This is great. Thanks for all the info!
If possible, let us know about any extraneous noise, such as spring-crunch and leaf ping. The springs are an issue with the Kailh Fried Egg, which is otherwise a decent switch.
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So far in my Portico I really have to listen to hear any ping, but it’s pretty easy to hear holding a switch next to your ear. Minor spring ring is about the only errant thing I’ve found with them so far.
I’ll give these a try in an unforgiving keeb and see how they sound; I’m currently on the fence about tuning them. They’re plenty smooth and clean; if I did anything at all it would just be the springs.
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I committed these to the solder today 
I have an extra Masterkeys Pro S with browns in it. I don’t mind browns, but I do mind that they are North facing. I have several hundreds of options when it comes to keycaps. I could easily use OEM, cubic, SA, DSA or other profiles that dont contact the housings when in this position… but there’s somethign about being limited that bugs me.
So… I desoldered the browns and put in the Deep Sea this morning. Worked on the stabilizers as well. This board is a solid 9.5/10 in my collection. It looks and sounds great. All of my other Norbatouches have dampened Topre switches. This one feels very similar, but I actually might like it even more.
The deep sea almost feel like a silenced 30g Topre.
Completely stock, by the way. I can hear the spring ping when I hold the switch up to my ear, but I can’t hear it in the board at all, so I didn’t bother lubing the springs. The LEDs in the board are a good 30% dimmer because they only shine through the lens, but it’s more than enough for accent lighting.
Hands down, the Deep Sea is the the only stock silent switch I’ve ever used and enjoyed. And I believe I’ve tried almost everything available.
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You’re really making me want to order a sample pack from Kailh… is there a difference between the clear and white stems?
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Im not sure what the difference is in the clear vs white stem. Maybe the white stem is the newer POM stem?
@SwitchCaptain might be able to tell you. Make sure if you buy them you buy the latest version, V3.
It could simply be a personal preference thing, but I only know of a handful of switches that I genuinely like, and these now go into that category. The only silent switch I’ve ever liked was a MX zilent with lube and film. Using these stock vs. paying for parts for 2 different switches and then having to lube and film them… yeah, these win.
Also, could be random, but I hit an all-time personal high with these today on typings.gg. I typed 100 characters at 135 wpm with zero errors.
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I put these in the least forgiving keyboard I own when it comes to sound; a KBD67 v3 with a brass plate. It really amplifies metallic noises.
Firstly, I really like how these switches feel on a firm platform. It might make them a little less quiet but I like the sound they make with the firm plate better, too.
With this configuration, the ping is audible in a quiet room, but it isn’t loud. With the brass plate and aluminum case it might be enough for me to want to bag-lube the springs, but probably not with most other plate and case materials.
These are an awesome silent linear; I wouldn’t mind seeing them available in a few different spring weights to broaden the appeal a bit - I’d pick one a few grams heavier, myself. Since I’m considering popping these open anyway to lube the springs, I might as well swap in some heavier ones while I’m at it and enjoy them all the more.
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Just make sure you have box springs 
I think they sound good in the Masterkeys case because it has a steel plate. I these are nice on firm builds.
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@pixelpusher Oh man, my favorite thing to do when I try new switches is to see how fast I can type on them! 
@Cloud983 We actually discussed this originally with our contacts at Kailh.
The only difference between S77 (clear stem) and S77-1 (white stem) is the stem material and color. Everything else is identical.
The clear stem is made out of Nylon TMDT, which is transparent. It feels like PC to be honest, you get a slightly less smooth downstroke and a harsher bottom out feel.
If there is interest in the clear stems we can place a group order, but there would need to be significant interest to justify getting 4,000.
Regarding V3, we did not want to even stock the older switches, there were simply too many issues. Many also had problems with how keycaps got jammed, and the occasional wobble. V3 really fixes a lot of the feedback on previous revisions. The LED window is removable as well for further keycap compatibility.
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For the record, I’m using them upside down (with LEDs facing North) and have no issues with GMK caps while leaving the lenses in.
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I use silent switches only with fairly sturdy plates, usually in boards that are somewhat dampened.
That means cheap alum plate + padded box keyboards are good platforms for silent switches for me.
Maybe you could even take a $65 KPRepublic XD87 case, padd it, and use it with Deep Sea and Cherry-profile.
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Wow, is that GMK Rudy or a clone? I didn’t know it looked so good on polycarb.
It’s Rudy, yep
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My package of 10 Deep Sea samples arrived a few days ago.
I finally started testing them. They are indeed similar to Kailh Fried Egg, but, as others have said, there is less dampening noise. In particular, the Deep Sea sound less “squishy” than Fried Egg.
Deep Sea sounds more like a ‘dampened’ switch than a ‘silent’ one. The sound has been muted or muffled, but not eliminated. Fairly ‘clean’ sounding, as well.
I am going to sound like a broken record, but I think Kailh should make a light tactile version of Deep Sea. Maybe they already have, I don’t know. I don’t like bottoming-out and hitting that dampening, so a slight tactile bump could help me move on to the next key.
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I bought these a while back. Should be here soonish:
not the same stem design but the dampening is in the same places (top and bottom housing rather than the stem), according to the description.
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I bought samples of this [tactile variant] switch a month ago:
I’m assuming it’s the same thing as the “light yellow” Midnight Silent switch from Chosfox.
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Yep, that should be the same. I don’t know what the tactile event will be like, but I have a feeling I’m going to like the switch just based on the dampening method. /fingerscrossed
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Got the Midnight Linear and Tactile switches today. I don’t like them as much as I like the Deap Sea, but they’re a pretty good silent option. The midnight have the “dustproof” stem design, but they’re aren’t box switches and are not compatible with south facing switches like their box counterparts.
I like the linears better than the tactile for now. The dampener on the top of the slider rail limits the return peak height of the stem, therefore putting the bump too far up for my taste. Similar to how a Topre switch with thick rings can lose it’s tactile brilliance. I might write a small review later. If so, I’ll link it here.
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Thanks for the helpful report. I haven’t received my Midnight tactiles yet.
Could you clarify what you mean by “not compatible with south-facing switches?” I thought that south-facing PCBs have the greatest compatibility with switches + keycaps, especially Cherry-profile.
I thought it was North-facing PCBs that might have some trouble with BOX switches, hence the use of the “Art BOX” and “BOX 2.0” design that is ambidextrous.l
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Yes, we’re talking about the same thing here. I said south facing, referring to the top of the switch, where the logo usually goes, facing south. You could say North facing LEDs to mean the same thing.
Basically, these will have issues with upside down switches on row 3 with Cherry and DCS profile keycaps.
I’ve been using them all day. Quite nice! I thought the linears were too light at first but it hasn’t been an issue.
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Quick update on the midnight switches:
Be careful. I cracked a few GMK caps on these before I gave up and swapped to PBT. I wouldn’t recommend mounting GMK on these.
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