Looks like a Bluish White silencing implementation for the downstroke. I feel like it really doesn’t matter where you put the dampening material, the switch will always feel mushier than a non-silenced switch. I’m not sure that there is an acceptable crossover point (if you hate the feel of silenced switches that is).
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I’d agree; there are “silent” switches that aren’t much more quiet than normal ones so much as just sounding different, generally less harsh. I’d almost put them in an adjacent category; “silents” with dampening firm enough to not feel mushy aren’t all that silent - and they still aren’t completely mush-free.
In terms of mush, I think the stem-dampened Box silents and basic Gat Silent Blacks do a decent job feeling more crisp than most dampened switches, but they’re plenty audible. I would say the sound they make is more office friendly than standard switches, being lower pitched and less sharp - and I even like that sound - but “silent” is not a good word to describe them. 
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Maybe we take a page out of alps’s book and call them dampened
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Silent Gat Inks are the only silent switch that I enjoy at the moment, mostly due to the harder silicone pads and firmer feeling like you mentioned (well, linears at least – I enjoy U4’s and Silent [shrimp] T1’s quite a bit). Honestly, I’ve only ever pursued silent switches to change up the typing experience vs regular switches, and never needed the auditory component. Variety is the spice of life after all.
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I did find this about the Fried Egg switch, which is apparently also all-POM - so basically a silent BOX Cream. I’d be surprised if those dampeners were “cotton” though, ha.
So, as far as I can tell, the Deep Sea is the first of its kind coming from Kailh.
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Those switches are also pretty cheap, and were dirt cheap at launch costing around $0.32 per switch.
From force graph it seems like a dampened Polia in terms of feel.
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Fascinating. This yellow-top mystery switch is the tactile I bought in the earlier post.
If it’s like a Polia, that might be a bit annoying as I find the switch a bit ‘meh’ stock, but we’ll see.
If Fried Egg is a dampened BOX Cream, that’s interesting and I’ll have to try it out.
I read an account of Kailh Deep Sea today elsewhere:
I ordered some mods parts as listed below as well as a set of Kailh Deepsea switches. These are a variant of the Kailh Silent Box Pinks that has the dampening material integrated into the switch housing rather than into the stem. These are the same noise level, but the Deepseas feel smoother (unlubed/filmed) than the Pinks. I’ll be keeping the pinks in my GMMK and will lube/film them when the parts arrive.
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So we recently got these in stock (switchcaptain.com, sorry for the shill 
). I’ve been a bit delayed on a teardown and typing test, which we generally do for new switches, but they’re coming soon and I’ll share them.
Dampened is definitely a good way to describe them. They have a different “silencing” mechanism than most of Kailh’s silent switches, as noted above, with the silencing on the side of the housing as well as the floor. They have a really nice and pleasant, muted sound to them as a result.In terms of feel, they are definitely not mushy.
When I think mushy I think Kailh Silent Pinks (which a lot of people love, and which we sell, they’re just not for me). The Deep Seas have pretty short pre-travel (Kailh lists it at 1.8mm) with about a 3.6mm total travel and despite IIRC a similar or the same actuation force and bottom as a Silent Pink, they give a much better sense of feedback and tactility. I think they’re also just really pleasant (and FAST) to type on, having used them for a week unmodified.
@pixelpusher if you want to I’m happy to send you a handful (we have a pretty limited supply otherwise would offer to everyone!) to try them out, just DM me and I can set that up.
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I’ve got a few boards that really need something different, so I’m just going to take the leap and buy some. @SwitchCaptain , thanks for the offer. I’ll just order a bag and try them out. I always appreciate and like to support new US vendors 
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Got these in the mail today. My initial impression is good. I’d say if you like the silent box pink you’ll like these too.
I’ll have to get them in a build to determine more.
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Been typing for a few hours now. These are nice. I wouldn’t recommend them if you don’t like shorter travel switches. They’re rated at the same travel as other kailh box, but it seems slightly shorter. I do like them, though. Certainly a better silent switch than many out there. You’ll definitely want to lube the springs if ping bothers you.
I’ve tried them in a few boards and for some reason they sound the best in boards that are more hollow, that is, have more space under the PCB for reverb. The interesting sound of the soft but certain bottom out gets lost if there is too much foam or dampening material.
Also, cool shipping tin, @SwitchCaptain
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Thanks for the sounds tips. Mine should arrive soon. Maybe I’ll put them in a hollowed-out blue MK870 or something.
I’ve noticed that the Kailh silent switches seem to have reduced travel as compared to their non-silent Kailh counterparts. For example, BOX Silent Brown.
I can handle BOX Brown’s 3.6mm of travel, but not whatever’s the reduced travel of BOX Silent Brown.
Glad you liked them! And thanks for the compliment on the tin, they’re new so we’re pretty excited about them.
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I received samples of Kailh Fried Egg yesterday. I have some other Kailh silenced switches on the way.
I have to say right-off-the-bat that Fried Egg is more of a ‘dampened’ switch than a quiet switch. I have numerous “silent” switches that are indeed silenter than Fried Egg. But it is still a worthwhile switch.
I put it into an Aurora that also has silent tactiles in it.
Compared with OUTEMU Silent Sky [stem in MX Clear housing, 60 G tx spring, 3204], Kailh Fried Egg is:
-LOUDER
-lower-pitched [deeper]
-linear
-‘cleaner,’ somewhat smoother
-easier upstroke, maybe snappier, hard to say.
-not as mushy
This isn’t very helpful, though, so let me elaborate.
The Fried Egg aren’t as quiet as my modded Silent Sky. The overall volume level and impact of the Silent Sky is lower than Fried Egg.
Fried Egg sounds more like what I imagine a dampened, lubed MX Brown would sound like. The volume level is lower than an un-dampened regular tactile or linear, but not as low as some heavily-silenced stems like Silent Sky, U4, and Bobagum.
So it’s more like a quieter linear than a silent switch. The downstrike is fairly quiet, upstroke less so. It seems that they may have downplayed the dampening characteristics in order to acheive a less-mushy switch.
And I know that important to some people. Is it mushy? Well, it’s less mushy than OUTEMU silents. But it’s also louder. It feels great, though. I have it in a dampened Aurora, and it sounds deep and low-pitched and rubbery, kinda of like a Niz EC. Almost has that boiling water sound, in fact. But there are some mild metallic sounds that are discernible in the background of the deep housing sound, possibly the leaf or something. So that area might be a candidate for lubing, if it stays in the BOX housing.
I would prefer to type on these Kailh Fried Egg, I think. It’s a decent, quiet linear. Does well in a board like this. But for silencing, it’s honestly inferior to OUTEMU. At least, unlubed it is.
Since these switches are about as heavy as MX Brown or BOX Creams, I would say these could be good if you want a quiet linear typing keyboard. They are fairly satisfying to type with, and quieter than MX Brown. However, unlubed, unmodified Silent Egg are not the best choice if you are looking for absolute silencing.
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I think a lot of it is spring related, but there is still something. Maybe it is leaf noise, as you stated.
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Yes, after further typing after posting that, it sounds more-and-more like spring noise to me.
I think the springs need to be lubed - why can’t the factory do this properly? It’s actually a decent, or even good-sounding housing, but the springs are bringing it down.
Anyway, this is a pretty decent linear to type on. But I think this kind of housing is a good candidate for a true light-tactile a la MX Brown / Meteor Orange / Mallo stem instead of just linear. Something like this with a light-tactile stem would be preferable to a lot of switches, actually.
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100% agree. I’ve been looking for a “muted” but not “silent” switch for quite some time. The only reason I ever lube my switches is to get a desired sound. Surely I’m not the only one around looking for something that sounds muted or lubed but comes that way from the factory. Tactile would be good as well. Honestly, something that feels and sounds similar to my old apple wireless keyboard
Of course I still have that one, but I can’t customize it 
There has to be a solution to get the right feel and sound. I think these are another step along the way. Perhaps one day we’ll have it.
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We are so close…
The latest Kailh silent housings are smooth enough, and make a fairly muted sound.
They just need to put basically an MX Brown or Mallo stem in the housing and they’ll get a muted light-tactile with a deep sound.
The keyboard could be something packed with silicone like the Aurora, only costs $110. Honestly that would do it for me [TKL or larger], and replicating that whole set-up in lo-profile would be a bonus.
I’ve been using these for a day or so, and while they are on the light side for me, I like them a lot and they continue to grow on me. They are significantly more smooth and clean feeling (and sounding) to me than BOX Silent Pinks. They’re also more quiet.
More thoughts and some recordings to come; I’m getting set up in a new space to facilitate that sort of thing.
For today, I have some tear-down and a few comparison photos to share with you.
Starting with a complete switch:
I love these interference-free housings, especially for modding commercial boards. The light-pipe doesn’t interfere with any keys in either orientation, but it’s still optional.
The bottom:
I wouldn’t mind seeing a 5-pin version, but this does make the switch easier to install in aforementioned commercial boards, and any given hot-swap.
S’ploded:
A little over-exposure never hurt anybody.
The stem and top housing together from below:
More on the stems in a bit.
A closer look at a dampener in the top housing:
Yep, that’s metal. The “business end” of the dampener is the little rectangle that sticks-out towards the middle of the switch, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on with its overall shape to keep it in place and presumably facilitate installation.
Now without the dampener:
These are based on the existing cylinder-shroud BOX tops, but have new details to accommodate the dampeners and light-pipe.
A look at the other side, and a removed top dampener:
I think the metal bit is actually pretty brilliant. It provides support for installation and in general while presumably allowing for whatever softness or hardness of dampener to be used reliably.
A reminder that these are pretty tiny:
Positively wee.
Alright - transitioning to the bottom housing, check out this new detail where the top dampeners’ metal tabs slot-in:
You can also see the divot on the top housing that holds down one side of the light-pipe, as well as a side view of part of a top dampener.
A couple angles of the bottom housing with its dampener:
That geometry on the left there is shaped to the stem, presumably for uniform contact.
There’s metal in these, too.
The bottom dampener removed:
And the other side:
Thanks to the setting sun’s light, you can see the shape of the metal parts, as well as the dust fibers clinging to… everything. I’m guessing these are also for structure but there may be other utility to their presence.
Another angle of the bottom dampener:
It’s pretty easy to remove and re-install, unlike many other dampening systems.
Now let’s check out the stem; I’ve photographed it here in comparison with one from a BOX Cream (the darker one):
Familiar, but different. Slightly shorter pole, much lower rail “shoulders”.
Comparing the rails and ramps:
The footprint of the ramp has been changed; while the Cream will mesh with the bottom pad, there’s a tiny bit of slotting-in to that bottom cavity that the thinner ramp avoids.
Some BOX stem rails are hollow, some aren’t - less contact area with a similar footprint is probably good.
Some kinda funny images illustrating some configurations that probably don’t work at all, starting with a comparison of a stock Deep Sea next to one with a BOX Cream stem in it:
V1 BOX Silent housing on the left with a V3 (Deep Sea) stem in it:
V1 BOX Silent stem in a V3 (Deep Sea) housing:
It travels, but not very much at all. Maybe 1mm? The stem still sticks out a fair bit at bottom.
Deep Seas in mah Portico:
No, that’s not your screen. There’s a pixel or so’s worth of black foam dust inside one of those white stem barrels.
Alright! That’s what I have for today - what do you folks think of these neat-o looking dampeners?
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great photos!
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