The IQUNIX EC75: The ‘Hall’ Pass You Need
Folks…
The days are long. The work is hard. The time is busy.
I’ve barely had a moment to breathe let alone write. Since July, my personal schedule has almost tripled. From home life to work life, it’s been a blur. But there has been a constant in the midst of all this hard work and time crunch…That’s right, my absolute shining ability to procrastinate!
The keyboard hobby is there. It’s not like the products have a shelf life (heh…shelf). They sit there waiting for me to grab one, type on it, game on it, give it a fresh set of keycaps almost like playing dress up with dolls except there’s no Dream House because we can no longer afford one with the countless amount of keyboards we have hoarded. Keyboard House anyone?
During one of these superbly busy times, I received a packaged from the folks over at IQUNIX and my eyes lit up; I knew. From my previous experiences with IQUNIX, I was in for a treat here. I tore open the package like a kid on Christmas morning and was met with a beautifully designed box. The lid, reminiscent of the iconic iPhone boxes that build anticipation, slowly slid off and revealed custom fit foam inside and inside that custom fit foam sat the beautiful EC75.
It’s prebuilt with gray PBT keycaps & Diamond Pro HE switches ready to plug in and go without a moment’s notice.
The top and switch plate are CNC aluminum which are a dime a dozen in the keyboard world, however the lightweight PC bottom is what surprised me. It’s custom formed with texture as well as adjustable legs for different angles. My other 75s that I use weigh A LOT like in the 8 lb. range (DON’T JUDGE ME!), but the EC75 comes in just over 2 lbs.
The aluminum plate made me very happy because I love the stability and classic feel of aluminum plates. Sometimes PC or soft materials can really deaden the sound but IQUNIX’s choice to use aluminum is a winner there.
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The plate is gasket mounted as per usual, no problems there, and packed with poron plate foam, molded silicone base, and PET switch pads. All of these things together create some seriously marblely and poppy tones that are iconic for foamed up boards. But I don’t say that in the negative, oh nay nay, I say. I found an even better way to kick it up a notch by changing out the keycaps to SA Grand Budapest to go along with the purpleish accent at the top right…
I had been wanting to put this set on a board for some time now and the EC75 gave me a great opportunity to do so; it fit perfectly! Using SA on foamy sounding boards really deepen those tones, plus the Diamond Pro switches are lightweight. I’ve yet to have any wrist or finger fatigue from it. Heck, I’m even using it right now to write this article. Hashtag METTAAAAAAAA.
The accent piece on the EC75 is very on brand for IQUNIX right now. If you remember back to the EV63 release, that board has a very similar side profile with a lighter color accent, so the colors aren’t consistent, but the vibe is totally there.
Like the EV63, the programming and customization of the keymaps and switch actuations are available using the online web interface of their configurator.
It took only seconds for me to get my regular keymaps into place and roll on with my day.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The EC75 is yet another banger release from IQUNIX that stands out in design as well as a quality lightweight option in the Hall Effect offerings of the keyboard world. While it’s design language and functionality aren’t shocking people into turning their heads, they come into the space with a clean, crisp, and very “IQUNIX” clean look that is a twist on the classic. The classics are the classics for a reason, no need to change the entire foundation but you can build on it which is what I believe IQUNIX did here.
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***DISCLAIMER***
IQUNIX sent this board to me to review and check out for free, I have received no monetary rewards nor approvals for this review, all opinions are entirely my own.
