Post Drama Impressions - (After Repairing an Early Unit)
After the dust has settled, I'm happy to say I can finally write a review for this very unique board. For those unaware, the original run of the Dash75 shipped with a USB Device Hub of revision [3.9.1] This led to several issues where the board would fail to be recognized by a PC without constant unplug/replug before dying entirely after a week or so. A replacement USB hub would have been far more trivial, if the old one had not damaged the main board as well...
Moondrop says, "Nah, we got you fam." and sends an entire replacement PCB as well as an updated USB Hub (Revision 4.1 if anyone is curious. Arrived June 10th), they also extended the warranty by a year, among other things.
Disassembly/Reassembly was straight forward: remove caps, switches, and carefully lift a few layers of dampening foam before replacing the PCB and USB Hub themselves. Had a minor panic attack when the MoonRiver 2, which mind you remained unharmed throughout this endeavor, failed to be recognized at first. Turns out I didn't plug it in all the way, haha.
Anyway, the difference in 4.X is immediately apparent. For one, there's no fiddling to get the PC to recognize it, now it picks up the keyboard instantly and I can finally focus on the positive aspects of the board. The aluminum finish is very nice, and the white linear switches were surprisingly pleasant (though the tactile gray switches they give you as a sample were rather enticing, perhaps I should get a set of those)? No rattling in sight, and the MoonRiver 2 is a solid DAC/AMP, absolutely no complaints there.
ConclusionGiven future orders (if/when it's restocked) will likely include Hub Revision 4.X by default, I can easily recommend this keyboard to someone seeking a high-end aluminum board and a minimalist setup (MoonRiver2 built-in, so no wire mess).
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Included is a picture of the old faulty USB Hub - 3.9.1
AnotherPasserbyThanks for sharing this issue, I thought I was the only poor sod who had wonky behavior with the keyboard. Had no clue they had a fixed PCB, only found out because I finally found the time to google the issue.
Great to see that you've had the issue fixed, but I can guess a lot of owners bought the keyboard and still have no idea why things are so wonky.
Included is a picture of the old faulty USB Hub - 3.9.1