Need a new keyboard

Greetings level 1.

I come to you in need of assistance.
I’m looking to purchase a new keyboard because my current one, a turtle beach impact, is way too loud with its cherry blue switches.
I love the feeling of the blues, but when the GF came into the office to get ear plugs so she could sleep, it was my cue to get a quieter keyboard.

I use my keyboard for typing and some casual gaming.

My requirements are as follows

  • ISO layout
  • TKL
  • No Cherry Red or similar switches

Thanks in advance.

Browns?

Those are acceptable if they are not too loud.

they have a bump but no click

I find the combination of bottoming out and clicking being the issue with my blues, probably the former making most noise.
The space bar is especially loud, maybe some browns with o-rings could work.

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backlight or no

Prefer no, but don’t care if I can turn it off.

I have browns with o rings.
They’re still too loud. I had to buy a cheap low profile Bluetooth keyboard so my ex could sleep at night while I typed away.

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Well shit…

The Logitech romer G seems pretty quiet, anyone got them?

I don’t like when people review keyboards and say they’re quiet. I don’t believe that. Like, try typing in the other room while your girlfriend is asleep and then say if it’s quiet or not. That would be a proper test…

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This is the benchmark I need.

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Internally senced switches. Not sure if there are any boards with tactile ones built in, I modded mine swapping In Zilents, clears with silencing built in.

But the big thing I find is the sounds passed through to the table. A board itself only makes sharp clicks and clacks but the desk it is on will make it bassy and travel. A desk matt or towel helps a lot with this. Rubber feet not so much, you need something that will deaden the sou d and the rubber feet are solid enough that they just make a nice thump.

From my experience, the sound and loudness of a keyboard is least influenced by the switch.
The biggest factor is the case. I cut up a mousepad and put that behind the PCB of my Blackwiddow v2. this Dampened the sound considerably. For bottoming out, O-Rings might be an option. Also, cheap thin caps tend to produce louder noise (and higher pitched, which always seems louder).

If you want a mechanical keyboard, build quality and caps are important. But even more so, is typing technique. I bottom out too, but avoiding this is where most of the benefit will be. A friend got silent Reds. Those are among the most quiet switches i’ve heard. They are still mechanical switches that, depending on the board, will produce significant noise on bottoming out.

So, if it’s for typing and Office work, i’d recommend the Logitech K800. It’s not mechanical. I use that at work now over my MX-Board. It’s really tactile, feels consistent and is dead silent. For writing and Office work i prefer it over any mechanical board.

For gaming, i’d look into the ducky boards, maybe a leopold or a pok3r. All of those are well build and available with most cherry(clone) switches. Choose your size and switch and you’re done.

Also, Matias makes Alps style switches. Their quiet-click variant is actually really quiet. It’s much, much more tactile than you might be acustomed to from cherry style switches. They where to tactile for me, but if you can handle that, they are an excellent option. Boards are rarer though. Not sure what’s available to you.

Finally, if you want membrane quiet with a more “mechanical” travel and caps, a Topre board might be for you. The HHKB for example. They are expensive, but those that tried them find it hard to go back. And if mechanical feel plus quiet is your requirement, Topre is hard to beat.

Edit:

Yes, i’ve got the G910 Orion Spark (now owned by the wife). Decent board. The Romer G’s take more force than Cherry Red or Blue. Mine felt a little scratchy. They are quieter than most cherrys. But still mechanical. So bottoming out will still Produce some noise. Especially since the G910 isn’t the best build board there is. Not sure on the other Romer Boards though.

If gaming + just quieter than cherry blues is the requirement, i can recommend them. If typing or dead silent is needed, i’d maybe look elsewhere.

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I use browns, they are pretty good. And don’t have any artificial clicks. You can also put o-rings on them if you want.

well fek

I mean, for typing the brown switches are like Neutrogena for the hands. they’re just not quiet.

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had to duck that

At least quieter than most MX switches, I think.

Well, if you don’t bottom them out, they can be. Compared to the other Cherry MX switches, yes. They’re quieter. But they’re still loud.
Ok, so I was wrong. Reds and blacks are quieter as they don’t have a bump with reds being easier to click. Blues and greens have a click with greens being a bit heavier to click, whites are basically heavier browns.
@anon46267848 you can buy a tester for a few Euros from various companies to try all the switches and see which ones you like the most, but the problem there is that you don’t have the space bar and enter on them.
I’d go to a hardware store like MediaMarkt, Saturn or similar if you have something near there and try out a few keyboards to get somewhat of a feel for them.
Lemme find my tester,…found it. I’ve compared the brown directly from the tester to the ones on my keyboard and the difference is quite obvious.

Nice, I didn’t think of this, my ikea desk is definitely resonating a lot of the sound.

I have a tester with the same buttons as that picture.
Reds and blacks is a no go, blue and green is too loud.

And what @domsch1988 said is very true too. I personally have not done it yet but still have plans… oh the eternal plans… To modify my boards further and put dampening in some of the cases too, it does help a lot.

So if your handy with a screwdriver and a pair or scissors/boxcutter it is a no risk mod, no soldering or anything like that. That and a deskmatt/towel would go a very long way.

I’ll definitely get a desk pad, but still wanna get a new keyboard to avoid the clickly blues.

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