Missing out on customisation. For example many group buy boards come in all sorts of colours, have all sorts of weights, many different badge, knobs, have multiple PCB options, multiple plate options etc.

Better boards also offer better sound and typing feel.

They also use more premium materials and better surface finishes.

Stuff like the QK80 costs less than the strix scope ii 96, and offers much more in terms of customisation, typing feel, sound, and imo looks much better.

What i would consider endgame is a board that looks good, made with premium materials and that sounds great

The solution IMO is to look away from hype and focus on finding your actual daily needs instead of chasing “top tier” in every aspect.

This way after spending tons of money on overpriced alu rectangles and overrated plastic pieces I ended this mad game with bespoke design that first and foremost fits the purpose (functionality in compact form factor) with ascetics only added casually along the way while making sure to forget about “sound profile” or RGB.

The unique personal result completely eliminated your “What am I missing” crave giving much more satisfaction and true end of looking for next one. Because this keeb is truly “mine” and ends the game.

This hobby is often buying crazy expensive stuff online. This is boring and lame.

I got a second breath with this hobby when I started designing my own PCB, having custom plate cut and getting my own 3D printed case. Now I have half-G13 half-xbox controller keyboard, Gamecube controller keyboard, wireless model M keyboards etc …

What are you missing? Difficult to quantify as different people want different things, and something you may miss, I may not care about. There are things such as build quality though, that cannot be ignored. No gaming board is every going to be as well built as a high end custom board, as they are always designed to meet a price point, and value for money is something that gamers demand, which is why more newcomers to the hobby are attracted by a boards features/price ratio more than they are quality. That’s not a negative comment on gamers, or beginners either, it’s just true, as it’s what they have, up to this point used a metric to judge a keyboard. If one board has features another doesn’t, and they are of a similar price, they will probably pick the one with the most features, especially if they are from a well known brand they feel they can trust. Custom keyboard enthusiasts though, are less concerned with features, just as someone who prefers very high end Hi-Fi gear will not be bothered about flashing lights, built in EQ or stuff like that.

So, in short… build quality is what you will be missing. There’s then also the elements of design. This can either be ergonomic design for split boards etc, or just aesthetic design that lends itself to an excellent typing experience.

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And to have a broader discussion, what do you consider end-game?

There’s no such thing really. It depends on you and your circumstances. If you’re a 14 year old kid living in India, then end game will be very different to a 50 year old man earning 150K a year living in the US or the EU. If you want to generalise though, the most common understanding is something rare and superb in every aspect, and therefore, inevitably expensive. I really wouldn’t worry about what is end game though, or whether others consider your board end game. This is where a lot of bitterness and antagonism comes from. People get upset if their pride and joy isn’t considered endgame by others. Does it matter? If you like the board, and it’s as good as you can get under your present circumstances, then what others think about it is unimportant. Too many people get into this hobby just as a means to have another outlet to flex on socials for a dopamine hit. Don’t start down that road, as it just never ends well unless you are wealthy enough to just keep up with such an arms race.

Build the board that you are happiest typing on, because that’s all that matters really. The chances are, that will not be a cheap board off AliExpress, but it really doesn’t need to be a TGR or a Geon either. Like you said, you have found the sweet spot for headphones… so find it for keyboards, but only you can find that sweet spot as it may be different for me, or someone else reading this.

If you find yourself in a position to blow a wad of cash on something really high end one day, cool… but as you already know… it’s diminishing returns territory. It doesn’t mean they are any less nice to own, or rewarding to obtain… just don’t expect a paradigm shift in your typing or anything.

strix scope ii is nice consumer-wise but it doesnt exactly prioritize the hobbyist. they definitely are trying though with it being hotswap, but there are no choices of color, and the keycaps are probably just okay at best. i probably would say that, for a casual, an Asus board might be fine. but i could also point them in the direction of a barebones Monsgeek or Keychron Q series that is full metal, hotswap, and RGB. And then with some nice switches from Gateron or BSUN and some quality PBT keycaps, you could have yourself a much better sounding board with a more customized feel and look, leagues above Asus’ boards. at the same time, if the classic gamer look is what suits you and you are happy with your rog strix, then that is the board for you. my point of diminishing returns is perhaps just alot higher haha 😅

the point of diminishing returns is around the 350-400 mark imo.

that’s where you have a great keyboard from an excellent maker in the layout you want with the design, features, materials that you want. something really unique with low MOQ and high demand might put you in the 500-550 range but that’s demand and supply driven, I’m not convinced you’ll have a much better keyboard at that price.

as someone who owns 6 keyboards, 2 of which cost more than $700 I can tell you I would not spent that much ever again even though I love those keyboards to death. I’m a TKL guy and the Geon Frog TKL is still one of my fave workhorse keebs

For me, you’re missing out on the efficiency of a properly thought out layout, and the ability to alter the keymaps, through layering and characters swapping, to make your keyboard truly your own.

The keyboard you have is decent, but it is literally the “same thing everyone else has”, with very minor tweaks, to remove the spacing between some of the keys.
By contrast, I have all those same features, fit into a 60% case, and have the ability to alter the keymap however I want on top of that.

Here’s a pic of my work board, so you can better understand what I’m talking about here.

https://preview.redd.it/0h1h9q9lt52c1.jpeg?width=3811&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8d4b39a58e118d0f8cba75b48dcbd8efcf2a1aa

For day-to-use, my keyboard allows me to put frequently used features closer to the home keys, so I don’t have to move my hands all over a larger board, to get to them.
Most notably, it allows me to put the numpad directly over my right hand alphas, so I can switch back and forth from numbers to letters, on the fly, without moving either hand from its home position.

For gaming, it allows me to create custom keymaps, to fit my needs in a specific game, should I need to do so.
This feature is especially important when you hit one of those games where the designers were too lazy to include the ability to alter the controls.
Don’t like the fact that a particular game forces you to use the arrow keys for movement?
A good programmable keyboard will allow you to program your WASD keys to send the arrow characters, solving the problem.

For me, endgame is when you are in a position where you look at all the “new” stuff being offered, and are able to honestly say, “but that’s not as good for me as what I already have”.
I’ve hit that point with my two customs.
The keyboards I have are designed by me, for me to use in specific locations.
That’s something you can’t just run out and buy off the shelf.

Budget doesn’t necessarily play into this either.
If you ignore the amount of money I’ve spent on keycaps, my builds are relatively inexpensive, but offer premium components.

What am I missing with this keyboard

1. column stagger
2. split
3. thumb keys
4. properly separated clusters of function keys
5. possibly tenting