Silent MX-style tactiles

Top row from left: Outemu Silent Forest, Zilents, Aqua Zilents, Aliaz

Middle row: Gateron Silent Brown, Gazzew Boba U4, Tacit., T1 Shrimp

Bottom row: Outemu Silent Gray, Kailh Silent Box Brown, Bushi, TTC Bluish White

Added a mushiness versus noise level graph.

Your mileage may vary, of course!
.


27 Likes

That’s awesome! At least for me, relative comparisons like this are really helpful. I’d 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.

On that note - what do you think of them? :shrimp:

2 Likes

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.

1 Like

@keyves wow this is really cool! Just as @HungerMechanic and I were just talking about silent tactiles over on this thread Topre/Nopre for a Boba U4 user - #27 by HungerMechanic

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 - it’s 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)

2 Likes

Can the TTC Bluish White really be the loudest of the lot? :thinking:

the top out doesn’t have any silencing so it’s just a regular sounding top out with a silent bottom out. would’ve been cool to see it be the other way around

1 Like

Only because it’s only half-silent (bottom out), so the return clack is really noticeable compared to others.

2 Likes

Yes!

Oh wow, I missed this. Sorry if it seems redundant.

That’s 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 don’t hate me. Hahaha

1 Like

I second deadeye here. love these relative comparison charts. now you got me curious about those outemu silents D:

4 Likes

The OUTEMU silents are a bouquet of delicacies.

Well, not really, since there’s only 3 of them.

But those 3 are really good.

The U4 Boba and Bobagum linear are well-known by now. Less-discussed is the OUTEMU so-called “Silent Sky” or “Silent Forest.” [It’s really known as “Silent Tactile / P-bump” 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. I’ve had good results with MX Clear housings and TTC Gold Brown V2.

You can also use leftover Kailh Polia housings, but I find they’re 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. They’re meant to be “Silent Ergo Clears,” 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.

3 Likes

I’ve used the Silent Tactiles in Halo housings and liked them; my buddy daily-drives those. I call them “Unholy Silent Skies” because it sounds like a bad Goosebumps book title or something.

I hadn’t thought to try them in TTC housings though - I’ll have to check that out when I get finished moving.

2 Likes

Haha, yes. I’ve wanted to use Silent Sky in Halo housings because of that reason. It’s a good name “Unholy Silent Sky,” better than a lot of the “Unholy” names, and you’re right, it does sound like a Goosebumps book title.

Still, I get more ‘shuffling’ and whatnot when using Silent Tactile in those housings, so I haven’t build many yet. You probably know what you’re doing and dealt properly with that housing.

The TTC housing is good for silencing. The ‘traditional’ recipe is just to put Silent Tactile in the TTC Gold Brown V2, don’t 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 ‘easy’ and ‘quiet’ with the Silent Tactile stem.

1 Like

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 can’t remember if I lubed the bump legs or not - but tuning those little guys made a big difference in how clean they sound.

1 Like

Me three! Huge thanks @keyves. Pretty sweet.

2 Likes

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 TTC’s 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 it’s 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!

1 Like

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. I’m not familiar with Silent Gray, though. What’s that like?

1 Like

It has rounder tactility than the Sky Stem. The housing and the leaf are like refined version of the Sky. Most boring colourway though. Ahahah.

1 Like

Oooh, smart. I think i’ma do that