this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Mechanical Keyboards
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Are you addicted to the clicking sounds of your beautiful and impressive mechanical keyboard?
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Tactile switches are quiet and have a "bump" (higher force initially before snapping down). Clicky switches are similar but create audible clicking noises. They also dont necessarily snap down the way browns do. If you google the graph for blue vs brown switches you can see a conparison of the forces
Thank you so much for this. I didn't have a clue about the difference.
Yeah, your average rubber dome membrane keyboard is a mushy and awful version of a tactile typing experience. The office clearing noisy board that some people think of when mechanical keyboards are mentioned is a clicky.
The linear don’t have any specific bump you just push and the spring resists and eventually the switch makes a connection and sends the key press.
Seems I prefer tactile. I don't want a click, I want something more bassy. Like a deeper sound? I believe it's called thocc?
For sound, apart from clicky, keyboard and keycaps will have more of an effect on sound, particularly if, like most people, you bottom out while typing. The operational bits of both tactile and linear switches are not inherently all that noisy, though over time people can definitely hear a difference. For "thock," thick PBT keycaps and a board with lots of foam should be a decent start. The terms are notoriously variable though, and Hipyo, fun as he is, is not trying to wow anybody with acoustic science. Stuff the case with, well, stuff (or, these days, buy a board where the factory already has), and you'll get a fairly flat, deep sound profile that is not unpleasant.
Or so I am told, LOL. WTF do I know? I love big dumb loud clickies, the heavier the better.
You've honesty been super helpful and that last sentence actually made me laugh aloud. Thank you.