Sorry for the potato.
This is my first experience with SA keycaps. Having seen multiple photos of SA keycaps, I sometimes noticed what appeared to be keys that were not perfectly aligned. I thought it may have been due to camera perspective but some images looked like the deviation was to great to be accounted for by camera perspective and that there was a manufacturing issue with SA; maybe a flaw in the molds or tooling. So, as the delivery date approached, I began to get nervous. I dropped a lot of cash on this set, so that I could use it when I build my custom board in the future. When it arrived, I inspected nearly all the keys and noticed only some minor flaws on the left and right edges of the 1.5 novelty modifiers (the gray carbon rings), as if there was too much flash on the caps when they came out of the mold and someone was a little sloppy when they shaved it off. It also appeared that there might be a little crack on the edge of one of those modifiers, but upon closer inspection, I determined that it was not a crack. Also, the shaved edges of the modifiers wouldn't be visible when the caps are on a board, so I'm not worried about it. Some caps are not perfectly aligned. I don't know if that is a manufacturing flaw or if it's due to some idiosyncrasy with the plate and switches of my board. I only really notice the issue when I closely examine my board. In spite of these minor issues, this set looks great.
Jukebox was supposed to be my first SA set but, at the eleventh hour, I decided against purchasing it because some images of the color chip for the alphas appeared to be more tan than off-white and I didn't like the idea of tan and turquoise keycaps. So, when Carbon was introduced, I knew that I wanted to make it my first set of custom keycaps. The color of the Carbon alphas is fantastic. I could not imagine Carbon being better with a different shade of white on the alphas. And I know there have been several orange/gray sets in the past few years, but the addition of the off-white alphas really sets Carbon apart. And the gray color of the modifiers and industrial orange color of the novelties really pulls the theme together. Also, the options for various layouts meant that I could get the keys necessary to support my custom layout. Of course, that greatly added to the expense of this set. Do I think Carbon was worth it? Unequivocally, yes. I knew as soon as I saw it that I liked the design and colorway of this set. And as soon as I started typing on this set, I knew that I liked Sculpted SA. A lot. It sounds and feels great, and the profile really contributes to the visual appeal of Carbon. Prior to this, the best sounding Cherry MX-style caps I used were the POMs on the Choc Mini. Sculpted SA is my new favorite. The dimensions of the caps makes them sound and feel different than other profiles of ABS keycaps, such that I now realize that a comparison of plastic and thickness alone is not sufficient when judging two sets of keycaps of different profiles. The sound and feel of sculpted SA has certainly elevated my curiosity about Topre switches and what the experience of using Topre with SA would sound and feel like.
The only improvements I can suggest for Carbon are row 4 shift keys (already coming in round 2) and an orange backspace key to allow for an all orange (with the novelties) number row. I will definitely be buying row 4 shifts, and if an orange backspace key becomes available, I will be buying that too. Carbon and sculpted SA have spoiled me for other profiles. As much as I like Toxic and Hyperfuse, I now find them far less appealing because they are not sculpted SA. I now need to replace the keys on my other daily driver because they are not sculpted SA. If I have the funds, and if Yuri has Cyrillic-only alphas, I can almost guarantee that Yuri will be my next keyboard-related purchase.