Okay I took a leap of faith and modded my RealForce 104UW (since I ordered the rings a while back already).
So off the bat I will say
YES IT DOES REDUCE TRAVEL.
Ring is about 0.5 mm thick so yes it does reduce travel. Is it noticeable?
YES. Will you hate it?
DEPENDS.
Okay I'd imagine Topre housing is all the same and same travel, so the only difference is keycaps, kind of like Cherry Profile vs OEM Profile kind of difference.
I don't own
Novatouch, but I will assume it has the tallest keycaps. So it
FEELS like it travel more, then you reduce a tiny bit, not much difference.
Secondly we have
RealForce, it has probably regular height keycaps. You reduce it a tiny bit, I'd say it's still not bad, it's about same height as stock Leopold FC660C.
Now we're looking at
Leopold FC660C, I think to be honest, in stock form this already has pretty shallow keycaps and is already pretty quiet, so modding it I don't think it help much in sound and it make it feel very shallow afterwards.
So in summary, yes it does reduce travel, you'll like it or hate it depending on keyboard.
Novatouch - High Travel, so modding is a go.
RealForce - Medium Travel, personally I really like it after I mod it even though OP doesn't like it. So I'll say debatable.
Leopold FC660C - Short Travel, Leopold profile is kind of like Cherry profile. So I think after modding it it's too short, I actually like stock form better. Doesn't recommend modding.
Type Heaven - Short Travel, I own this but I haven't mod it yet. Though based on my experience with FC660C I'd say probably not a good idea to mod it.
HHKB - Doesn't own it, someone can comment on it.
Now if we ignore key travel, just purely on sound and feel. The ring actually tighten the space and make it feel more solid, and the reduced sound is amazing.
So if key travel isn't an issue, I
HIGHLY RECOMMEND silent Topre.
