Audio company FiiO has released its KB3. This mechanical keyboard has a headphone amplifier and dac built in. The FiiO KB3 will be available as a barebones keyboard for $130, or as a pre-built variant with keycaps and switches for $150.
According to the manufacturer, the FiiO KB3 features an amp/dac combo in the keyboard, which can be connected to a PC via USB. This is done with the same USB cable used to connect the keyboard itself. On the side of the KB3 are a 3.5mm jack and a 4.4mm balanced jack, to which users can connect headphones.
For audio, the keyboard uses two CS43131 dacs and two SGM8262 amplifiers, from Cirrus Logic and SGMicro, respectively. This allows the headphone jacks to deliver an output power of 550mW, according to the manufacturer. In the process, the keyboard supports 32bit/384KHz audio and the DSD256 format. FiiO uses the same components in its KA13 amplifier, which is available for about 85 euros, notes Tom’s Hardware.
The KB3 also features a 75% layout and can come with linear Gateron G Pro 3.0 Yellow switches, which can be swapped by the user with hot-swap sockets. The housing is made of aluminum-magnesium alloy with a gasket mount, which should provide a relatively soft and quiet typing experience. On the right side of the keyboard is a volume knob. The keyboard further supports Windows and macOS.
FiiO is selling the keyboard through AliExpress. A barebones variant without keycaps and Gateron switches costs 151 euros. A variant with switches and keycaps costs about 174 euros. There is also a wireless variant with keycaps and switches. It costs 151 euros, but does not have a built-in headphone amplifier and dac.
