DC Ply Snowboard Review

Overview of the Ply's Specs

* the 2024 model dropped the 147, 157W and 161W that the 2023 also had in addition to the above sizes.

Who is the Ply Best Suited To?

The Ply is best suited to someone with solid technique already that wants a semi-aggressive all-mountain freestyle board but has a smaller budget. 

Works well over the whole mountain whether carving, hitting sidehits or rollers, lapping the park (particularly the jump line) or wanting to ride at good speed. Though not going to be great in powder. 

Not for beginner, as it could feel a little catchy at times and is a little stiff for beginners, IMO. But for solid intermediate riders and up, this could work for you, particularly if you have a smaller budget, but don't want a board that's too soft flexing. 

The Ply in More Detail

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 21.7" (550mm) (though reference stance is at 23.3" (590mm) I chose to ride it a bit narrower)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 263mm (10.35") at the 21.7" (550mm) stance that I rode it at. 265mm at the 23.3" (590mm) reference stance.

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 180lbs 

Rider Boot Size: US9.5 Adidas Tactical ADV

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M 

Control Board for Control Laps: Lib Tech Terrain Wrecker

Weight: 2780grams (6lb 2oz)

Weight per cm: 17.82 grams/cm

Average Weight per cm: 18.59 grams/cm*

*based on a sample size of around 200 models that I’ve weighed in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 models. So the Ply was a good bit lighter than average on the scales. On snow it felt a little lighter than normal, but not hugely noticeable. 

Powder

No powder to test in on the day but based on feel and specs, the Ply isn't going to be great in the deep stuff. 

It just really didn't feel very floaty - and being a centered stance twin without any rocker or really anything powder friendly, it's likely to be hard work on the back leg when trying to keep it afloat in powder. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: Pretty decent on a carve. It's got enough camber and stiffness to allow you to dig the edge in and rail a pretty decent carve at good speeds. 

Ease of Turning/Slashing: It prefers to be gripping the edge to slashing and you can't be too casual with turning. But it's not super hard to turn. 

Maneuverability at slow speeds: It's certainly not a tank but it's not lightning edge-to-edge either. It's pretty medium/normal in terms of it's quickness of turns when riding slow. 

Skids: Feels a little catchy when you get too lazy. You've got to fight it a little bit to keep it on one edge - it likes to try to return you to flat base, which can in turn lead to catching an edge. When you're leaning into your edge and putting that weight/effort into it, it's fine, but can punish you if you get too lazy with skidding out turns. 

Speed

That extruded base means it lacks a little bit in terms of speed and has average glide. But it's stable at moderately fast speeds, so when you do get up to speed, it can handle it pretty well. 

Uneven Terrain

Crud: It doesn't get bucked around too easily, but it's also immune to getting thrown off a little bit. When it comes to correcting your line, it's pretty good at it, with some effort. 

Bumps: Not ultra nimble. Took some effort to change edges - so it wasn't a weave through the bumps machine. But not super slow turner either. 

Jumps

Enjoyable board for jumping. 

Pop: A little hard to extract. Decent amount but some effort required to load it up. You don't have to throw everything into it, but not super easy to access. 

Approach: Whilst it's not super nimble, it's nimble enough for any adjustments you might need on approach - and when you need to hold a line, particularly for faster approaches, it's pretty stable.

Landing: Solid on landings.  

Side-hits: Really decent. Could use a little easier access pop but otherwise pretty fun for side-hits. 

Small jumps/Big jumps: Medium jumps are its sweet spot but it can handle larger jumps and smaller jumps fine too.

Switch

Sometimes transitions could feel a little catchy but for the most part fine. And it's pretty much the same riding in either direction, being a centered stance, true twin board. 

Spins

All up not too bad, but you want to be concentrating as it can catch you out on setups and landings, if you're not. 

It's lightness helps here and the pop too - though ideally it would be a little easier too access, especially when you're doing spins off sidehits and want that extra air time to get the spin around, but may not have a smooth enough approach to really load up. 

Jibbing

Not bad, but for less experienced jibbers can be a little tricky. 

Butters

It's not ultra easy to press the nose and tail, but it's not super hard either. And you get a nice consistent feel for nose and tail presses. Once you've got the press in, it's pretty good for holding that in place. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

For the price you can't argue with the performance. One of the things that makes this board cheaper than most in this category is that it's got an extruded base. If you're OK with that, then it's good value. 

Not something that I found overly exciting and could be a little catchy for those that don't quite have their technique down or who like to get a little casual/slashy at times, but all round a solid board. There aren't many in this category at this kind of price - and those that are are typically softer flexing.