Just tried Blueberry Chiffons switches from Invokeys and it sounds and feels very similar to the weird combo I posted above.
Highly recommended if you’re are a linear fan interested in light-tactile flings.
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Invokeys seems to be good with switches! I know you don’t like long pole, but their matcha latte and sesame are great for fans of long pole.
I guess I need to pick up some blueberry chiffons
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It’s the shorter key travel that I don’t like, not long-poll stems. 
I like that Invokeys went to the trouble of keeping full key travel, unlike most other long-poll switch makers. Would be cool if Invokeys made a long-poll full-travel linear switch with experiences from making Matcha, Black Sesame, and Blueberry Chiffons. “Long Island” maybe?
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Tried some Diamond Polished MX Browns today and I think I like them.
I wanted to change up the sound a bit while still keeping in line with my linear preferences, so MX Browns it is.
Honestly, I don’t understand the hate for them. I might sound like a Shoobs wannabe, but I think I like them a lot. They’re smooth with some polishing and work really well with top-mount while still retaining some of that Cherry Sound. I think I’ll try swapping the plate from POM to Alu and see if it still has the same magic of MX Blacks on Alu.
Does anybody have any good combos with MX Browns?
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Try FR4, my current favorite plate material.
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I’ve mainly used MX Browns on factory alum plates like Filco and Leopold.
I don’t like that combination, but it’s mostly because of tray mount.
The alum does increase harshness, and possibly ping. But also gives a more solid feel to the Browns.
It’s the tray-mount that bothers me. It leads to an inconsistent sound profile. It may increase ping, as well.
So a factory board with MX Brown is like a ping machine, until the switches wear-in and you switch to thick keycaps. The alum gives a harsher, metallic and higher-pitched sound.
I’ve found top-mount to be very important for taciles, if you want them to feel crisp. My Meteor Orange and Everglide Jade Green boards feel like “MX Browns done right” in comparison to factory. They both use polycarb plates, BTW, but I think Cherry switches benefit less from that.
Metal plate is not necessarily the wrong answer. I found that KTT Mallo types better in a stock metal-plate MK870 [alum?] as opposed to PC. Metal gives those Brown-like switches the solidity I need. [Or maybe I am just used to this configuration with Browns.]
I tried Hyperglide Browns alongside a bunch of other stuff in a polishing machine. Even with 320,000 actuations, there’s barely any improvement. And I think Ergo Clears start to lose their hand-lube and films might start going awry. Not much experience with this. But polishing was not worthwhile at 320,000 actuations for me.
Here is my current understanding on what an MX Brown board “done right” would look like:
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Hand-picked MX Browns of whatever type. This is really important. They are not all awesome from factory, obviously. So you should start by figuring out which are worth soldering.
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Polishing - If you can safely reach a large amount of actuations, it may be worthwhile to polish Browns. The old pre-tooled Browns like on my MJ2 took a good amount of time to wear-in.
The old method, used with Ergo Clears, was just to type on them for a month before starting custom work on them.
- Lube, film, and spring-swap? If you can find a spring that works for you, great. Cherry springs are far from ideal. 55 G Spirit was too light for me. I should have tried 57-58.5 G. Some people like 55 G 14mm TX.
Cherry switches need the kind of improvements that films deliver, but I don’t see a huge jump in quality from using films so far, except with some carefully-built Ergo Clears from a while back.
As far as lube goes, Browns don’t take to lube as well as Clears. They are somewhat notorious for this. You can use 3203 for smoothness. It won’t improve sound, and feels kinda syrupy IMHO.
Normal-lubing with 3204 is probably overkill, I’ve seen better results from very, very careful application of 205g0.
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Put them in a top-mount board. This is very important.
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Polycarb will give you a deeper, plasticy burp sound and a softer typing experience. Aluminum is more higher-pitched and clangy-feeling. Steel can give a very low, resonant sound but it is a harsher typing experience. I don’t know how POM would feel, but it’s worth trying.
The best performance will come from selecting good Browns, and putting them in top-mount. The rest is user preference.
Also, the best keycaps in my experience are thick DCS. The thicker [e.g. classic WYSE] the better.
Anyway, I’ve never built an ‘improved MX Brown’ board, only boards using switches that are said to be better than MX Brown. (I used to think that plateless is the way to go, but I think it actually is fairly harsh slamming on the PCB, at least on an NCR-80. Tried that with Ergo Clears.)
Curiously, some of the best Browns I ever typed on were on a factory Keycool 84 with Cherry or Gat. Browns. It was just so smooth and light, with GMK keycaps. I think it’s the way Cherry wanted things.
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I think the current state of it is a mixture of mild non-preference and memes taken a little too seriously. Chyrosran22 and Glarses have definitely contributed to the memes - though I think their signature hyperbole is lost on the occasional new keeb enjoyer. 
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I see. I dunno if someone makes FR4 plates for the board I’m using right now, the Scarlet from Maker, but I’ll look into it.
I see. I’ll definetly do that, I’ve only been experimenting with gummy o-ring mounts so far. I also did the full tuning on these browns: L+F w/ 3203 and KBDfans Films, TX 57g shorts. They feel more like 62 grams from the bump and sound, but still usable.
Honestly, same. I made a couple MX Brown jokes when I started off, now I’m typing on them. I was considering maybe putting in some MX Blues; not for the memes but thought it would be pretty nice to type on. I knew preferences would change, but not this much. 
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I think MX Browns can take the jokes and ridicules. It’s just a switch after all. 
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Thanks for the work you are doing on this. I am eager to find out if it’s possible to build an MX Brown “Done Right” keyboard.
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Adjacent; I bought some TTC Gold Brown V3s a couple years ago, and waited ages for them to arrive. I was severely disappointed by them when I first put them in a board - harsh and messy.
After a thorough tuning, though, they were so satisfying. It always makes a difference - but this was night and day.
This is in a fairly cheap utilitarian keyboard with a stamped steel plate screwed to a plastic tray, stuffed full of foam. The switches make it a joy to use - the same switches that were nearly untenable for me beforehand. It’s easy for me to imagine a better brown in a better keyboard being a pleasant experience.
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Love the tuned sound. It’s weird how light-tactiles sound low-pitched than linears.
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Incredible.
I, too, was severely disappointed by TTC Gold Brown V3, esp. for how much I paid and waited for the samples.
What did the tuning involve? This is a big difference from stock.
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That should be around here somewhere… there we go:
I think ensuring a film of fine grease on the top-out surface went a long way for these. I brushed the housings and stems, and bagged the springs.
Interesting. Reminds me of how some of my Ergo Clears were lubed.
Maybe I have to treat TTC Gold Brown V3 like Ergo Clears, instead of Browns.
You did a great job with these, in any event. Now I understand why they are recommended to newcomers as budget tactiles. You turned them into genuine high-end custom switches.
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Alright, after a bit of delay, I tried Browns on Top mount. Feels much better in a number of ways, namely:
- Less hollowness
- Less “thuddy-sounds”
- Higher pitched/more lively alphas
I had a POM plate and plate/case foam as well, so in total there were around 8 configs I tried. I settled with alu on top mount, no foam.
Also, for the switches, I think it’ll be worthwhile to double-check your springs or lube them again with a brush and some 3203. I used my method of tub lubing springs with TX Springs and the slight ping I get from them usually seemed amplified, probably due to the mounting method and plate.
For the plates, I think alu would be one of the best for MX Browns, but that might be because of the limited amount of plate materials for the Scarlet. I’ve seen people have lots of success with Polycarb and CF. Aluminium IME made the board sound less “thuddy” as said above. With a POM plate, it sounded as if the browns were making direct contact with the wood of the desk and made a sort of heavy-muted sound. Not something I enjoy much, but YMMV. I think I might try a CF plate next.
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Seems like there’s a new light tactile from aflion around the corner oO and from the spec sheet it seems very different from what we already have, notably, no pretravel and tactility at the top ??!! I might get in to try, but 3.5mm 
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SwitchOddities has samples of the Runner switch (but with Melody colors) if you’d like to try before buying:
Aflion’s recent switches have been killer, these are already on my list. :3
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Too bad body Melody switches lack key travel distance info. Meanwhile, I’m still enjoying Blue Chiffons. It’s bump feels just perfect, like walking on fresh powder.
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Not too excited for the runner honestly.
I think I’ll wait for feedback on melodies since I think my preference is mid stroke bumps but at the same time I might have to try since its kinda the first of this kind.