Reviews

Neo White

★★★★

There's not much factory lube, so it's a touch loud — though a bit of lubing would likely quiet it down. Oddly, it doesn't get along with Cerakey caps: maybe the stem is a little loose, because they pop off easily.

Photo: Divinikey

HMX Yogurt S

★★★

Pros: a clear typing sound, a pleasant clacky tone, and a choice of weights. Con: the sound isn't wildly distinctive. Overall — the clear sound comes through and being able to choose the weight makes it easy to recommend to most people. I rated it here because I personally prefer more characterful switches, but plenty

Photo: Divinikey

HMX Macaron

★★★★

The POK stem does great work, giving a nice clacky snap. It's on the heavier side, but maybe because the total travel is short, you don't feel it as all that heavy.

Gateron Pro Ultra Glory Yellow

★★★★

Maybe it's the thorough factory lube — incredibly smooth and quiet, top marks. The spring is short, but for a quiet-leaning switch that works just fine. The weight really makes itself felt, especially on an SA profile. It pairs well with both thocky and clacky boards — a thocky board gives you a thocky sound, a clacky

Drop Invyr Holy Panda

★★★★

A strong, well-defined bump — a switch that lets you enjoy 'the' tactile experience. The long-pole stem gives it a clear, pronounced sound too. Lubing makes it smoother, but leaving it unlubed on purpose to enjoy the ping and a bit of scratch is also a great option. Pairs well with clacky boards. Watch out: over-lubing

Photo: Drop

SWK Cheddar

★★

Rounded stem tip, clacky-leaning but on the quiet side. It’s unusual to see a sub-13mm stem with this material combo. Personally not to my taste, and it doesn’t have a standout sound — I shelved the review video for it.

Prototypist

Swagkeys X SWK Peony HE

★★

Quiet despite no silent elements and a not-especially-short stem. The 39g bottom-out is on the light side, so it tends to slam down once you push. Down to preference, but personally I’d have wanted at least ~45g.

SoupKeys

HMX Xinhai

★★★★

The sound is superb — creamy and loud, a satisfying pachi-pachi clack. It drops from a perfect score only because the newer Dragon Ghost, with its vented bottom housing, sounds clearer; Xinhai doesn’t have that. Still one of my favorites.

Photo: Milktooth

Gateron Magnetic Jade Gaming

★★★

Louder and more resonant than the Magnetic Jade Pro — a proper “magnet sound” switch. The box structure keeps keycap wobble low.

Photo: Gateron

Gateron Magnetic Jade Delta

★★

Plus: low stem wobble, a proper magnetic sound. Minus: with keycaps on there’s a slight dissonant note, and it’s pricey. The triangular (“delta”) stem is a neat idea but not fully dialed in yet — you can hear a little dissonance from wobble. Modern HE switches are so good that this stands out, though it’s not actually

Gateron Ink V2 Black

★

A premium switch at $1.25 each. It used to be talked up as thocky, but it’s actually clacky and rattly, which was a letdown. It’s not the bottom-out — probably the sound of the stem returning to the top housing. By today’s standards it really feels like an old-generation switch, which is novel in its own way.

Gateron

Cherry MX2A Petal

★★★

Cherry’s light tactile. You get a faint tactile bump and the classic Cherry scratch. If you like Brown you may find it underwhelming (I did), and it’s light enough that heavy-switch users will feel it’s too light. It feels designed more for people new to Cherry than for long-time Cherry fans. Plus: subtle bump, that Ch

Divinikey