News Das Keyboard goes silent with MX Red switch

Still comes with a dodgy font and greasetastic glossy finish. Plenty of better options out there, especially if you live in the UK as it's squarely in the Filco price bracket. Loads of cheaper keyboards that I'd say are better than this too.

Also, anyone who is expecting reds to be quiet when they get this thing is in for a surprise. Browns tend to be quieter as you have to bottom out on reds to type with any speed, because they're linear. Despite this, I notice the Das site is slathered with a generous helping of the word 'tactile' anyway. It's almost like they don't know anything about what they're selling. Fancy that.

EDIT: We do appreciate the article though, I personally would love Bit-tech to feature keyboards more often.

 

I'll echo Yslen's sentiment that it's nice to hear about keyboards on Bit.... but if your MX Browns are clicking at all then they aren't MX Browns

Reds are essentially identical to browns without the subtle tactile bump at the actuation point - there is no additional noise. Blues, greens and whites* are constructed differently with a secondary slider which pops down as you pass the actuation point, giving a click which sound a bit like a ping-pong ball bouncing on the table. Reds, blacks, browns, clears and greys do not feature this secondary slider, and as such all sound largely identical.

*Whites (which are rare in the wild) reportedly feature a slightly softer click than the traditional blue/green one.

 

Pressed gently, reds are definitely quieter due to the slight click from the brown switch.

My point was that when you're typing fast on reds you can't help but bottom out because there's no bump to let you know when to stop. This means browns end up being quieter, at least for me, because I'm not hammering the keys into the desk all the time. They encourage a gentle touch!

Having said that, do Das use dampening to reduce noise? If so the reds may well be quieter, though I'm not sure they'll feel very nice :/

 

If you can hear a click from the tiny tactile bump on browns then you've got substantially better hearing than me (not beyond the realms of possibility). Like you I've owned most switches and blues/greens are the only ones which make any tangibly different sound - because they are designed to.

O-rings are the only think you can really use to help with the bottoming out sound, but it is almost impossible to cure the clunk of the keyswitch returning to its starting point.

One thing I will say about the sound of mechanical keyboards is that the sound varies hugely from typist to typist (bottoming out vs not), and the construction of the keyboard (PCB vs plate mounted switches, case material) and the keycaps (thin ABS vs thick PBT/doubleshot ABS) make a huge difference even when using identical switches.

 

Yslen, you must have some seriously good hearing as I actually get more noise from the keys returning to full spring extension than hitting the tactile point. I can only just hear it in the office with my ear to the keyboard as I press it! I definitely make more noise typing on reds, enough so that I'm putting a set of silicon o rings on the keyboard at home.

 

Hmm, I feel some science coming on. My G80 (reds) is much much louder than my Ducky (browns).

I can definitely hear the tactile point as I pass it with the brown switches, which is a soft, low click. The 'reset' sound is also reasonably loud.

On the reds, the reset noise is slightly louder, I guess because I push them down further so the spring is compressed further and pushes back with more force? That or the keycaps are making the difference. The sound of bottoming out on the reds is much louder than anything I do with the browns. It's really, loud.

Could be the resonant properties of my desk, I suppose?

Still, Das are advertising their keyboard as whisper quiet. For the kinds of people they're marketing it to, it won't be, as they're coming from rubber domes.

I'd say browns are the quietest to type on because you can easily avoid bottoming out. It's possible with reds of course, which makes them really quiet, but personally my WPM drops to about 30 doing that as I struggle to pull off after the key actuates. I really have to concentrate to manage it!

 

Y'all need to get some silenced Topre goodness to truly understand quiet keyboards.

 

I love keyboard science. I also have an illness. Sat afore me are three Cherry G80-3000 with reds, greens and blues, a Ducky Zero with blues and a Ducky G2 Pro with reds. I have only recently sold the Ducky Shine 2 with browns. I don't like MX blacks though, I'm not working on a till! No more now though, I'm bordering on bankruptcy.

 

Maybe we should have a Wilts / Hants meet up...

 

I'm up for that

Have to get it in quick though, I've promised to sell off all but the G2 to raise some funds

 

What are you saving for?

 

My OH is unemployed at the minute so we're trying not to go into (more) debt. So food and fuel basically