I go through a ton of keyboards, and recently, I’ve been putting stock Gateron Yellows
in most of them to do some standardized testing.
Because we care so much about that 5% difference, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that
most keyboards are pretty much the same.
So when I come across one that’s different in some aspect, it’s a nice change of pace.
The Sirius is the first board I’ve ever seen whose case is made of milled POM.
POM is a low friction plastic that’s used in a bunch of stuff including stems in switches.
From what I can find on Wikipedia, it seems to be a pretty high performance material,
and maybe it’s better suited for keyboards than something like polycarbonate.
The Sirius has a bit of an imposing design.
It’s got a healthy bezel at just under a centimeter on all four sides, and the corners
are pretty well rounded.
The sides of the keyboard are angled inward such that the base is wider than the top.
This gives the board a bit of a stance, much like the KBD661, but less aggressive.
The case takes a standard 60% PCB so the USB port is on the left side.
Because of the thickness of the rear, the cutout is quite a bit recessed, and is not
all that tight.
The most interesting thing about the side profile is that rear, which comes to a point.
When combined with the uninterrupted front wall, this rear overhang contributes to the
theme of substance on the board.
It also has the added benefit of making it easier to pick up.
This may make it look taller than usual, but in reality, the typing height is not much
higher than typical.
Definitely more than the QXP, but almost anything is.
The bottom doesn’t really have anything going on except the internal weight cutout
casting a shadow on the thinnest parts.
When assembled, it actually looks about the same whether you have the weight in or not.
I don’t really like this because it almost looks like a defect, but that might just be
a material limitation.
To mitigate this I suppose they could change the shape of the internal weight to be just
a rectangle so that it looks more purposeful.
The design on the Sirius is consistent and inoffensive.
It being made specifically for this material probably meant some different requirements
when compared to something like aluminum.
I would guess that one of these were thicker bezels, and the Sirius succeeds by incorporating
that with the overarching theme of posture without completely going off the rails like
the KBD661.
Getting into the board is straightforward.
Just undo these six nicely shiny machine screws in the back and unjoin the top and bottom
halves.
Because the bottom half contains a little piece around the usb port, you won’t be
able to just lift it up, but rather angle the top out by lifting the front first.
You’ll see here that the board is top mount with the standard 8 mounting points, none
of which are directly under the spacebar.
Pretty typical stuff there.
With the keyboard assembly removed, you can also see that the top half is symmetrical.
Obviously due to the usb port, you won’t be able to do negative angle or anything,
but I guess this could save me 2 seconds every time I reassemble.
I really super appreciate these six guides that help fit the top and bottom pieces tightly.
They’re actually so tight that you don’t need screws to hold them together.
Not very securely, but nevertheless.
Some more expensive boards can learn from this, particularly if they are made of plastic.
I have an issue with my polycarbonate E6.5 where the top and bottom halves sort of meet
freely.
With that said, when completely assembled, a noticeable seam presents itself on the front
and the rear.
The left and right are pretty much flush, but I guess the longer sides have a little
more room for error.
On the inside of the bottom is the pretty complex cutout for the internal weight.
I think it was said that the weight is more for rigidity than for adding mass, so the
intention might have been to have a tight interconnect between the bottom and the weight
such that the bottom conforms to the straightness of the brass.
When installed, it’s really difficult to remove from it’s slot.
I usually have to tap it on a table pretty hard for it to come out.
The weight itself is polished PVD Brass.
Under very close inspection, you can see some hairline scratches on it, but it’s not a
big deal since it’s internal.
In the newer in-stock version of the Sirius, this has been changed to sandblasted brass,
which I think makes a lot more sense.
Other than the ones for the internal weight, all of the screw holes in the Sirius use these
brass inserts.
I appreciate them since it’s always a bit concerning to reassemble plastic boards with
material threads since it’s much easier to strip than in metal.
One concern I have is that the inserts for the plate have one side that’s really thin.
One of the eight on mine has a little stress line.
A keyboard is usually not under so much pressure, but I would be slightly worried about these
falling out.
Machined POM plastic cases aren’t really something we’ve seen before, and it’s
a little bit more rigid than polycarbonate.
I can bend the thinner top piece a bit, but it takes more effort than my E6.5, and the
bottom piece is functionally solid.
POM is also about 15% denser than PC according google, and the Sirius feels a little more
substantial than your average polycarbonate case.
Of course, that is in part due to having some thicker design elements, but this feels less
like a toy than my E6.5
The overall finish of the board is also pretty solid.
There are no machining marks or scrapes on the exterior, and the interior is also nicely
sandblasted.
The only untreated surface is a portion of the inside of the top case as well as the
internal weight cutout, which show machining lines.
The texture of this sandblasted POM is pretty interesting.
They’re slightly rougher than something like keycap surfaces, and feels a bit dusty.
It doesn’t leave any dust on my hands, but I feel like it should.
Do be advised that this seems to scratch fairly easily.
I think the sound on the Sirius is somewhere between an aluminum board and a polycarbonate
one in terms of resonance.
Aluminum usually has a more dampened tone whereas a pc board has a deeper more resonant
sound.
The POM case seems to lie somewhere in the middle.
Of course this is impossible to test conclusively until we have the exact same design made from
these three materials, so don’t quote me on this.
The Sirius by default comes with a POM plate, which is a relatively unusual choice.
The feel seems to be also somewhere between aluminum and polycarbonate.
Obviously it leans much heavier towards pc, but I would describe it as feeling “tighter”.
Imagine jumping on one of those tiny trampolines for POM vs a large one for polycarbonate.
There’s vibration transfer between the hands on bottom out, but it dissipates quickly.
As a top mount should be, it is more consistent than a tray mount board, and other than the
somewhat exotic plate material, it feels as expected.
Other than the material choice, the Sirius is a pretty regular keyboard: a top mount
60% that takes a standard pcb.
While I like the design, it’s not something I continuously appreciate like I do with the
QXP and once the novelty wears out, it’s mostly just another keyboard that I might
use from time to time.
The interesting part is when it comes to value.
When you want a milled keyboard made of something other than aluminum, you often have to pay
a premium, but the kit I have, which includes the case, plate, and internal weight was relatively
affordable at around 275 dollars before shipping.
The price has been adjusted for the in-stock release to $325 for the same configuration,
citing low yields and increased tariffs.
Given shipping to the US and the price for a PCB to make this a complete kit, you’re
looking at somewhere around $350 for the Sirius.
At that price, you’re approaching the range for polycarbonate cases at group buy pricing.
I paid about $350 for my E6.5, but typically shipping for these is higher than for the
US based ProjectKeyboards.
Even at this new price, it doesn’t seem to have any problem selling out, especially
because there is just a complete lack of premium in-stock boards made of alternative materials.
I would hope to see more options like this in the future from more entry level outlets
like KBDFans, but until then, the Sirius will occupy a unique position in the market.