I got my ELZ_1 in the mail about 5 hours ago, have used it this entire time after unpacking, and could not disagree more about the knobs and keys. The encoders are really fine resolution and feel extremely nice to use, there is zero wobble and they are extremely solid. Very small caps which actually feels nice but I could go the other way too with larger knobs. The small knobs barely stick up though which is ideal for portability. The gap between the bottom of the cap and the body is basically zero, ultra minimal clearance, which is excellent and shows serious attention to detail in the physical design.
The extra nice thing about them is that they respond very nicely to momentum, so if you move slowly the parameter changes in very small increments but twist it quickly and in the same amount of knob-turn you will see a huge change in the parameter.
The keys are very funky but they respond well and are well damped so you can really jam out and it doesnāt feel like youāre smashing a little rubber membrane against a circuit board. Wish they were velocity sensitive but theyāre not, the engine is really expressive though so you just end up making patches with a lot of movement after the initial part of the sound and use that to be expressive with the length of time you hold notes on. Theyāre really fun to play, obviously not the same experience as real keys but definitely wayyyy superior to the keys on a Casio SK-1 or any of those mini keyboards, those are horrible (but still fun).
In no way does any part of the synth feel cheap or poorly designed, and the sound is sooo good.