Ohhh I'm very interested in how this compares to Hypersphere's silence ring, since I already have a 45g modded Realforce, I was debating if it's worth it to buy the Ducky one or just mod it with Hypersphere's rings.
I'll be looking forward to your review.
I was in the same boat as you. I had a 104UB modded to 45g uniform. The Hypersphere rings got my attention since he was very meticulous about getting it right. I pulled the trigger when he put another batch on ebay and was blown away by the way the typing experience improved by eliminating most of the noise.
I wanted a second keyboard for home, but could not do black on black legends given my ambient light but also didn't want a keyboard in a white case. Long story short instead of spending $$$ on a Realforce for home AND STILL having to add my own silencing rings I bought this year's Ducky. It has all the things I want.
Now, if I were you AND I needed a second Realforce I wouldn't hesitate. You get the 45g uniform, the silencing rings with fancy purple sliders all ready to go -- doesn't need hours to tear down and rebuild. But the downside to this, for me anyway, is that once you go silencing ring you won't want to go back. I'd be thinking about buying those Hypersphere rings for my other board all the time -- too curious to resist.
So if I didn't need a second fullsize Realforce I would eBay some Hypersphere silencing rings immediately. The hours of meticulous teardown and rebuild can be very Zen. You get everything cleaned up, rubber lined up, and when it all snaps together and its time to test it out... Mmmmm... silent Topre.
As far as the differences between Hyperphere rings and factory silenced Realforce, well, its subtle. The purple stem is apparently longer than the black stem by the thickness of one silencing ring (0.53mm). I swear that my Hypsphere silenced board does indeed have a barely perceivable shorter throw. I did not detect this the day I installed the rings. Its only after typing all day on one and then transitioning to the other that I noticed a difference.
The Hypersphere silenced board is a delight to type on. It's not stiff (Type Heaven 45g rubber) and the keys don't clack in any way (Hypersphere's urethane foam may well be softer), and I like the slightly shorter key travel. But the Ducky... the Ducky is tight. The pure white PBT caps are bone dry, and the switches bottom out into a controlled stacatto. The travel is not even a millimeter longer, but it lands so tightly at the bottom and returns so silently to the top. The Ducky is a crisp typing experience.
Good luck on your Topre road.