I think this is a great starting point if you’re looking to get your feet wet with higher profile keycaps
Akko Black & Pink keycaps on Amazon
Having been impressed with the Akko Macaw, I decided to give the Black & Pink set a try. What’s interesting about this set is that it features Akko’s proprietary ASA keycap profile. You may recognise the retro lettering style from SA. These sets are going for $70 each, which is very reasonable considering that it’s double-shot PBT with a whopping 158 keys in total (49 extras). It covers pretty much all the mainstream layouts, including 65% and 75%.
ASA is almost a hybrid of OEM and SA. You get the lower height of OEM while maintaining the sculpted profile of SA. This isn’t exactly unprecedented, for example OSA, HSA and KAT will give you a similar experience. I think ASA is a great starting point if you’re looking to probe into higher profile sculpted keycaps. SA can be a harsh entry point, especially if you’re coming from the more natural-feeling Cherry or OEM. ASA should be an easier transition, being only marginally taller than OEM. You can even use this as a stepping stone towards the SA profile.
SA keycaps are of course known for their satisfyingly thocky sound, and I was curious to see if ASA could replicate that. I don’t think it quite matches the thockiness, but nonetheless I was happy with the sound. I generally prefer a lower typing experience, so needless to say ASA felt more comfortable. This is something I can see myself using on a daily basis, whereas SA is something I’d only really pull out for ASMR sound tests. I really enjoyed the spherical and sculpted feel, and it makes for an ergonomic typing experience.
The quality is good with chunky walls of 1.5mm. I didn’t find any excessive molding marks that needed sanding and no substantial warp on any of the space bars. These keycaps have that nice textured PBT surface. Just a heads up for GMMK Pro users, the 6.25u grey space bar actually scraped against the inside of the case, but I had no issues with the pink one. Both worked fine on my Kemove SnowFox.
This is an absolutely stunning colourway: dark grey and black with pink legends and accents—heavily inspired by Minterly’s SA Bliss. The pink didn’t look as bright as on the renders, but not a dealbreaker by any means. This set features that large, centered lettering style that SA keycaps are known for, and it really gives off a pleasant retro appearance. The legends are crisp and I had no issues with blurriness.
I picked up a little production fault on the stem walls, and this seems to be present on all of Akko’s keycap sets. It can range from an inconsistent area to there being a complete gap. Luckily this was only on a few R4 keys, and these keys were a little bit more wobbly than the others. While this was a letdown, it is forgivable at $70 and didn’t impact actual use.
In summary, I think this is a great starting point if you’re looking to get your feet wet with higher profile keycaps. What’s nice about these sets is the accessibility and affordability in comparison to a group buy.
Comparison of Akko Cherry vs ASA on my GMMK Pro with Alpaca Linears (ASA starts at 15 seconds)
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