Keycap sound

[Agarito]

Hey guys,

I'm a noob when it comes to keyboards; been using a majestouch mx brown for the last 5 years. Lately, my interest in kaycaps has been sparked and i have been looking to replace my keycaps (about a 3rd of my keycaps have worn to the point where you cannot see or identify the letter). What material/type of keycaps produce the lowest pitch sound when it bottoms out?

Thanks

[rowdy]

I'd guess SA profile keycaps, which are available only in ABS.  They are very thick keycaps, and to me seem to produce a deeper sound.

[Altis]

Thick PBT seems to be the lowest pitch, and also I'd say the loudest.

You can compensate for this with some sound deadening of the case to make it sound the way you'd like.

[KatzenKinder]

POM is weirdly deep too, I haven't used them in a bit (and they were on a different board) but my jelly poms sounded really deep, I think even deeper than my pbts.

They sounded beautiful on my Filco TKL

[KarimDK]

I'd guess SA profile keycaps, which are available only in ABS.  They are very thick keycaps, and to me seem to produce a deeper sound.

I agree . In addition, I think case does matter too; it might compatible with your key set to make a sound, right?

[Oobly]

Thick POM caps will absorb the most high frequency sounds of all keycap materials. PBT is actually quite a "bright" sounding material and will not absorb the highs as well as POM or even ABS. Mass helps absorb highs, too, so thicker, heavier caps help. In this sense, SA profile ABS caps do about as good a job as medium thickness POM caps. This also makes PBT an odd case, since it's denser than ABS, but more brittle. Depending on the thickness of the caps this can sort of balance out.

POM > ABS > PBT

Thick > medium > thin

I have some thin PBT caps from a Cherry G-80 and they sound horrible, worse than most OEM ABS ones. My favourites are SA profile and then my blank black medium thickness POM ones (I don't have thick POM yet, but hopefully Ivan's thick POM IC becomes a GB soon).

[Hyde]

Thick POM caps will absorb the most high frequency sounds of all keycap materials. PBT is actually quite a "bright" sounding material and will not absorb the highs as well as POM or even ABS. Mass helps absorb highs, too, so thicker, heavier caps help. In this sense, SA profile ABS caps do about as good a job as medium thickness POM caps. This also makes PBT an odd case, since it's denser than ABS, but more brittle. Depending on the thickness of the caps this can sort of balance out.

POM > ABS > PBT

Thick > medium > thin

I have some thin PBT caps from a Cherry G-80 and they sound horrible, worse than most OEM ABS ones. My favourites are SA profile and then my blank black medium thickness POM ones (I don't have thick POM yet, but hopefully Ivan's thick POM IC becomes a GB soon).

While I haven't get to try POM yet but I totally agree with this.  To me PBT produce the worst "sound" since it's so hard and brittle.

Even though people hate those backlit coated ABS keycaps but I find they produce the deepest and nicest sound.  In general softer keycaps produce deeper sound.

I recently get to try SA profile, they sound really nice too but I'm not a fan of spherical profile.  I find myself keep hitting the edge of keycaps.

Now I'm waiting for my POM group buy to finish then I can give my 2 cents on this matter. 

[cryptokey]

Thick POM caps will absorb the most high frequency sounds of all keycap materials. PBT is actually quite a "bright" sounding material and will not absorb the highs as well as POM or even ABS. Mass helps absorb highs, too, so thicker, heavier caps help. In this sense, SA profile ABS caps do about as good a job as medium thickness POM caps. This also makes PBT an odd case, since it's denser than ABS, but more brittle. Depending on the thickness of the caps this can sort of balance out.

POM > ABS > PBT

Thick > medium > thin

I have some thin PBT caps from a Cherry G-80 and they sound horrible, worse than most OEM ABS ones. My favourites are SA profile and then my blank black medium thickness POM ones (I don't have thick POM yet, but hopefully Ivan's thick POM IC becomes a GB soon).

While I haven't get to try POM yet but I totally agree with this.  To me PBT produce the worst "sound" since it's so hard and brittle.

Even though people hate those backlit coated ABS keycaps but I find they produce the deepest and nicest sound.  In general softer keycaps produce deeper sound.

I recently get to try SA profile, they sound really nice too but I'm not a fan of spherical profile.  I find myself keep hitting the edge of keycaps.

Now I'm waiting for my POM group buy to finish then I can give my 2 cents on this matter. 

Hey, you're from Toronto! Do you know if there's much of a GH crowd around here?

[Hyde]

Yes in fact, quite a few of us here haha.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70449.msg1799477#msg1799477

Come hang out with us next time lol.

[1swt2gs]

Hey guys,

I'm a noob when it comes to keyboards; been using a majestouch mx brown for the last 5 years. Lately, my interest in kaycaps has been sparked and i have been looking to replace my keycaps (about a 3rd of my keycaps have worn to the point where you cannot see or identify the letter). What material/type of keycaps produce the lowest pitch sound when it bottoms out?

Thanks

Worn down keys are the best! Have so much character and work put into them!

[Hyde]

lol man sorry to revive this post, I just saw chyros' recent review video on his favourite linear switches:

Time Stamp:  3:35

When I saw this I was blown away and was like man this is how linear switches SHOULD sound like.

Is this even achievable in any modern keyboard?

I know typing noise is make up from key switch (which was beefy as hell, but super huge), then the keycaps (which is also super thick, way thicker than any modern keycaps, but otherwise seems like it's still ABS), then finally the keyboard itself (which probably help that it weighted a tons).

This thread was originally from 2015, it's been 3 years do we get any new keycaps on the market that would sound as deep?  Before anyone jump into the usual default "Thick PBT Keycaps", keep in mind that PBT by nature is more brittle and will sound higher pitched than ABS, thick PBT only sound deeper because of thickness.  If the same thickness I'd imagine ABS will sound deeper.

Just off my head I'd imagine probably only SA profile will have the weight to even come close to that kind of sound (still wouldn't, but probably closest).  I've watched some video on youtube and seems like XDA profile somehow sounded pretty deep (any owner can actually confirm? even though it's PBT, though unknown thickness).  Or even maybe Topre Hi-Pro?  I had a Hi-Pro before but couldn't get used to the typing angle and end up returning it, I think if it was uniform R3 (flat) then I probably would've kept it.

What do you guys think?