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RSS FeedsJWK Unlubed Silent Linear Switch Review
Introduction:
The previous switch review from a month ago was for the JWK Unlubed Linear switches from 1Up Keyboards, which is worth mentioning because this review is for their sibling switches, the JWK Unlubed Silent Linear switches, naturally also sold by 1Up Keyboards. Like the normal linear version and the TECSEE Purple Panda tactile switches, 1Up provided a discount to support these switch reviews. The critical difference between them is the presence of silicone dampeners on the stem, so both the down stroke and up stroke involve softer plastic-on-silicone impacts rather than hard plastic-on-plastic impacts. These are priced at $0.75 a switch, compared to the $0.60 of the non-silent versions.
Both the linear and these silent linear switches are available with 62 g and 67 g spring weights, and I went with the 62 g springs. Besides the spring weight, these also feature a completely clear housing while the other version have a smokey housing. The top of the housing is polycarbonate and the bottom nylon while the stem is made of POM. The use of POM can be important as it is a self-lubricating plastic, which means that as friction causes microscopic pieces of it to come off, these pieces form a film that reduce friction. I am not sure if the month I have been using these is enough for that to really take effect, but materials can be important when selecting a switch.
As I mentioned in the review of the non-silent version of these switches, these are sold unlubed or dry because some in the custom keyboard community would prefer to apply their own lubricant their own way. Factory lubricated switches, such as the Silk Yellow switches from NovelKeys, can be more approachable than disassembling and applying the lubricant yourself, but the application can be hit and miss in terms of quality. Applying new lubricant to a switch can require first cleaning the old off, which only adds to the time of the already tedious process of lubing, a process I will be doing following this review to both versions of these JWK linears.
In total I have been using these in the NK65 – Entry Edition provided by NovelKeys for slightly over four weeks. In truth I could probably have stopped using them sooner as there are clear similarities with the non-silent version, but the timing with other things worked out better to continue using these. Over those four weeks I did the Edge of Eternity review, indeed I swapped in these switches before starting on that. I have also done a significant amount of writing for news, articles (which I am still working on, so it may be a good bit before they are ready for publishing), and some personal documents, as well as plenty of gaming besides that review. I recorded the sound tests as I have been, capturing my MXL 990 recording microphone and SteelSeries Arctis 7 headset simultaneously using OBS Studio and then examining the result in Audacity. I will share the link closer to the sound tests, but I have uploaded the files to GitHub as I have for all of these tests. I also did an additional test where I had both versions of the switch in the NK65 and brought the microphone much closer to the keyboard to capture the difference the dampening makes. As these two switch types offer me the opportunity to compare with and without dampeners, I was eager to make the comparison. Potentially I will attempt something similar when I get to lubing switches, but we shall see when the time comes.
I believe that covers enough for the introduction, so time to get into the review itself.
Review:
Prior to using these switches, I did what I normally do and took apart one, to get a closer look at its components. Though I would not consider this as interesting with linear switches, as opposed to tactile switches, the presence of the dampeners made it worth my time, and some extra pictures. These are not my only dampened switches; my personal favorites the Gazzew Boba U4 Silent Tactile switches are dampened, and I have a sample of the Outemo Silent Sky tactile switches which are dampened as well. Here is a picture comparing these dampened stems, as well as the stem from a non-dampened JWK Unlubed Linear:
This is a composite of two images that feature the top and bottom of the stems, and I did my best to highlight the dampeners on the relevant stems, so you can see the very different design between these. Both the Silent Sky and Boba U4 switches have visibly large dampeners that appear to comprise the bulk of the stem rail itself, while the JWK stem has small tabs sticking out at both ends. What is not so visible in this image is that the dampeners on the JWK stem are black, while the others are translucent to transparent, and there are not just tabs. I do not have a picture of this, and am unsure of how well I could capture it anyway, but if looking at the edge of the stem rail, I can see a black line. My guess then is these dampeners are almost like a specially made O-ring that wraps around the stem rail, which also has a special channel to hold it. I do not know how large this channel and therefore the dampener might be, though I would guess they have less mass than the other dampener design shown here.
At first glance, the hypothesis would be that these dampeners will not be as effective, because they appear to be so much smaller. That is honestly what I thought, and then I installed them. The effect was dramatic and these definitely live up to the term "silent," much like the Boba U4s. I would still have thought the larger dampeners would do better, but I wonder if perhaps these dampeners are a slightly different material, possibly softer and so the less mass is less of an issue. Regardless, these are very quiet to type on, as the sound tests will demonstrate.
While it is unquestionably my preference for a silent typing experience, the silence here has somewhat worked against these switches. With the movement of the stem dampened so effectively, other noises are more apparent, and there is definitely some amount of ping I can hear on some of the switches. I am not sure if this is coming from the springs or the metal leaves that close the circuit to register a keypress, but I am hoping for the former as I am confident I can lubricate the springs successfully. Even if it was not my plan to lubricate these, I would likely want to in order to address this and other factors to typing on them. Listening very closely to the spare I have, I do notice a slight sound when I first push down on the stem. I wonder if this might be the dampener releasing from top housing, like it was being crushed and is now free, as I do not think this specific sound is coming from the metal pieces. This is not a sound that I think could survive through keycaps or a full build without very intent listening, so I am not too concerned about it, but am still willing to mention it.
The feeling of bottoming out with these switches immediately reminded me of typing on the Boba U4s, and I did pull out the 1Up60HSE build (provided by 1Up Keyboards) to compare. I had noticed with those switches a certain kind of vibration as I typed, which I got used to over time, but did stand out from other switches. My best guess, thanks to working with these switches, is the vibration comes from the plastic-on-silicon impact and the energy being absorbed. (It is more pronounced with the Boba U4s, but those have a pretty strong tactility to them, so that may be adding to the energy.) As I have written in my notes, the bottom-out sensation with these is clearly a plastic-on-rubber feeling, as opposed to plastic-on-plastic. The strike is more blunt and long while with the non-silent version of these switches, the plastic-on-plastic strike was sharp and short. I have gotten used to the feeling and so have no complaints, but that is certainly something to share for those considering dampened switches.
Before getting too far away, I want to be clear that I specifically chose the word "blunt" to describe the feeling. I would not use the word soft to describe it, but blunt and that it is clearly plastic-on-rubber, as I said.
Something else I noticed that distinguishes these from the non-silent version is the friction of the action. I can feel the plastic-on-plastic friction when typing slowly, and somewhat when at speed, but I do not notice any static friction. The return from bottom out is very easy, which is perhaps a result of it being nylon and silicone in contact, as opposed to nylon and POM, the stem material. I had noticed such friction with the non-silent versions, which is why I want to mention its absence here. The plastic-on-plastic friction is the same though, where it feels like some grip-and-slide between the stem and the housing. This is in contrast to the NK Creams, however, as that felt more like a slight amount of grit.
I do realize I have been speaking a lot about the specifics of the typing experience, so coming to the general experience, these are linear switches and so the action is quite smooth. Between some friction between the stem and housing as well as medium weight spring, you can feel some resistance to the keypress, but it is not that bad. Perhaps if you are coming from a light switch or are a light typist this resistance will be more of an issue. I normally bottom out, so when typing at speed, I do fail to notice the springs pushing back very much. I do notice them though, so it is not like the keycaps are floating. Perhaps after I lubricate them the experience will be different, but that is a ways off presently.
Coming to the sound tests, I actually want to start with the comparison I did between the JWK Unlubed Linear and these JWK Unlubed Silent Linear switches.
For this recording I positioned the MXL 990 microphone down near the keyboard, specifically to record it. Normally for sound tests I position it as I do when recording gameplay, which is closer to my mouth than the keyboard, and so this recording cannot be directly compared to the sound tests. Anyway, I did provide commentary as to what I was doing during the test, which is why the top track, the original recording, has so much to it. In the second track I removed my voice, so what you see there is just from typing. The third track is just typing on the non-silent switches, while the fourth and final track is on these silent switches. As the microphone was so close to the keyboard, the difference between them is more significant than when holding your head at a normal distance from the keyboard, but it does show, quite effectively, the difference the dampeners make.
For the recording I tried to use keys near each other, with the non-silent switches for the arrow keys. I tapped across the three horizontal arrow keys and the Fn, Menu, and Right Control keys next to them, which were the silent switches and are also 1U wide, and then also used the ",", ".", and "/" keys above them, to capture a different row being used. I also did the Up and Down arrows and compared those with the ";" and "/" keys. I note this in the recording, which is in the GitHub repository along with the notes: GitHub/GuestJim/@Switches/JWK Linear Silent – Dry/NK65.
Here is the first sound test I did with these switches, and as you can see the typing section for the Mic recording is almost completely flat. There are more specks to the Headset recording, which I find interesting as I would not expect the headset to pick up something the MXL 990 did not, but it is not too important, one way or another because the typing was still very quiet.
Looking at the stats for this sound test, when normalized to a peak of -3 dB for my voice, the recording microphone had the typing peak at -32.097 dB (-12.688 dB for the voice and -41.746 dB without normalization). The Contrast tool in Audacity for the normalized audio had my voice at an average of -24.87 RMS dB (-34.56 RMS dB without normalization) and typing at -50.76 RMS dB (-60.45 RMS dB without normalization) for a difference of 25.89 RMS dB. The headset with its microphone so much closer to my mouth did clip as I spoke, so it peaked at 0 dB while typing peaked at -32.716 dB. With the Contrast tool, my voice averaged -14.86 RMS dB and my typing at -60.80 RMS dB, for a difference of 45.95 RMS dB. Even if the typing was more apparent in the waveform, the gap between it and my voice was far greater.
A month later and this is the second sound test.
With my voice normalized to -3 dB my typing peaked at -22.888 dB (-17.078 dB for my voice and -36.96 dB for my typing without amplification). With the Contrast tool my voice averaged at -24.46 RMS dB (-37.54 RMS dB without amplification), typing averaged at -48.07 RMS dB (-59.86 RMS dB without amplification), resulting in a difference of 22.32 RMS dB. The headset's recording technically peaked at 0.001 dB but I suspect that is an error and my voice did in fact clip, as it usually does. Anyway, typing peaked at -25.247 dB. The Contrast tool says my voice averaged at -15.19 RMS dB and my typing averaged at -55.15 RMS dB, for a difference of 39.97 RMS dB.
For both microphones, the typing was a bit louder in the second test, but was still very quiet. As I normally speculate, it is possible that after a month of using these switches I have gotten used to them enough that I am typing faster and so producing more noise that way. It might also be worth noting that I believe both microphones picked up the sound of my pressing the Gateron Brown switch in the Super 16 macro pad I use for controlling OBS Studio. That should only throw off the peak typing levels, and not the averages from the Contrast tool, or at least not by much as it was still not very loud.
Checking on stem wobble with both the single assembled spare and two in the NK65, there is some North-South wobble, but very little. Remember, some amount of wobble is normal as the stem does need to be able to move freely. On the West-East line, however, the wobble is more pronounced and I can believe it is more than necessary for free movement. I would not think it is enough to be an issue, but I do feel it could be tighter. For housing wobble, the lone spare is quite tight without any budging as I try to shift the top and bottom pieces with my fingers.
Conclusion:
Wrapping this up, these JWK Unlubed Silent Linear switches definitely succeed at being silent. There are some other noises that can be noticed now because of how quiet the rest of the switch is, but I somewhat expect lubricating the switches may help with that. The action is generally pretty smooth, though I can notice some friction when I press the keys slowly. Typing at my usual speed, this friction is much harder to notice.
Skipping the non-silent version of these, compared to the other two linear switches I have worked with, the Silk Yellow and NK Creams, these do feel a bit better than the Creams, but with the lubrication of the Silk Yellows, those definitely have the smoothest action. It will be interesting to see how these compare once lubricated with some Krytox 205g0 I have, because I can believe they will be the superior linear of the three then. Of course I do prefer a silent experience so they will have an advantage from that. Without that, I would place the Silk Yellows above.
For that reason, lubricating these switches will prove important. Though the typing action feels fine, especially when I type at speed, they are not as smooth as the Silk Yellows and I can believe some of the other noises I hear from them can be addressed with lubricant. These noises are not really pleasant to hear, and would perhaps normally be covered up if not for being silent switches. I put in my notes that I can believe these need lubricating more so than the non-silent versions for that reason. If it turns out these switches really need to be lubricated for their best experience, then that means they will require what I expect to be a significant amount of time invested into a tedious procedure. Not everyone may wish to do that, making other switches a better option. It is hard to say without having lubricated them, but I can say this much now; it depends on what you are looking for. If you want silent linears switches, these definitely succeed at that.
With this done, next I will be reinstalling the non-silent JWK Unlubed Linear switches for a limited time, to acclimate myself to them again. After possibly a week, I will then take them out and apart to start lubricating them. After spending the time to properly review those, I will return to these and repeat the procedure, though likely with the addition of switch films. I have them and it would be appropriate to apply them at the same time as lubricating the switches, as they do require opening the switch. Unfortunately I do not have enough to film both versions of these switches, so I will film these because I prefer silent switches and so will be more likely to use these in the future.
