This is a very special board.
Created with breaking the norms in mind, the tenet 70 pushes boundaries in terms of the
functionality and design of this every day desk tool.
Striking accent pieces and functional aesthetic choices make this board a very strong contender
for this idea of an “endgame”.
But a norm-breaking vision also comes with a norm-breaking price.
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Tenet is a
reversible 70 percent keyboard.
It’s a 60 percent with a nav cluster, but you can choose to put this nav cluster on
the left or right side.
We’ve got some very talented designers working on this.
You’ve got your choice of hotswap PCB, which supports stepped caps, or soldered PCB, which
supports stepped caps, split left shift, split right shift, split backspace, or ISO enter.
Both have daughterboards.
As expected.
Also get this.
Instead of our standard QMK and VIA, tenet has custom software created by the team that
worked on the Anne Pro.
with this, you can configure the OLED to display almost anything you want, which I’ll demonstrate
in a little bit.
You have the choice of polycarbonate, aluminum, fr4 and brass for plates, and for colors,
we are looking at black, navy, light green, e beige, e pink, e gold, and e red.
(gray??)
If you’re too bougie for the aluminum weight you can go with a brass one.
However, this will run you a hundred bucks over the standard price of 450 USD.
A complex design is a complex build.
First we’ve got some TX stabs lubed with 205g0 and lightly with XHT-BDZ.
The PCB is extra thin this time around, so you will want to use the stab shims included
with the board.
We’ll add in the plate silicone Polycarbonate plate
And SOTCs lubed with 205g0.
Now everyones favorite part: gaskets.
This board has a lot of gaskets in strange places, so be sure to thoroughly look at the
build guide.
And oops, I actually put too much here.
We also need to add acrylic diffusers to these LED holes and light blocking foam.
And on the other side as well.
Not as perfect of an application but it’ll do.
I also want to tear off the protective film on the OLED first.
I’ll put the nav cluster over the OLED and connect its ribbon cable.
This part isn’t easy, so be patient with it.
Next I’ll install the main PCB and connect it to the nav cluster with a small ribbon
cable.
I found the easiest way to complete the assembly is by inserting the case foam sheet, attaching
the daughterboard cable, moving the case foam sheet onto the PCBs, then putting the bottom
case on top.
Be very careful to not disconnect the OLED cable.
8 screws, and the case is done.
For keycaps I’m throwing on CRP round 4 with red cryllic alphas, a great compliment
to the beige color of the board.
If its not the presentation of the packaging, or the sound profile, the design is what gets
you about the tenet.
It is complex, to say the least.
On the top, we have fairly large bezels and of course our OLED display.
This can be configured through ObinsKit software to display text, images, or monitor your computer
status.
Very neat.
Also, a CPM monitor and a keymap.
Functional.
To the left and right of the alpha area are also two LEDs.
The funcion of these are both changeable in the software.
And that’s not to mention that the whole board has RGB underglow.
This thing really is packed with features.
I just wish there was a way to make the clock 12 hour time for the rest of us.
Side profiles are fairly basic, for the top aluminum part at least.
The large brass weight adds angle to the whole board, poking out at the back.
There’s a bit of branding here around the centered recessed USB port.
And finally the bottom is where the design shines.
Firstly, the bottom right has this classy looking logo that I really like.
There are some interesting looking cutouts around the screw holes, and the USB section
of the weight has an almost egyptian style TENET engraving.
This is likely inspired by the Sator Square, a 5 word palindrome in every direction.
Definitely goes along with the reversible aspect.
Not only is this part of the weight the focal point of the board, it’s plated with 24
karat gold, while the rest of the weight is beadblasted.
Crazy.
And not only are there unique external visuals, there’s some smart internal choices that make this board reversible.
And though I don’t really like the internal design too much, that’s all that it is anyway.
Given the premium materials used for the board, there aren’t any unpleasant surprises in
terms of quality.
Everything looks great.
Enough said.
But the feel and sound are where this board
start to falter.
This board is stiffer than the 60 dollar gas67 we reviewed last week.
Although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing,
for an expensive gasket board that has a polycarbonate
plate, it certainly isn’t something I was expecting.
There isn’t a lot of internal space, and the thick plate silicone probably also doesn’t
help much.
But for those of you expecting any sort of bounce, you should probably turn your attention
elsewhere.
What this board excels in design, it counteracts with sound quality.
This is the case a lot of the time.
It’s incredibly hard to carry out complicated aesthetics without unintentionally compromising
in sound quality.
Although it isn’t offensive, I definitely wouldn’t put it on the top of my list, especially
knowing SOTCs can sound great in other boards.
It’s on the higher pitched side, but I can’t really look past the deadness.
So I think an aluminum plate would be best.
There’s a lot to say about this board.
And I think alot of it is said without words at all.
It’s an eye catcher.
And there aren’t a whole lot of those these days.
Is the brass version worth the half a grand?
Are most of the boards priced at half a grand worth half a grand?
Interesting question.
But this is one of the rare cases where I think,
Just maybe, It might be.