Dierya DK63 Review

The Dierya DK63 offers excellent value and is packed with useful features

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We’re looking at an interesting little keyboard today, the Dierya DK63. The 63-key layout is fairly rare, with 60% offerings more readily available in 61 or 64-key arrangements. The DK63 can run wirelessly via Bluetooth 4.0 which is powered by a 1900mAh battery. I had no idea what switches were in this keyboard as the product specs merely said Cherry MX equivalents. Turns out that they use Outemus here, and it’s available in the Red, Brown, Blue and Black flavours.

The DK63 allows pairing with up to three devices at a time, and there is compatibility with Windows, Android, Mac and iOS. First you’ll need to flip the switch on the bottom of the board. By pressing Fn + R you can switch to wireless mode, then you simply hold Fn + Z, X or C for three seconds to pair. Bluetooth will go into sleep mode after three minutes and the keyboard does take a few seconds to be responsive again. I did occasionally encounter some unexpected output when returning from sleep mode, so try to not press too many keys initially. It seems that the sleep mode can be disabled on the software, however I couldn’t get this working. Something that puzzled me about this keyboard was that the backlighting stays on indefinitely, and there seems to be no deep sleep where the backlighting switches off, meaning you will have to do it manually. This is a big oversight and hopefully it’ll be fixed in a future update.

The Outemus are a bit scratchier than the optical Gaterons you find on the DK61 model, but more than adequate for a budget mech. I went for the Outemu Browns here, which have an actuation force of 55g. The Brown has some pre-travel before the bump and the tactile feedback is moderate at best. Outemus also have their fair share of spring crunch and ping. Pretty much what you would expect from a run-of-the-mill budget Brown, and the typing experience should be satisfactory for an entry-level user. The stabs are factory lubed and the bigger keys feel very good, with the exception of space bar being a bit rattly. Barring some metal ping, which was quite pronounced on a few individual keys, the DK63 offered a pleasant sound profile. Maybe not the ASMR experience of a higher-end mech but decent for a sub $50 board. You’ll have to whip out your soldering iron to lube these Outemus, as the DK63 is not hot-swap. The Bluetooth 4.0 connection felt pretty snappy when gaming, although I do prefer 2.4Ghz or wired for competitive gaming modes.

As far as productivity-focused 60% layouts, the 64-key is more common than this 63-key variation. The main appeal of these layouts is of course the dedicated arrow keys, something many users cannot go without. One thing I like about the 63-key is the 1.75U right Shift as opposed to the tiny 1U right Shift of a 64-key. To make this possible, the /? key has been pushed to the right, and it actually sits on the right side of Shift. On the 64-key you would typically find a dedicated Delete key here. The DK63 features an extensive Fn layer: in addition to the F-Row, Nav cluster and RGB controls, there is a complete set of multimedia controls, something which is very important for me.

I’m a big fan of the white aesthetic on keyboards, and the DK63 is easy on the eye with its trim bezels and vibrant backlighting. The white mounting plate and shine-through keycaps make for some eye catching RGB, especially with the lights off. From the listing pictures I expected a heavily stylised font, so I was pleasantly surprised by the thinner legends. This is honestly one of the best looking prebuilts I’ve used!

The DK63 features a plastic chassis with a metal mounting plate. The keyboard didn’t feel flimsy at all and it should have some longevity. This version has four fixed rubber feet with no fold-outs, and the natural angle of the case felt very comfortable. I prefer the more angled case as opposed to the flatter feel of something like the GK61. The keycaps are made of ABS which is to be expected at this price point.

At under $50, the Dierya DK63 offers excellent value and is packed with useful features. A definite recommend from me if you’re looking for a budget 60% board with dedicated arrow keys.