[SOLVED] Quiet keyboard

[knopfler1980]

Hello. Our neighbour is complaining about noise of keyboard of my father. I think is mechanical and not membrane. I tried to look for the quietest keyboards but I didn't found any noise db comparative (I was only able to find a strenght press comparative but that wouldn't mean that while more strenght more noise because there wasn't db data in those keyboards statistics).

Do you know of any webpage with keyboards db noise comparative or know of a cheap and quiet keyboard?

Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[Bongert]

instead of buying a new keyboard you could try buying keycap o-rings. They dampen the sound of the keycap impacting the switch body. If your mechanical switches dont happen to be of the clicky type they should be nigh inaudible.

 

[knopfler1980]

@Bongert Thanks a lot for your help. I checked this video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq4bV_7KH1c
where I looked for keycap o-rings. In that case are at least compatible with MX red switches. I don't know if there will be more o-rings depending on keyboard switches but I guess that yes so I will check keyboard model and see if I can find keycap o-rings if those ones I linked are not already compatible because I don't know my father's keyboard model and switches.

Thanks again!!

 

[hang-the-9]

If your keyboard is loud enough to bother the neighbors it is not likely O-rings will help it. First step is to find out exactly what keyboard he is using with what switches then you can find which ones would be quieter. If you have a cheap mechanical now I'd guess you have one with clones of the green or blue switches and the cheap ones can get very loud.

This Redragon is at a great price now https://www.amazon.com/Redragon-K552-Mechanical-Keyboard-Equivalent/dp/B016MAK38U?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1 and the Red switches are fairly quiet unless you have paper thin walls and the keyboard is near the wall.

Cheaper keyboard will be louder due to less solid materials and stabilizer rattle which causes quite a bit of "bad" noise from the keyboard, past just the switch sounds themselves. I had to lube and modify a few keyboard space bars to dampen the sound, that is also an option and can be fun if you like tinkering with things.

 

[knopfler1980]

If your keyboard is loud enough to bother the neighbors it is not likely O-rings will help it. First step is to find out exactly what keyboard he is using with what switches then you can find which ones would be quieter. If you have a cheap mechanical now I'd guess you have one with clones of the green or blue switches and the cheap ones can get very loud.

This Redragon is at a great price now https://www.amazon.com/Redragon-K552-Mechanical-Keyboard-Equivalent/dp/B016MAK38U?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1 and the Red switches are fairly quiet unless you have paper thin walls and the keyboard is near the wall.

Cheaper keyboard will be louder due to less solid materials and stabilizer rattle which causes quite a bit of "bad" noise from the keyboard, past just the switch sounds themselves. I had to lube and modify a few keyboard space bars to dampen the sound, that is also an option and can be fun if you like tinkering with things.

Thanks for your reply @hang-the-9. I don't really know what model it is, I can't check it at the moment but I will do it. I was looking for a noise comparative but I wasn't able to find any.

Thanks for your help

 

[hang-the-9]

Thanks for your reply @hang-the-9. I don't really know what model it is, I can't check it at the moment but I will do it. I was looking for a noise comparative but I wasn't able to find any.

Thanks for your help

It's very easy to find relative loudness of keyboards, just do a search on the web for keyboard switches, in the description they will say if they are clicky or not and in reviews and tests online there are many videos and descriptions of the noise level. Any switch listed as "clicky" would be in the loud category.

 

[knopfler1980]

Hi all.

Thanks for your answers all!!

Finally I was lucky and found a Reddit noise db level keyboards comparisson here View: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/hcuxph/10_keyboards_noise_level_comparison_how_loud_is/


I must say all seems noisy to me even membrane scissors.

Thanks for your help

 

[hang-the-9]

Well it depends on how loud your speakers were turned up LOL, that recording also seemed to exaggerate the sounds for comparison, I have several of the keys in the video and they don't sound as loud to me when I type. I would say that anything in the 55db range is not enough to bother people in another room, should be a very low noise leakage to another room. I use a Leopold keyboard with MX Red switches and no-one has complained once to me at work for them being too loud, that is in an open cube area not an office.

 

[Bongert]

There are also switch tester kits that provide a couple of the more common switch types to test around on. i got one for ten bucks and it helped me decide for my keyboard