Thatâs awesome! At least for me, relative comparisons like this are really helpful. Iâd never heard of the T1 Shrimp - but thanks to your chart there, I have a good idea of what it might be like compared to other switches I have tried.
They are good, but still has the spring and leaf crunch common to Durock T1s. Though I
think I prefer Tacit, which also uses a T1 stem. In terms of price, Shrimp over Tacit as the overall difference is marginal.
Quite curious to see that you ranked Boba U4 as quieter than Aliaz! I have a board with modded Aliaz (Aliaz stem in Cherry black housings, 205g0, 60g) and they are significantly more silent than my Boba U4s. Boba U4s have a thud when bottoming out, while modded Aliaz had none. I should do a sound comparison one day - itâs quiet to the point of being almost unsatisfactory
That said, Boba U4 is the superior switch to me, with much better tactility (Aliaz is pretty weird, where actuation happens after the tactile event instead of during)
the top out doesnât have any silencing so itâs just a regular sounding top out with a silent bottom out. wouldâve been cool to see it be the other way around
Oh wow, I missed this. Sorry if it seems redundant.
Thatâs really interesting about your findings re Aliaz vs Boba! You might be right too, of course. But I feel that the bec Aliaz is less tactile, I might have been bottoming out more. (I bottom out with the force of a thousand storms).
I prefer the harder rubbers (right of graph), and am not a fan of the mushy ones. Please donât hate me. Hahaha
The U4 Boba and Bobagum linear are well-known by now. Less-discussed is the OUTEMU so-called âSilent Skyâ or âSilent Forest.â [Itâs really known as âSilent Tactile / P-bumpâ by Gazzew].
It was let down by its housing in the factory switch (Sky/Forest). Housing was scratchy and out-of-spec. Good tactility, but not well-built. So you have to take the stems and put them in alternate housings. Iâve had good results with MX Clear housings and TTC Gold Brown V2.
You can also use leftover Kailh Polia housings, but I find theyâre not as silent as the above two. People here have used MX Silent Red. They seem to be designed for 62 G, but I prefer 60 G TX 14mm. I lube with 3204. Theyâre meant to be âSilent Ergo Clears,â and you can get something like that with the right housing, lube and spring.
They also work in Boba housings, but because of the higher tactility, need 68 G springs for full-tactility. I prefer Silent Sky over U4, and U4 is a very good switch.
Iâve used the Silent Tactiles in Halo housings and liked them; my buddy daily-drives those. I call them âUnholy Silent Skiesâ because it sounds like a bad Goosebumps book title or something.
I hadnât thought to try them in TTC housings though - Iâll have to check that out when I get finished moving.
Haha, yes. Iâve wanted to use Silent Sky in Halo housings because of that reason. Itâs a good name âUnholy Silent Sky,â better than a lot of the âUnholyâ names, and youâre right, it does sound like a Goosebumps book title.
Still, I get more âshufflingâ and whatnot when using Silent Tactile in those housings, so I havenât build many yet. You probably know what youâre doing and dealt properly with that housing.
The TTC housing is good for silencing. The âtraditionalâ recipe is just to put Silent Tactile in the TTC Gold Brown V2, donât even lube except the spring, since the switch is slightly pre-lubed.
However, I found better results for my own use with 60 G 14mm TX, lubed, and lubing the contact surfaces with 3204. A little more friction, but deeper-sounding. I found TTC Gold Brown V2 housing very âeasyâ and âquietâ with the Silent Tactile stem.
So did I, in my first batch. The second I used Deskeys gaskets (the light-pipes make them super easy to install) and lubed just about everything with 3204 IIRC. I canât remember if I lubed the bump legs or not - but tuning those little guys made a big difference in how clean they sound.
I think this could be accomplished by putting a TTC Silent Brown (or Red if you prefer linear) stem into pretty much any other housing; IIRC, all of TTCâs silents utilize the silicone plugs in the housings for dampening the bottom-out, and bumpers on the top of the stems for the top-out. To make the Bluish White, they put a normal un-dampened stem into one of their existing silent housing bottoms - seems doing the reverse would be just as easy.
I have the Outemu Sky, and itâs probs the most horrible switch so I was not counting on the Silent Sky/Forest to be any good. But both Silent Sky and Silent Gray are actually good!
OUTEMU Sky has an interesting history. The earlier variants of the stem were closest to MX Clear, the switch being an attempt at Ergo Clear. Then, the stem became more of its own thing after revisions.
Of course, the housing was scratchy, with a loud tactile leaf, and sizing was out-of-spec so it could have problems fitting into a PCB.
So it was always a scratchy, wobbly switch. Putting Silent Sky in that housing did a disservice to the stem. But in better housings, the stem shines. Iâm not familiar with Silent Gray, though. Whatâs that like?