mouse itself is only 81g

Software Analysis
The ROG products are now managed by Armoury Crate
Button settings

Performance settings
Users can change the 4 DPIs up to 16000, Polling rate, Button response time and turn Angle snapping on/off

Lightning settings
The mouse supports ASUS AURA SYNC and the brightness can be adjusted here

Calibration settings
This setting allows users to calibrate the lift gap between mouse and mousepad

Power settings
This allows users to monitor the battery level and set up the power saving profile

Firmware update
this allows users to keep the latest firmware of this mouse

Performance Test
The Teflon footpad provides an ultra-smooth feeling, but they are not as comfortable to use as the larger ones, and had it not been for the included set of replacements, we would have thought for a moment that this was the result of Asus saving cost.

We have tested the mouse on the most popular mouse pads: Fine coated pad, aluminium, soft silicone pad, fine fabric cloths thin/thick pad and coarse fabric cloths thin pad.

The tests are based on the mouse’s start, Smoothness, Brake, and Transparency.

Fine coated pad
Start: Medium level on both Static friction and dynamic friction
Smoothness: Very smooth
Brake: Very easy to brake and good positioning accuracy
Transparency: Very good contact, no heightened sense of passage that results in misalignment on the Z-axis

Aluminium pad
Start: Very low level on both Static friction and dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth, but the maintenance is relatively difficult. The Teflon feet skates will be frayed quickly by the aluminium surface
Brake: Very easy to brake and good positioning accuracy
Transparency: Very good contact, no heightened sense of passage that results in misalignment on the Z-axis

Soft silicone pad
Start: This textured pad makes the higher static and dynamic friction feeling
Smoothness: Very smooth
Brake: Very easy to brake and good positioning accuracy
Transparency: a relatively thin thickness of the cushion, the material is quite solid and the permeability is good

Fine fabric cloths thin pad
Start: Low static friction and very high dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth
Brake: Very easy to brake and good positioning accuracy
Transparency: A thin pad with soft material and good permeability

Fine fabric cloths thick pad
Start: Very low level on both Static friction and dynamic friction
Smoothness: Very smooth
Brake: Easy to brake, positioning is accurate after calibration, the resistance is light. Muscle memory is easier to form and more friendly for novices
Transparency: A thick pad with soft material and good permeability

Coarse fabric cloths thin pad
Start: Very low level on both Static friction and dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth
Brake: Easy to brake and relatively accurate positioning
Transparency: A thin pad with soft material and good permeability

This mouse is powered by the PAW3335 optical engine, still one of the mainstream solutions in wireless gaming mouse today, and it also has the ability to compete with Logitech’s HERO 12K. Some may question why the PAW3399 was not used, after all, Logitech’s HERO and Razer’s FOCUS+ series use the PAW3399 as a custom engine with 20,000 ultra-high DPI which is not that particularly practical.

Disassembling Analysis
The backplate is locked with only two screws to reduce weight, under the round rubber plugs on each side

The inside looking of this mouse

The mouse bottom case & inside after decomposition

The main left/right button switch board

Microswitch
The two main buttons are using the ROG Micro Switch which has a 70 million click lifespan with a gold-coated mechanical structure, this micro switch comes in a cool red translucent case with the ROG logo on it. The sound is crisp and clean with a clear sense of passage and great feedback from the switch bounce.

The interchangeable design

The complimentary interchangeable microswitch from Omron

The mainboard with side button micro switches
The 2 blue-dots microswitches used by the side buttons are from Kailh, the model is ‘CMI126603D09’ with 30 million click lifespan and 60 ± 15 gf operation force

The roller encoder comes from Kailh’s 12mm series (CEN981212R01), 10-25 gf.cm, 800,000 lifecycles

The roller

The sensor is PAW3335 from PixArt, which has 16000 cpi, 400 IPS and 40 G acceleration speed

The ultra-low-power microcontroller chip STM32L412 from STI

The CC2640 SimpleLink Bluetooth Wireless MCU from Texas Instruments

Usability Analysis
To test the line correction, frame loss, and smoothness, we are using the mouse test from Areson

This mouse without line correction function enabled

This mouse with line correction function enabled

The Frame loss control and the smoothness control are also quite good

Enotus Mouse Test

Finally, we are using the powerful MouseTester v1.5
By using its powerful plot function, we are tested several mouse performances

xCounts vs Time
While the average line is smoother, which means it’s more linear on the mouse track movement; while the points of the counts are much closer to the line, which means the jitter of the engine is lower. As the graph shows, the result of this performance is acceptable in different CPIs

1600 cpi is under a normal use level, jitter is not large and relatively stable

800 cpi, jitter is low

800 cpi, jitter is low

1600 cpi, jitter is a little bit unstable

3200 cpi, jitter is average

6400 cpi, jitter is under control

12800 cpi, jitter is surprisingly under control

16000 cpi, jitter is still under control

X vs Y
This function is to detect mouse frame loss, As the graph shows, the result of this performance is good

xyVelocity vs Time
The unit of velocity is m/s. This test is mainly to look at the acceleration of the mouse. As the graph shows, the point of ROG Aeris is better for curve fitting, which means the jumped-like rapid acceleration rarely appears, The line of fit is coherent and also has a dense distribution

If there is a good device that allows the mouse to move at a constant speed, in this case, the speed line is straight, if the engine has acceleration, it will fluctuate, so this is the most ideal test method. The result of this performance is quite good

Summary
As a mid-sized wireless gaming mouse, the Keris Wireless is more suitable for FPS design type games. The lightweight design and excellent hardware quality bring players a very smooth and comfortable experience, and the interchangeable micro-action design can meet the different needs of users. The Bluetooth and wireless connections are responsive and stable, and the battery life, while slightly lower than the official claims, is still reasonable.

Pricing is a little on the expensive side for a mid-sized mouse at AU$139 – after all, the Glorious Model O Wireless is only AU$129 in Australia at 69g – and gamers may prefer to spend a little more on a larger, two-handed mouse like the Logitech G Pro wireless or Razer Viper Ultimate.

In terms of overall quality, the Keris wireless has improved the internal structure of the buttons to avoid the springing sound caused by reverse vibration, removed the non-slip rubber pads like the Gladius II which were very prone to ageing and breaking on the left and right sides, and replaced them with a frosted PBT design to reduce the likelihood of oiling. These details really bring this mouse to the next level of quality.

For a more detailed hands-on experience with this mouse, check out our review video below

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: 91.5/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC DESIGN AWARD

ASUS ROG AERIS WIRELESS GAMING MOUSE OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE

We’ve got the latest wireless gaming mouse — The ROG Keris from Asus, what new features does this mouse bring to the table? Let’s check out the video below! Please ‘like’ and subscribe to my channel, and don’t forget to click the ‘bell’ icon to get the latest video updates.

Razer has sent us the Nari headset to test, it has earmuffs available in sizes from 56mm x 67mm inside, while the oval full-cover design uses the Cooling Gel-Infused cushions and supported by a 50mm neodymium magnet drive unit.

The Package Appearance

Package Front

Package Back

Package Sides

Opening the box

The headset main body and the accessories

Audio cable and USB charging/data cable

The instruction menu and sticker

The main body of Razer NARI
The Razer Nari has a leather design on the outside. The material inside the earmuffs is officially described as a gel material, and the design of the fabric material can ensure a higher gas permeability, which means that heat will not be accumulated in the earmuffs for a long time, keeping players ears dry and cool.

The head beam angle of the earphone has a maximum steering angle of 90°, and the horizontal rotation has no friction pressure. The beam part is made by an integrated aluminum frame, with the adaptive head beam and the rotating earmuffs, which can fully adapt to the head types of different users. In addition, players with larger head sizes should gain added comfort from the stretchable frame of these headphones. The connection of the girders is engraved with the letters R&L. Although it is very concealed, if you have used other Razer headphones, it will be easy to judge the left and right side according to the position of the microphone.

All operational switches of Razer NARI are concentrated on the bottom of the headphones
The volume adjustment button, in-game background music, and vocal balance adjustment button, microphone mute button, power and Bluetooth indicator, power button, micro USB charging interface and 3.5mm interface

Razer NARI supports fine-tuning between game volume and voice volume. It allows you to achieve better immersive in-game and clear team communication

The wireless receiver is a 2.4G type

The total weight of Razer NARI is 417g without the stand

The Product Disassembling
The Razer Nari has used a pair of 50mm Neodymium magnets drivers which has a 20 Hz – 20 kHz frequency response, 32Ω at 1 kHz impedance and Sensitivity at 1khz is 107 ± 3 dB

There are 4 screws, 2 of them are hiding under stickers

The 50mm unit

The main circuit board with 3 modular I/O connector boards

Disassembling the modular boards

The audio jack board

The micro USB charging board

The volume regulator board

The microphone slot

The microphone internal pipeline

The microphone hinge

The main motherboard
The Razer NARI has implemented the Avnera AV6302 solution which is the same as Steelseries H wireless, Arctis pro wireless, Logitech G933, and Corsair Void RGB etc.
The AV6302 chipset is optimized for building wireless gaming headsets and point to multi-point audio distribution solutions such as rear speakers and subwoofers in home theatre systems

The RGB Razer logo panel
The circus board is made by TCX

The battery pack and wireless dongle side

The battery details
3.7V 1200mAh, 4.44Wh

The wireless dongle slot

This headset has ‘custom tuned for gaming fidelity by Razer’

The RGB lightning effect

Software Analysis
The headset could be found inside the RAZER SYNAPSE software

The SOUND menu
Users can choose Profile from this page

The MIXER menu
Users can enable the THX surrounding sound effect and do the calibration here

The ENHANCEMENT menu
Users can adjust the sound enhancement function to fit their needs

The EQ menu
Users can customise their listening style here

The MIC menu
Users can customise their microphone sound effect here

The LIGHTNING menu
Users can customise their CHROMA RGB effects here

Under PROFILES tab, users can customise different sound settings and choose from this menu

The Hearing Analysis

MUSIC MODE
MIXER
Turning off THX SPATIAL AUDIO and keeping the headphone under stereo mode. Enable this function will force the music into THX sound and auto balance the tracks such as auto fade in or fade off for over-leveled frequency levels. However, for some classical music, turn on this function and switch the output to Surround Sound will enhance the feeling and soundstage of music.

ENHANCEMENT
Turn on the BASS BOOST will increase the background bass effect to the front and ruin the music.

Turn on the VOICE CLARITY function will sharp the high frequency of the soundtrack, sometimes it will bring back the human voice to the front but it’s definitely not suitable for classical music.

Turn off the SOUND NORMALIZATION function if you want to enjoy the music. This function will force all tracks into the balance situation, and do auto fade-in or fade-out for some frequency levels to make the music a little elasticity.

EQ
Please turn the EQUALIZER to MUSIC mode and pull up the 16kHz to equal or a bit higher than the 8kHz if you want to listen to vocals more than instruments. For ACG music, 16kHz can be turned to 5 to support the higher frequency voices.

MIC
TURN OFF ALL THE SETTINGS TO ENJOY THE MUSIC

GAMING MODE
About equalizer, tuning, THX SPATIAL AUDIO. It is not very good to enable these functions in games directly. We select the balanced curve feature in regular game sbecause we don’t want to do a special fine-tuning for specific games, the reason is simple because each user wants a different voice when playing different games.

THX SPATIAL AUDIO could be tuned according to players’ daily listening habits, it’s totally different after the adjustment, the sound effect such as car climbing, the tire on the desert track in rainy days are sharped and so easy to recognise. In order to get the most suitable effect, this part needs to be adjusted for a long time. Everyone has their different listening habits including footsteps, gunshots, car engines, etc.

Overall
In the Razer product line, the NARI headset should be the best choice in audio. Whether it is for PC or PS4, NARI can be perfectly integrated into the environment, 2.4G wireless allows players to completely get rid of the shackles, THX surrounding sound effects with equalizer can really bring the best out of specific game genres such as FPS, STG, RPG or MOBA.

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: 91/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED, EDITOR’S CHOICE & DESIGN AWARD

RAZER NARI OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.razer.com/gaming-audio/razer-nari

Arctis Pro Wireless features rock solid dual-wireless technology with 2.4G wireless lossless audio and Bluetooth mobile audio, combined with 40,000 Hz capable hi-res capable speaker drivers and a ClearCast mic making it the ultimate gaming audio system. Plus, Arctis Pro Wireless is designed with luxury materials like polished steel and aluminum alloy, and the exclusive Arctis ski goggle headband and AirWeave performance fabric ear cushions.

PRODUCT BOX VIEW

ALL COMPONENTS VIEW

HEADPHONE & BASESTATION

Speaker Drivers

• Neodymium Drivers: 40mm
• Headphone Frequency Response: 10-40,000 Hz
• Headphone Sensitivity: 102 dBSPL
• Headphone Impedance: 32 Ohm
• Headphone Total Harmonic Distortion: <1%

Microphone

• Microphone Type: Retractable Boom
• Microphone Polar Pattern: Bidirectional Noise-Canceling
• Microphone Frequency Response: 100 – 10,000 Hz
• Microphone Sensitivity: -38 dBV/Pa
• Microphone Impedance: 2200 Ohm
• Microphone Noise Cancellation: Yes

Wireless

• 2.4G range: 40 ft, 12m: 5-40,000 Hz
• Battery Life: 20 hours (10 per battery)
• Bluetooth Version: 4.1
• Bluetooth Profiles: A2DP, HFP, HSP

Box Content

• Arctis Pro Wireless Headset
• Transmitter Base Station
• USB Audio Cable
• Toslink Optical Cable
• Mobile Audio Cable
• Mobile Charging Cable
• Microphone Windscreen