I second @Extra_Fox’s recommendation. I’ve got a HHKB Pro 2 Type S and a Leopold FC980C with Silence-X rings. The Leopold feels much more sturdy and complete as a package, plus with the silencing rings and steel plate, it has a much more muted sound profile compared to the HHKB.
This might be a contrarian opinion to many, but I found the Switch and Click videos on Topre (Realforce and HHKB) to be rather accurate for describing a general user’s experience with Topre.
That said, I’m replying this with the HHKB that I daily drive. It’s a great and fun keyboard, but it’s also not for everyone. I think it’s great for those who enjoy a nice tactile feedback when typing, and also particularly enjoying the Topre sound
I don’t really like quiet keyboards (my current favorites are Zeal Clickiez) and I like Alps which are much louder than MX in most instances. That is why I said I think I’d prefer a HHKB Pro (not Type-S).
I will continue down the Topre journey because I do sense the potential here. Feels like exploring a whole new world.
45 G Topre is pretty ho-hum, and 35 G Niz is almost linear, as you say.
The distinct Topre for tactility-lovers is 55 G Realforce. 55 G is in a world of its own. It still has the normal Topre keypress and bump profile, but it’s much thicker and richer.
I have tried sample BKE domes, but they have a ‘light-switch’ tactility: it’s either ON or OFF. WHAM. I don’t think that is good typing ergonomics, personally. Real Topre is more like a piano, even at 45 G.
FC660C might appeal to you, as their 45 G is fairly heavy, more like 50 G in my experience. But my first recommendation to you would be 55 G Realforce. As others have indicated, the RGB Topre keyboard you bought is considered far from the best. The sliders aren’t as stable, I think, and the sound is worse.
Real impressive are the MX-stem 55 G Realforce keyboards. They often mount MT3 like dev/tty or Serika. That leads to a very premium-feeling keyboard overall.
I was very underwhelmed at first when I bought a Realforce a year or two back. Kinda a “what’s the hype about” reaction. But I kept using it and found after a couple weeks that I was more accurate and that the experience was a little more fun than most of my mx boards. BKE super lights really enhanced things too.
The trouble was row stagger, as it causes me quite a lot of pain. So I’m back on mx + ortho until an ortho electro-capacitive option is easily obtainable.
LOL I was just going to write that. Deskey parts are a bit expensive.
Planning on making a simple Topre tester to try out different Deskey domes. Something like this image (needs a little refinement). The testers on eBay/Etsy seem to be glued together and not ideal for my purposes.
