IntroductionFirst of all, I want to warn you dear colleagues that on this review the keyboard will be compared with many others which I have, including a
CM Storm Trigger,
CM Quick Fire Rapid,
Das Keyboard Model S Professional,
Corsair Vengeance K70,
Thermaltake Meka G-Unit,
Logitech G710+ and
Noppoo Choc Mini.
I'm sorry for the people who are rookies at the mechanical keyboard field, but I won't try to be "least technical as possible". Technical terms from the area will be used, the text will be quite long and I will make references to other mechanical keyboard brands and models during the text, thus I won't be "neutral" as some are. For those who already have mechanical keyboards or understand quite well about the area, even if you won't end up buying a
Matias Mini Quiet Pro, please, read the article for didactic purposes.
Matias History and their keyboards
Matias is a company with 13 years of experience in the mechanical keyboard market, although its CEO,
Edgar Matias, has over 20 years of experience in the keyboard area, including keyboards for handy-capped people, such as the
Matias Half Keyboard (which I believe to be their oldest keyboard) and they sell mechanical keyboards, membrane keyboards, special keyboards and accessories for portable devices.
The first mechanical keyboards from
Matias started being sold in 2002, these being based on the
Apple Extended Keyboard, which was already out of the market and used the
Cream ALPS mechanical switches. The
Apple Extended Keyboard was (and still is) considered by many mechanical keyboard enthusiasts and
Apple fans as "the best keyboard
Apple ever released".
Matias was and still is a company very focused on the
Apple market and shows that on several details on their products. And one of the reasons for that, is because mechanical keyboards only became, once again, popular with PCs in 2007~2009, with the release of gaming mechanical keyboards by brands such as
Steelseries,
Gigabyte,
Razer,
Thermaltake and others.
Matias focuses especially on selling keyboards for professionals (journalists, doctors, lawyers, writers...) and has for competition brands such as
FILCO (and the curious thing is that Diatec, owner of the FILCO brand, is a distributor of
Matias keyboards in Japan),
Leopold,
KBT,
Das Keyboard and doesn't competes directly with gaming brands.
Matias is a veteran company from the mechanical keyboard field and shows their experience by being able to create a switch better than
Cherry MX (up to the point of being copied by them, as on what happened with the
Cherry MX RGB), as well as on the many great ideas implemented into their keyboards.
The
Matias Mini Quiet Pro is currently the best-selling keyboard from
Matias and one of the main reasons is because it promises to be the "
Quietest mechanical keyboard in the market", a promise that is actually true.
Matias Mini Quiet Pro Review
The review will be separated in several segments, including:
- Analysis of the Matias Quiet switch
- External Build
- Internal Build
- Keycaps
- Layout and additional functions
Analysis of the Matias Quiet switch
The switches "
Matias Quiet" and "
Matias Clicky" were based, respectively, on the "
Cream ALPS" and "
White ALPS" switches, but both were heavily modified to allow enhancements.
"So, why only a few people ever heard about the
ALPS switches and why almost no keyboard uses them nowadays?". Simple, the company know as
ALPS, gave up on the mechanical keyboard market around the end of the 90s, due to the popularization of cheap Personal Computers and the ascension of
membrane keyboards due to being far cheaper. The mechanical keyboard market just wasn't being profitable enough for them and
ALPS was getting more money from other applications such as creating and selling mechanisms and switches for cars, electronics, computer mice and even consoles (the RESET button on the Super Nintendo was made by
ALPS). Anyways, both for
ALPS as well as for
Cherry, the mechanical keyboard market is only the "
tip of the iceberg".
And due to this reason,
ALPS sold their rights over the production and sales of their switches to the factory that produced them, which was called "
FUHUA", and although
membrane keyboards and the necessity of cheaper PCs was one of the reasons why the
ALPS switches weren't used anymore (though they were the market leader during 80s and start of 90s, DELL and Apple being some of their biggest customers), what really did actually "kill" the
ALPS switches was
FUHUA themselves.
Even having the rights over the switches,
FUHUA unfortunately never put much of an effort into selling them. They never had even a single web-page, they rarely promoted their switches to other brands, they didn't invest in marketing nor research for creating new switches, their designs didn't allowed backlighting and although their switches were better than the
ALPS Clones, their quality wasn't really all that much. Basically,
FUHUA only filled orders from existing customers and constantly
threatened to stop making their switches.
Matias was one of
FUHUA's few customers, using the
Cream ALPS and
White ALPS switches on their keyboards sold in between 2003 up until 2012, year on which
FUHUA stopped producing
ALPS switches.
But that wasn't the end of it. After years and years selling mechanical keyboards and many variations of their keyboards,
Matias in 2010 decided to bet on something new and took 2 years to achieve it. They created two new switches, being based on the
Cream ALPS and
White ALPS switches, but modifying these to enhance aspects such as tactile feedback, allowing backlight (which wasn't possible on the original
ALPS switches, only on their clones and by removing the click mechanism out of the switch) and even creating a mechanism to decrease the noise generated by the switch, a mechanism used on the "
Matias Quiet" switch, which is currently the
quietest mechanical switch in the market and their biggest seller.
Also, the
Matias switches were the
first mechanical switches to allow RGB backlighting, since they're transparent (yes,
Cherry and
Kailh copied this idea over from
Matias) and this allows them to use backlighting systems similar or equal to the ones used in backlit membrane keyboards.
Switch Modifications and RepairsA great advantage that the
Matias switches bring over from the old
ALPS switches, is that these are incredibly easy to open, repair and modify if necessary. This is also possible with
Cherry MX keyboards, but the keyboard needs to be "
PCB-Mounted", which unfortunately isn't very common due to how
plate-mounted keyboards are more popular (especially due to the extra weight and how they feel).
Credits to Shaun Tan (http://www.youtube.com/user/undarken) for the videoMost of the mechanical keyboards found in the market (and basically any gaming mechanical keyboard) is
plate-mounted, and thus it's not possible to do the same as seen on the video above, it's necessary to remove the switches soldering to repair or replace them.
And why would anyone want to open the switch? Well, besides the modification possibilities (ex: placing a heavier spring on the space bar), this can be something very interesting in case you spill soda/beer/juice over your keyboard. If the keyboard is
plate-mounted, the best option is to replace the
Cherry MX switch (and thus you need to know something about soldering). Now, when the keyboard is
PCB-Mounted, you can open the
Cherry MX switch, clean its internals, lube the spring, place it back and it should respond as it did before or even better.
But, the same doesn't applies to
Matias and
ALPS switches. You can open the switch easily regardless if it's
plate-mounted or
PCB-Mounted by using two small screwdrivers.
Credits to Ripster for the pictures (http://ripster.imgur.com)CompatibilityAnother point that was considered by
Matias, was that their switches can and will be used by other brands. And thus, a new problem is born, is there a way to use the same project, PCB and controller with
Cherry MX (or
MX RGB) and
Matias switches? Yes.
The
Matias switches were designed to be compatible with
Cherry switches, because they can use one of the holes used by
Cherry MX as a hole from which the backlighting can go through (a concept that was later copied by
Cherry). With some proper modification to the PCB, as seen on the Duck Keyboards, it can be done:
Credits to matt3o for the picture (http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/duckmini-v2-korean-custom-t6610.html)SilenceOne of the main features and selling points of the
Matias Quiet Pro and
Matias Mini Quiet Pro is something quite simple and that many wished they could have on their mechanical keyboards: silence.
The
Matias Quiet switch was designed from the start to be quiet, unlike
Cherry MX switches, on which you can use
o-rings to lower the noise a bit, but it doesn't reaches the same level as
Matias Quiet and not everyone likes the difference on the feedback that these rubber bands can do (myself included).
Comparing it to other kinds of keyboards, the noise level that
Matias Quiet switches produce is a bit similar to
scissor-switches membrane keyboards, which are the ones used on low-profile
Apple keyboards and Laptop keyboards.
Simply listening to sound recordings or reading text is not enough to prove anything regarding how quieter
Matias Quiet switches are compared to
Cherry MX, it is necessary to analyze the sounds created by each one through graphics and comparing the amplitude and frequencies generated by each. Thus, to test whether or not the
Matias Quiet are more silent, we recorded 10 seconds of typing using different switches and checked out the results. The recordings used on this test were made using a "
Zoom H2" digital recorder, positioned around 30 cm above each keyboard with the help of a support. A +14.0 dB gain was applied on each of the recording so that the graphs could be easier to understand.
Also, please don't mind that the interface on the software is in Brazilian Portuguese, this review was originally made in Brazilian Portuguese.But before analyzing the audio, let's establish that:
MX Brown =
GREENMX Blue =
BLUEMatias Quiet =
REDKeyboards used:Razer Blackwidow Ultimate (2009 model, iOne) =
Cherry MX BlueDas Keyboard Model S Professional (old Costar model) =
Cherry MX BrownMatias Mini Quiet Pro =
Matias QuietAmplitude AnalysisFirst, let's compare first the
Cherry MX Brown with the
Matias Quiet switch:
On the graphs it's possible to analyze that the
Matias Quiet is several times more quiet than the
MX Brown switch, the main difference being noticed on how much noise the
spacebar produces, which reaches some very high levels on
Cherry MX keyboards, especially the ones with
Costar Stabilizers. On
Matias Quiet keyboards, the sound of the
spacebar is far quieter, it's not even possible to recognize when people press it.
The same can be verified comparing the
Matias Quiet switch with the
MX Blue switch.
And as an extra, the comparison between
Cherry MX Blue and
Cherry MX Brown:
It's interesting to notice that the
spacebar is the main cause for noise at
Cherry MX keyboards and although the amplitude looks just about the same between
Cherry MX Brown and
Cherry MX Blue, what changes between them is the frequencies which are generated. Simplifying what I'll show you guys next, the
Cherry MX Blue makes a "click" sound, the
Cherry MX Brown makes a "clack" sound and the
Matias Quiet makes a "tock" sound.
Frequency AnalysisCherry MX Blue:It's possible to verify that the high frequncies (above 7000 Hz) are very loud on Cherry MX Blue switches, especially due to their click mechanism. The low frequency sounds are normally caused by the impact of the key reaching its end and doesn't propagates nor is it irritating (for others) like the high frequency sounds caused by the
MX Blue.
Cherry MX Brown:The amplitude of low frequency signals on the
Cherry MX Brown is almost identical to the
MX Blue, although, the medium frequencies and especially the high frequencies are much lower, making the switch more silent (or at least acceptable to others) than
Cherry MX Blue.
Matias QuietOn the
Matias Quiet switch it's very easy to see not only a decrease in the maximum amplitude (which decreases from -39 to -42 dBs), but also at the low frequencies, medium frequencies and
especially high frequency signals. The sound of typing on the
Matias Quiet is a muffled sound, a really quiet sound which has almost no high frequency signals and it's very comfortable to use in places where there are many people since it's actually even quieter than many membrane keyboards.
Typing and GamingThe writer of this article, as owner of two keyboards with
Cherry MX Brown switches and having a preference for this switch amongst the other popular
Cherry MX switches, thought that the
Matias Quiet was similar to
Cherry MX Brown. And I was immensely mistaken. There's a huge difference between something that's
really similar and two things that have only a few characteristics in common (ex: both the Ferrari Enzo and the Mazda MX-5 have 4 wheels and an engine).
The
Matias switch has an activation right at the start of the key (and not at the middle like
Cherry MX or at the end like
membrane) and a
very, very, very well defined tactile feedback. The
Cherry MX Brown's "bump" isn't felt most of the times, reason why the key is a lot similar to
Cherry MX Red, but on the
Matias Quiet switch it's impossible not to feel the tactile bump. Hell, the tactile feedback can be even felt on the
upstroke (the process of removing your finger from a key you pressed and it returning to its original state).
After pressing the key and going through the tactile bump, the resistance which existed earlier disappears, the only remaining resistance comes from the switch's spring, which isn't much and didn't make my fingers hurt after long sessions of FPS games, something that happens when I play using keyboards with
Cherry MX Black. I played
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon right on the first day that the keyboard arrived and I really enjoyed how it felt, besides being also awesome to type on.
But, I can understand that the
Matias Quiet switch may not be for all. Those who have a preference for the
Cherry MX Red switch may not enjoy the
Matias Quiet switch due to its strong tactile feedback. But for those that already use switches such as
MX Black, MX Blue and
MX Brown, I really recommend you to try this switch.
External Build
Opening this keyboard was extremely easy, there's only two screws in total, the rest is held on by plastic locks. And fortunately, these aren't cheap plastic locks as the ones you will find on
Das Keyboard and
Logitech G710+ keyboards and thus didn't broke (almost all plastic locks of my
Das Keyboard are broken). They're actually quite similar to the plastic locks used by the CM Storm Trigger and the
Matias Mini Quiet Pro was purposely made this way so that modifications and maintenance would become an easy task.
Matias keyboards are made using
Polycarbonate Plastic, a stronger plastic compared to the common
ABS used on most mechanical keyboards (and also costs more). It's the same material used on American Football helmets and helmets used by Motorcyclists.
Anyways, if someone asked me which keyboard looks more resistant between a
Corsair Vengeance K70 and a
Matias Quiet Pro, although it would be a surprise for many, I will say that the
Matias is more resistant.
Although, most of you should have already noticed my fingerprints all over the keyboard. Yes, it has a
glossy finish, both inside and outside since it's a characteristic of the plastic itself (there isn't any painting on it whatsoever). This, is the detail I disliked the most on it, but the reason for that, according to Edgar Matias, is that the keyboard wouldn't sell well if the
Mac version used a white matte finish and both versions need to have the same kind of finish.
But a good thing to know, is that
Matias plans on releasing PC Models using a black matte finish, similar to the one on this image:
Credits for the picture goes to Aaron Frost, "furosuto81" from Geekhack (geekhack.org/index.php?topic=49920.msg1088247#msg1088247)Another detail shown by the back picture of the keyboard, is that it has a very small amount of rubber to keep it in place, thus it's not difficult to end up moving it around the table (and the glossy finish helps that happen). The height adjustment feet also have no rubber.
Cables and ConnectorsI'm not one to comment much about cables and talk wonders about nylon-coated cables nor about gold-plated USB connectors (most of which are just marketing bull**** that companies make up, it doesn't matters if the external shielding is made out of gold, silver, steel or brass, the only thing that matters is the internal connectors that touch each other when you plug it into a USB slot).
But it's undeniable that there was an extreme care from
Matias so that the keyboard could be portable and wouldn't break due to an extremely fragile connector or cable, as on what happens with keyboards such as Rosewill RK 9000, CM Storm Trigger, CM Quick Fire Rapid and many others which use the mini-USB connector.
The first and most important decision that
Matias took was NOT to use the
mini-USB standard, but the
micro-USB plug:
Some could even think, "Doesn't this makes it harder to find a replacement cable?". Yes, a little bit, but the
micro-USB connector is used by many cellphones and for a good reason: It is
far more stronger and durable than the
mini-USB and thus lasts longer without breaking.
Unfortunately on the mechanical keyboard field it's not rare to see keyboards where the
mini-USB plug broke, reason why it's considered as being a strong point (since it makes the keyboard more portable) as well as a weak point (since it can easily break). But the same doesn't happens with the
micro-USB, which is quite sturdy and won't break easily.
The second decision, was instead of including a single cable with the keyboard,
Matias includes two cables, one with 3.28 Feet (1 meter) and the other one with 6.56 Feet (2 meters).
And why would they do that? Backup cable? No. That wasn't the reason for it.
The reason why
Matias includes two cables is because they know the keyboard will be used in several places and a 6.56 Feet (2 meters) cable could be a hassle if someone is trying to use the keyboard on a Laptop. Besides that,
Matias also used a special connector on the 3.28 Feet (1 meter) cable:
Yes, this is a USB 2.0 cable that
works on both sides, there's no "wrong side", just like also happens on the recently released USB 3.1 standard.
"But then, if it was already possible to make USB 2.0 plugs like that, then why no one else does?" The answer is simple:
US$ 0.54. More specifically, a common USB plug with only a single side costs
US$ 0.06, while the double-sided USB plug costs
US$ 0.60. As long as this difference in cost exists, you can be sure that no one will use this kind of USB plug and
Matias was the first company I've ever seen using one.
Another excelent idea was to make the cable's plug in a "L" shape:
And this kind of shape brings two advantages compared to the straight cables:
- It lowers the risk of the USB plug breaking.
- It makes it possible for the user to easily organize the cable in case your keyboard is close to your monitor.
Although those who have their computers on their
right side may end up having some complications since the 6.56 Feet (2 Meters) cable may not be enough to reach the computer.
Internal Build
By opening up the keyboard and removing its plastic covers, it's possible to see its steel plate, the keyboard's controller at the top (which is removable), the PCB and its USB HUBS at the top.
A picture of the top cover without the keyboard's controller.
The keyboard's PCB. Here it's possible to see that the PCB has a very simple design, there's signs showing the switches, its circuits are easy to understand, there's not much cleaning residue on it and there are writings at the top (with black marker) showing that the keyboard went through a QC test before being assembled and sold.
Following, a close-up picture of the PCB, showing a little bit of the cleaning residue (do not worry about it, these white stains are harmless) and also the keyboard's soldering, on which there's no excess nor lack and it also has a
shiny aspect, which is a characteristic of well applied soldering.
And to wrap it all up, the keyboard's controller, which is removable to allow repairs in case something happens (simply replacing it could solve problems in case they happened).
KeycapsFirst of all, for those who don't know,
keycaps are that plastic piece with something written on top of it, also called by most as "keys", although the term "keys" isn't very specific, as it may apply to the mechanism underneath the keycaps as well.
Evaluating the quality of the
keycaps consists on two things: Its
material and its
lettering (or painting).
First, its material, its surface, if the keycap feels confortable to touch or not, the plastic quality and knowing whether or not it will break only because you tried to remove the keycap, as on what happened with the first keycap on this picture:
On the picture above, the keycaps and keyboards are:
- Logitech G710+ (
Solid Year)
- Thermaltake eSports Meka G-Unit (
i-Rocks)
- Metadot Das Keybord Model S Professional (
Costar, keycaps from a Taiwanese supplier)
- Corsair K70 (
Solid Year)
- CM Storm Trigger (
Costar, keycaps from a Taiwanese supplier)
All of which are ABS plastic keycaps, but there are several quality levels even when it comes to ABS.
Second, its
lettering, how the lettering is printed into the key, what kind of materials and methods are used (ex: UV Coating) and if the key wears off over time and how fast that happens. I believe no one wants to buy an expensive keyboard so that the keys wear off like these:
Many of the keyboards on the pictures above are very expensive. But that's not a reason to demotivate people from buying nice keyboards (which may or not be expensive) but it's a reason for them to seek more details regarding the keyboard to see if its lettering is good or not.
And in the case of the Matias Mini Quiet Keyboard, the keycaps are excellent. The keycaps come from the same Taiwanese supplier as used on
FILCO,
Ducky Shine II, II,
Das Keyboard (old models),
CM Storm Quick Fire Rapid, Stealth, XT and
Trigger. Besides Edgar Matias admitting that himself, another proof is the plastic used and the molding mark on the rear of the keycap.
Anyways, although they may come from the same supplier that doesn't exactly means they're exactly the same (it just means they use the same plastic).
FILCO keycaps for an example use an UV-Coating over the keys to prevent wearing over time, but that UV-Coating itself may wear over time, making it look like the keycap is actually made of low-quality material, which isn't really true.
The keycaps used on the
Matias Mini Quiet Pro are high quality laser etched ABS keycaps (with no UV coating) and the lettering looks really nice, although only time can show if the lettering is really resistant or not.
Layout and Additional Features
One of the first things you readers must have noticed when you opened this topic, is the "weird" layout of the
Matias Mini Quiet Pro:
The keyboard has a layout called "75%", which represents its size in percentage compared to a
full-sized keyboard (with number pad, this would be the "100%" and it's the most common kind of keyboard in the market). The
MMQP has a layout a bit smaller than TKL (tenkeyless, without numberpad) keyboards through the removal of a few keys and others that were moved.
It may seem strange to many, but compact keyboards such as the
Matias Mini Quiet Pro,
CM Quick Fire Rapid/Stealth,
Noppoo Choc Mini,
KBT Race,
Razer Blackwidow Tournament and many others are better to use because they decrease the distance between the keyboard and the mouse, making it easier to move your hands between these and making it more comfortable to use. Also, it leaves more space available on your desk.
But, the
Matias Mini Quiet Pro has some details that most of the other mechanical keyboards don't, such as having "Page Up" and "Page Down" instead of "Delete" and "Insert" and the key "Delete" is at the top right of the keyboard, similar to how it is on some laptops.
Another detail, is that the arrow keys aren't in the same place as on others and some keys are only accessible by using the FN key, which is located above the right arrow key. Does this layout makes the keyboard bad? No, that's what makes it so great.
Although on the first weeks I made a few mistakes, the layout of the
MMQP makes a lot of sense, since after all, while the
Page Up and
Page Down aren't exactly at the same place as on others, they're still on the same area, while the
Delete key is on the same place as it is on many laptop keyboards which most of us are used to. Same goes for the arrow keys, which are also similar to the layout of laptops.
I confess, I pressed by mistake the FN key a few times on the first week, but it was easy to adapt to how its layout is after using it for some time.
FN Key LayerOne thing is unfortunately true: There's no lack of bad usage of the FN key on keyboards sold in the market, there were plenty of
retarded ideas as on where to place the FN key, up to the point of making people
hate such key. And there's no lack of such examples:
The most common thing, is to
obligate the user to use both hands in a movement that's not really confortable to press the FN key (located either at the left side or right side of the spacebar) and then press a key located on the function row (F1, F2, F3, F4...) to execute a multimedia function, control the backlight or open up a certain software (ex: calculator).
But lets be honest, are we happy with that? Do we want to remove both our hands, including the one you're holding the mouse with, just to press two keys to lower or increase the volume? No, and that's one of the reasons why so many people want a keyboard with specific keys for multimedia and/or features such as
volume knobs or
volume scrolls that can regulate the volume on the keyboard.
And let's also analyze one thing, as example we'll use the
CM Quick Fire Rapid with a FN key at the right side of the spacebar and a FN Layer on the function keys.
Tell me, does it makes sense to press the FN key and F5 to pause a song? F6 to stop it? F7 and F8 to skip or go back a song? F10 to mute the sound and F11/F12 to decrease or increase the volume? No, it doesn't makes much sense and that's the reason why you need to look at the keyboard to use the FN key. Besides, you must remove your left hand from the left side of the keyboard and use it to press the function keys while your right hand holds the FN key. And that's just a hassle, no one wants to do that.
One of the few
good design rules that I learned and companies such as
Apple follow strictly is that "
A good design explains itself". A good design must make sense and the user must be able to understand how to proceed without consulting a manual or making some sort of mumbo-jumbo so that it can work.
But now, let's go back to the
Matias Mini Quiet ProLet's think this way: Does it makes sense to use your right index finger to press the
Up and
Down arrow keys to decrease the volume while your right middle finger hold the FN key? You barely need to remove your hand from the mouse and you can already press them, it's extremely easy and fast to get used to.
Does it makes sense to press the FN key and
ESC key to pause a song? Does it makes sense to press the FN Key and
Page Up or
Page Down keys to get the
Home and
End keys?
Although it may look weird at first glance, the FN system and layer used on the
MMQP is far easier to press and to understand than in other keyboards,
its combinations make sense, reason why on the second week of use I was already used to the FN layer and using the FN key far more than I ever did with any of my other keyboards, without even having to look at the keyboard to do that. Honestly, this was a fantastic and well planned idea, better than any other keyboard with FN layer I've used.
