Easing Into Linears

Learning and discussion Key switches
323

Mauve Report 1

A day after lubing, 3203 and 3204 is pretty much tied in sound. Feel-wise, 3203 retained much of the skating feel while 3204 replaced much of that skating feel with a touch of buttery feel. 205g0 felt and sounded a lot better than yesterday although it sounded deadened where 3204 sounded solid. Switch noise is pretty low now. Not sure what happened overnight but the noise seems to be a lot less noticeable than yesterday.

I’m going with 3204. It sounds solid and feels sufficiently buttery without giving up all the skating feel. C3 Tangerine R2 will be my go-to switch for the full-on skating feel. I recommend 3203 for the skating feel, 205g0 for office use.

The Case of Case Foam: My Cream board sounds incredible and Mauve on that board sounds really good too. But Mauve on another similar board did not. Both aluminum cases with POM plate to get the most out of sound yet sound differed. Turns out the difference was the case foam. The Cream board had only two crumpled sheets of kleenex. The other board had 1mm case foam. Replacing that case foam with two sheets of crumpled kleenex made the board sound nearly as good as the Cream board. Seems this hobby is more magic than science.

Since sound is what I’m mostly into, I’m going to forego case foam from here on. I still need the plate foam to reduce noise and even out the sound.

I think there may be a market for custom case fillers designed to sculpt sound and channel reverb instead of just absorbing like foam does.

My Mauve Build Details

  • switch: Mauve
  • lube: 3204
  • spring: 55g Catweewee, lubed with 1504 raised to 63.5g SPRiT for more bounce
  • PCB: Instant60
  • Plate: POM with plate foam.
  • Case: Tofu 60 with two crumpled kleenex tissues.

UPDATE1: So far I’ve installed lubed and filmed Mauves into alpha keys and they sound pretty awesome compared to C3 Tangerine R2 switches on the same board. Bassy boom booms. I think Mauves is likely the best that can be achieved without extended stem tips like Halo and Cream stems. Simply Noice.

UPDATE2: I had to relube Mauves with 205g0. While 3204 offered felt and sounded more lively, I found myself hesitating before using the board. My hypothesis is that the effect of extra noise (compared to 205g0) caused a fatigue of sort. Noise fatigue? Lubed with 205g0 like rest of my linear boards, the result feels more comfortable.

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