The "Quiet Keeb" Black Hole got me, need help.

[Burgermeester]

Disclaimer: I did about 3 days of browsing, so I don't know enough yet, hoping someone here is kind enough to help.

So I have a Razer Huntsman Elite Keyboard which has Linear Mechanical Switches I believe, and as far as I can tel, the noise coming from this keyboard is probably mostly Keycap Noise. However, I am fully aware that this keyboard is not really mod-able, so I want to replace this one in any case.

What sparked this adventure is that I share a workspace with my Fiance, and she recently informed me that my frenetic typing is giving her anxiety (yes I have already bought her some ANC headphones).

I need some advice from some of you guys if any of you have successfully embarked on this Quiet Keyboard Journey, with purchasing from South African vendors for Warranty purposes. I have seen a couple of good options out there but my limited knowledge of this has me a bit confused. Keychron, Varmilo, Akko and Montech are all keyboards I have seen being sold as ready to use keyboards, but none of them are quiet out of the box.

Then I started looking at DIY kits, but soon realised that this might be something that may end up costing me an arm and a leg when I could have just purchased a membrane keyboard for when we are working together.

So... Any help will be appreciated, and just FYI - i don't really want to spend more than R3000 on a keyboard right now, I have a wedding coming up...

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Cavie]

Enjoy.

Keyboard Nut Thread | Tech Other

Hey all! Decided to start a little thread for the keyboard lovers out there. We can discuss new purchases and ideas here? Lets start off by sharing our keeb list: - 60% Poker (eeeeeeh, not too keen.) - Custom ErgoDox. (not working, blueFruit bluetooth issues...) - a few iterations of hand...

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[Jagibbe]

Try out using o-rings, might help with the keycap noise.

Cheap option and you can always use them in the future if you do decide to get a new keyboard.

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carbonite.co.za

 

[Cujo26]

Disclaimer: I did about 3 days of browsing, so I don't know enough yet, hoping someone here is kind enough to help.

So I have a Razer Huntsman Elite Keyboard which has Linear Mechanical Switches I believe, and as far as I can tel, the noise coming from this keyboard is probably mostly Keycap Noise. However, I am fully aware that this keyboard is not really mod-able, so I want to replace this one in any case.

What sparked this adventure is that I share a workspace with my Fiance, and she recently informed me that my frenetic typing is giving her anxiety (yes I have already bought her some ANC headphones).

I need some advice from some of you guys if any of you have successfully embarked on this Quiet Keyboard Journey, with purchasing from South African vendors for Warranty purposes. I have seen a couple of good options out there but my limited knowledge of this has me a bit confused. Keychron, Varmilo, Akko and Montech are all keyboards I have seen being sold as ready to use keyboards, but none of them are quiet out of the box.

Then I started looking at DIY kits, but soon realised that this might be something that may end up costing me an arm and a leg when I could have just purchased a membrane keyboard for when we are working together.

So... Any help will be appreciated, and just FYI - i don't really want to spend more than R3000 on a keyboard right now, I have a wedding coming up...

Thanks in advance for any help.

With linear things there are 2 events that will make a sound - the sound of the switch or keycap bottoming out (usually the switch), and the upstroke of the switch stem hitting the top of the housing. The keycaps, case, plate, desk, everything will affect this sound.

The o-rings suggested earlier in the thread cause quite a mushy feel in my experience. I wouldn't quite recommend them.

One of the best ways to reduce this noise is to get silent switches. The best of these that I have tried are these Gazzew Boba Black U4 Silent

They're tactiles, but they have the best typing feel and are dead silent in my experience. The next recommendation is to stuff the board to the gills with foam to dampen any of the reverberations in the case

I think the Huntsman uses some sort of optical switches, so unfortunately I can't recommend replacements for you really, but you might be able to save some costs on a replacement build if you harvest its keycaps

Edit: This might also be good, it's a rather dense, mostly plastic case which should also help for limiting the reverb in the case Keychron V6 - Barebones Kit

oh and a third recommendation, get someone to tune/lube your stabilisers to stop them rattling, that'll reduce the franticness of the sounds by an order of magnitude

 

[thecurto]

Disclaimer: I did about 3 days of browsing, so I don't know enough yet, hoping someone here is kind enough to help.

So I have a Razer Huntsman Elite Keyboard which has Linear Mechanical Switches I believe, and as far as I can tel, the noise coming from this keyboard is probably mostly Keycap Noise. However, I am fully aware that this keyboard is not really mod-able, so I want to replace this one in any case.

What sparked this adventure is that I share a workspace with my Fiance, and she recently informed me that my frenetic typing is giving her anxiety (yes I have already bought her some ANC headphones).

I need some advice from some of you guys if any of you have successfully embarked on this Quiet Keyboard Journey, with purchasing from South African vendors for Warranty purposes. I have seen a couple of good options out there but my limited knowledge of this has me a bit confused. Keychron, Varmilo, Akko and Montech are all keyboards I have seen being sold as ready to use keyboards, but none of them are quiet out of the box.

Then I started looking at DIY kits, but soon realised that this might be something that may end up costing me an arm and a leg when I could have just purchased a membrane keyboard for when we are working together.

So... Any help will be appreciated, and just FYI - i don't really want to spend more than R3000 on a keyboard right now, I have a wedding coming up...

Thanks in advance for any help.

I’ve been down this exact road and my journey has ended (for now) with a Keychron K2, Redragon Bullet RD-A113QT (quiet tactile) switches and Akko PBT keycaps. It’s as close to silent as possible while still feeling somewhat mechanical.

I also used the Shrimp Tactile switches which were also crazy quiet with a nice tactile bump, but just a bit too heavy for me, so fatigue would start kicking in at the end of a work day.

The Redragon switches surprised me. They are cheap and the build quality is cheap (the pins are paper thin and prone to bending) but the final feel and lack of noise on the board is exactly what I was looking for.

They also make Quiet Linears but you may struggle to find stock of these: Redragon RD-A113QL A113 BULLET 24 Linear Mechanical Keyboard Switches - Peach - Wootware

 

[Burgermeester]

With linear things there are 2 events that will make a sound - the sound of the switch or keycap bottoming out (usually the switch), and the upstroke of the switch stem hitting the top of the housing. The keycaps, case, plate, desk, everything will affect this sound.

The o-rings suggested earlier in the thread cause quite a mushy feel in my experience. I wouldn't quite recommend them.

One of the best ways to reduce this noise is to get silent switches. The best of these that I have tried are these Gazzew Boba Black U4 Silent

They're tactiles, but they have the best typing feel and are dead silent in my experience. The next recommendation is to stuff the board to the gills with foam to dampen any of the reverberations in the case

I think the Huntsman uses some sort of optical switches, so unfortunately I can't recommend replacements for you really, but you might be able to save some costs on a replacement build if you harvest its keycaps

Edit: This might also be good, it's a rather dense, mostly plastic case which should also help for limiting the reverb in the case Keychron V6 - Barebones Kit

oh and a third recommendation, get someone to tune/lube your stabilisers to stop them rattling, that'll reduce the franticness of the sounds by an order of magnitude

This is very helpful advice, thank you for taking the time to respond.

Thank you for mentioning places where I would be able to purchase these items in SA, it makes it so much easier to start figuring out what I want to do. In the time I spent browsing the Keyboard Nut Thread I saw your handle pop up a bunch and your advice is very thorough.

I think the best route would be do build the keyboard using a barebones kit and affordable keycaps using the switches that you have mentioned above, then sell my Huntsman Elite. You are totally right, this keyboard uses something like a combination of mx and optical switches, not sure... But this thing is entirely UN-moddable, so it will have to go.

I saw a bunch of youtube videos where peeps were using all kinds of foam to dampen the sound, also taping the underside of the pcb seems to add to creating a deeper sound.

I am however still very much intimidated by this process as this is my first time tackling this, so I appreciate your input.

@Cujo26 - Do you think it will be more cost effective to buy the barebones kit and DYI'ing, or purchasing a ready keyboard and modding it to suit?

I'm assuming that you have tried multiple different types of switches on the market, inlcuding some of those used in ready to use kits, but using the Gazzer Boba Black U4 Silent's were the most "Silent", so using that and some extra padding and taping the underside should take me almost all the way there.

Then I will just need someone who is a tuning guru. XD

 

[Burgermeester]

I’ve been down this exact road and my journey has ended (for now) with a Keychron K2, Redragon Bullet RD-A113QT (quiet tactile) switches and Akko PBT keycaps. It’s as close to silent as possible while still feeling somewhat mechanical.

I also used the Shrimp Tactile switches which were also crazy quiet with a nice tactile bump, but just a bit too heavy for me, so fatigue would start kicking in at the end of a work day.

The Redragon switches surprised me. They are cheap and the build quality is cheap (the pins are paper thin and prone to bending) but the final feel and lack of noise on the board is exactly what I was looking for.

They also make Quiet Linears but you may struggle to find stock of these: Redragon RD-A113QL A113 BULLET 24 Linear Mechanical Keyboard Switches - Peach - Wootware

Thank you, I will definitely consider this as an option as well.

It seems like the best option at this stage would be to start with a barebones kit either way.

Thank you for the link, I was on the Wootware Keyboards page a few times today.

 

[Burgermeester]

@Cujo26 & @thecurto - Thank you for your feedback on my Post. I was struggling to find a way forward to get started as I am obviously a complete n00b and needed some straight up specific to my case advice.

After a lot of research the best advice I got was "Don't overthink it it" for the first board you build. So I decided to buy a fully assembled Keychron V6 and get some Akko Fairy Silent switches (45pcs) just to get myself started. (All in is under R3000)

It looks like the Keychron V6 is a highly customizable board and I figure it will be the best route for me to actually get started.

From here on I will keep my eye on the Keyboard Nut Thread and post progress and / or questions there.

 

[thecurto]

@Cujo26 & @thecurto - Thank you for your feedback on my Post. I was struggling to find a way forward to get started as I am obviously a complete n00b and needed some straight up specific to my case advice.

After a lot of research the best advice I got was "Don't overthink it it" for the first board you build. So I decided to buy a fully assembled Keychron V6 and get some Akko Fairy Silent switches (45pcs) just to get myself started. (All in is under R3000)

It looks like the Keychron V6 is a highly customizable board and I figure it will be the best route for me to actually get started.

From here on I will keep my eye on the Keyboard Nut Thread and post progress and / or questions there.

I’m guessing you managed to get everything on Takealot? It’s pretty cool to see Akko’s products more readily available.

You should have a great foundation with that board and those switches. I reckon it will be fairly quiet out of the box.

As previously mentioned, you can then look into lubing the stabilisers and maybe switching out the keycaps.

A quick and easy mod is to use the foam that comes with the board for a bit of extra sound dampening. I also find that a desk mat is pretty effective for sound dampening compared to typing directly on a bare desk.

Enjoy the peace and quiet!

 

[Cujo26]

This is very helpful advice, thank you for taking the time to respond.

Thank you for mentioning places where I would be able to purchase these items in SA, it makes it so much easier to start figuring out what I want to do. In the time I spent browsing the Keyboard Nut Thread I saw your handle pop up a bunch and your advice is very thorough.

I think the best route would be do build the keyboard using a barebones kit and affordable keycaps using the switches that you have mentioned above, then sell my Huntsman Elite. You are totally right, this keyboard uses something like a combination of mx and optical switches, not sure... But this thing is entirely UN-moddable, so it will have to go.

I saw a bunch of youtube videos where peeps were using all kinds of foam to dampen the sound, also taping the underside of the pcb seems to add to creating a deeper sound.

I am however still very much intimidated by this process as this is my first time tackling this, so I appreciate your input.

@Cujo26 - Do you think it will be more cost effective to buy the barebones kit and DYI'ing, or purchasing a ready keyboard and modding it to suit?

I'm assuming that you have tried multiple different types of switches on the market, inlcuding some of those used in ready to use kits, but using the Gazzer Boba Black U4 Silent's were the most "Silent", so using that and some extra padding and taping the underside should take me almost all the way there.

Then I will just need someone who is a tuning guru. XD

hey man sorry I missed this post. I can tune the stabilisers for you if you'd like! The SAKB discord asked that I film a tutorial for them, so it would probably be good if I do it on a brand new board

 

[Burgermeester]

I’m guessing you managed to get everything on Takealot? It’s pretty cool to see Akko’s products more readily available.

You should have a great foundation with that board and those switches. I reckon it will be fairly quiet out of the box.

As previously mentioned, you can then look into lubing the stabilisers and maybe switching out the keycaps.

A quick and easy mod is to use the foam that comes with the board for a bit of extra sound dampening. I also find that a desk mat is pretty effective for sound dampening compared to typing directly on a bare desk.

Enjoy the peace and quiet!

Yeah I got everything on Takealot, I know I am supporting the big corpos, but my Randelas only go so far XD

I already have a fairly big deskpad, and I will get some new keycaps in a month or two. For now, I have some work to catch up on, no more online shopping for me now...

I will definitely get the stabilisers tuned so the whole board is nice and quiet!

I'm pretty excited that I have finally pulled the trigger, especially on the Keychron... I was actually in a tech store in Thailand this past December and they had a Keychron board on a desk and I was drooling over it already, so over all I am happy.

 

[Burgermeester]

hey man sorry I missed this post. I can tune the stabilisers for you if you'd like! The SAKB discord asked that I film a tutorial for them, so it would probably be good if I do it on a brand new board

Ah thank you for the offer, very much appreciated. This might be a cool idea to do, will PM you.

 

[FFSRoger]

With linear things there are 2 events that will make a sound - the sound of the switch or keycap bottoming out (usually the switch), and the upstroke of the switch stem hitting the top of the housing. The keycaps, case, plate, desk, everything will affect this sound.

The o-rings suggested earlier in the thread cause quite a mushy feel in my experience. I wouldn't quite recommend them.

One of the best ways to reduce this noise is to get silent switches. The best of these that I have tried are these Gazzew Boba Black U4 Silent

They're tactiles, but they have the best typing feel and are dead silent in my experience. The next recommendation is to stuff the board to the gills with foam to dampen any of the reverberations in the case

I think the Huntsman uses some sort of optical switches, so unfortunately I can't recommend replacements for you really, but you might be able to save some costs on a replacement build if you harvest its keycaps

Edit: This might also be good, it's a rather dense, mostly plastic case which should also help for limiting the reverb in the case Keychron V6 - Barebones Kit

oh and a third recommendation, get someone to tune/lube your stabilisers to stop them rattling, that'll reduce the franticness of the sounds by an order of magnitude

@Cujo26
Hope you're well.
These Gazzew switches, do they affect the LED shine through?
Would I lose the backlighting on my keycaps?

 

[Cujo26]

@Cujo26
Hope you're well.
These Gazzew switches, do they affect the LED shine through?
Would I lose the backlighting on my keycaps?

It depends on how the LEDs are mounted, but in my experience, even if you have SMD LEDs on your PCB, enough light makes it through the gap in the switch that it's not a problem, it might not be quite as bright, though.

The non-silent frosted and clear switches will not have this characteristic, and allow the light through, though.

 

[Burgermeester]

Hey guys, just a quick update - I got my Keychron V6 yesterday and the Akko Fairy Silent switches.

I will wait until next week, a friend will be coming over to help me do some modding to this keyboard, we're looking at replacing the foam liner in the bottom with silicone and tuning the stabilisers to be truly silent.

I must say however - This Keychron is already like 200% better than the previous keyboard I had. I finally understand what all the fuss about "Thock" is about. Even though it isn't silent yet, the sound is so much more pleasing.