do you know any tactile semi-silent switches that are noticeably quieter than average while not feeling mushy?
I recently tried the Geon HG Yellow with the “innovative” Haimu stem design. While being dead silent the typing experience is not too impressive imo. The bottom out does still feel quite mushy, like typing on a conventional rubber-damped switch.
Are there any switches that combine the best of both worlds? Tactile, noticeably quieter than average with still a good typing experience?
TTC Bluish Whites are worth looking at. They have a pretty subdued sound signature. If you need something even quieter, there is the Silent Bluish White, but that has the rubber dampeners which might lead to some mushiness.
Would give Milktooth’s try at-home program a shot: you can try 10 switches at home for 5 days to really nail down the best switch for you. Happy to provide more recommendations as well.
Not really, not right now anyway - I think TTC gets closest to striking a balance with their more firm dampeners, but there’s pretty much always a trade-off between quiet and crisp. The most quiet dampeners are mushy, and the most crisp ones aren’t all that quiet.
I think Kailh has some well-balanced ones in the Midnight Pros and Whale / Ocean switches, but they are also shorter travel.
my favorites remain Kailh deep sea silent v3 and a Cherry silent stem in a Gateron polycarbonate housing with lots of 3204 or 205g0 (normally referred to as a MX Zilent)
The first one is off the shelf and still a bit mush. I found some on mechanicalkeyboards.com but they are a bit overpriced.
The frankenswitch is the best I’ve ever tried to this date, but has more stem wobble and takes work and costs too much if you don’t have the parts on hand.
Still surprised that there isn’t more movement in this area of switches. It’s fairly popular around here at least. Just no great options… yet.
I wonder if the new line of cherry switches will include a silent option?
I am probably not mad enough (yet) to salvage multiple sets of switches and come up with my own franken-switch.
But yes, that’s the ultima ratio.
I have heard that switches with holes at the bottom of their housing tend to be a little more quiet. In fact, that is also part of the Haimu design afaik.
Is there maybe anything in that direction that could fit my specs? Could be sort of a middleground if I add some lube and maybe do some further tweaks on the case.
Also, I will have the opportunity to test the U4TX soon – which come with dampeners only on the upstroke. Maybe I can tweak those by adding some holes on the bottom?
I definitely agree with this. I should state I am not a fan of silent switches so my experience with them is much less than others here. However I have tried enough to realize the sparse dampener area/harder dampener material on the MX silent stems make for the least mushy silent switch. Although you do sacrifice on the silence for the better bottom out feel. In all honesty I don’t know if there ever will be a true silent switch that feels like an unsilenced switch. You need to bottoming out on more forgiving material to prevent the sound of it so the best that is possible in my mind is a good balance between the two extremes. Really though we technically shouldn’t be bottoming out our keystrokes according to proper typing form. So I’d imagine the combination of really good typing form with a switch that has a silenced top out would be the way to go for truly silenced typing experience.
Honestly, the Kailh Deep Sea Pro V3 and Kailh Midnight (Pro?) mentioned here and on the other thread are the best contenders.
I have tested both. Fortunately, you can get sample packs.
I’ll go dig out my testing board if I have to. Kailh Midnight aren’t much different in tactility from MX Browns, and they are relatively crisp. Deep Sea Pro is a silent medium-tactile.
I think the Wuque Studio silents may have avoided a lot of mushiness as well, but they are heavy tactiles IIRC.
Also, I’d love to know how U4Tx is supposed to be reasonably quiet when it’s a long-pole ‘thock’ switch. I get the upstroke thing, it works well on the Bluish White, but that’s a quieter switch.
OTOH, people seem to say they are only a fraction of the noise of a U4T:
U4TX are very strange. I have some samples in house and I opened up one to examine.
The silencing sleeve is quite standard, it extends to the top and to the bottom like regular silent switches, but the pole is longer than the Cherry MX standard.
So I believe, as it feels a bit mushy on the bottom out as well, that this switch actually both bottoms out on the pole and on the silicone sleeve. It it, again, a very-very strange switch.
IME there really is no MX styled switch that comes even close to feel like ALPS tactility. Not even Zeal clickies in tactile mode since they have such a strong tactile event set up that way. A remake of SKCM/L ALPS with the pins shifted to fit MX only PCBs would be my holy grail switch TBH! I mean there still is some aftermarket PCBs that accept MX & ALPS, then some boards will come with PCBs that allows it also. Although those PCB/kits are becoming rarer & rarer… Maybe someday if we’re lucky though!
The Kailh Midnight Pro looks interesting. Rather hard to get in my region. But the design sounds like it is sort of the hybrid thing that I am looking for. Quiet but not dead, with decent typing experience.
I have also heard that Haimu developed some semi-silents which are being sold as Epomaker Silent Iceberg and Skyloong Glacier Silent. Maybe those come without the rubber feel?
EDIT: Nvm, I just saw that the Glaciers stem design is pretty much the same as the Geon x Haimu Silent Tactile that I own. While not using silicone, it still feels like typing on rubber imo. Meh.
Maybe I should go for the “normal down-stroke but damped up-stroke” design. The Bluish White do come with some silicone on the bottom of the stem, right? So it is more of a topre-ish experience. Also, only 3.5mm of travel, unfortunately.
The silent Bluish White are definitely worth trialing. Somewhat crisp tactility, and aren’t as mushy as OUTEMU. They feel like a more consistent office rubber-dome, with less uncertainty.
Wouldn’t a longer pole result in earlier bottom-out that hits on the “raw” pole first?
I just received a mildly used set of U4TXes and – so far – I am not sure if I am feeling rubber on the downstroke. It hits less hard than a few other unpamped switches I own, though. Hard to describe.
Other than that, I actually quite like them due to their hybrid nature. The tactility is well balanced, wobble is minimal and the upstroke is nicely muted.
Not bad imo.
I still feel like experimenting with some two stage or progressive springs to give it just a little more bite.
I just realized how short the travel is btw. Only 3mm.
I think I will try the Midnight or Deep Sea next. Probably the Midnight due to the fact that is has less dampenig on the downstroke. Or I could try the Deep Seas and remove the rubber inside. Will lube them anyway. I just hope that removing it won’t interfere with the stem pole length in terms of stability and bottom-out balance.
Here’s a video I took trying to show the bottoming out on the U4TX. Strangely enough, I don’t hear any bottoming out sound when pressing it slowly. Maybe the force I apply isn’t strong enough to compress the silicone to the point that the pole hits the housing.
Maybe someday if we’re lucky though!