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O-Ring Mod

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As much as I love my Das Ultimate Silent keyboard, the one thing that it fails to do is live up to it’s “silent” label. Whilst it’s certainly massively quieter than something like the mighty IBM Model M, it still makes a fair bit of noise due to the keycaps bottoming out when typing, making a plastic clacking noise.

With a new more squished up office layout at work my colleagues have been begging threatening bribing cursing complaining requesting that I consider the “O-Ring Mod”, where you remove all the keycaps and install little rubber rings underneath each key to reduce their noise.

The result is quite effective, about a 50% sound reduction IMHO, with little negative impact on the typing experience – just a slightly shorter travel distance and a bit more bounce in the keyboard. There’s a great Youtube video on the difference it makes with various Cherry MX switch types – my Das Keyboard uses the brown switches, which are the second type demonstrated.

There’s a number of online stores happy to sell you the rings – although in my case, I just ordered the raw thing from Amazon than a keyboard shop. I also decided against spending the $10 for a keycap remover which was a good move –  a couple paperclips were effective enough.

OK keyboard, I know it's not quite the same, but it's time to put a rubber on it...

OK keyboard, I know it’s not quite the same, but it’s time to put a rubber on it…

Generally the replacement was easy, the biggest issue was the spreader/stabiliser bar keys, such as the Enter, Backspace, Shift and Space keys – these ones have a little metal bar which you need to stretch apart to unhook the key from and to hook it back on once the rubber ring is installed.

The tricky keys - don't just pull them off, unless you want to break the white plastic loops.

The tricky keys – don’t just pull them off, unless you want to break the white plastic loops. You can see the little rubber ring I’ve just added to the keycap.

Next up is working to improve my typing accuracy – I can already thrash out some insanely fast stuff, but my accuracy rate can vary a lot (partially due to bad spelling), but sitting down and forcing myself to slow slightly for more accuracy would be a good trade off.

I’m also pondering learning a different layout like Dvorak which could be a good excuse to learn a new typing style and get some performance advantages.

Das Keyboard Ultimate Silent

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With the recent move to Sydney, I’ve had to leave my beloved IBM Model M keyboards back in New Zealand – sadly they’re a bit heavy and large to effectively pack into my luggage without sacrificing some much needed clothes.

Even if I was to bring them over here to Australia with me, the Model M’s are too loud for me to use in a shared office environment – my Model M was previously banned from my last employers office after they could hear it through two walls and down a phone at the other end….

Instead I’ve brought a Das Keyboard Ultimate Silent. I’ve been a fan of the Das Keyboard idea for a while – just like the IBM Model M they’re traditional clicky mechanical keyboards, but have modern features such as USB, lighter bodies and (love them or hate them) Windows keys that are useful for both Windows and MacOS users.

Das Keyboards come in both labelled (Professional) and unlabelled (Ultimate) revisions, and the option of either standard loud clicky keys or the “silent” model – considering I’m working in a shared office space, I elected to go for the silent edition.

Mmmmm sleek black sexiness.

Mmmmm sleek black sexiness.

I’ve been using the Ultimate Silent for about two months now, general impressions are:

  • It’s an excellent keyboard that’s well worth the $150 AUD price tag. I’ve had heaps of comments from co-workers on how great it feels to type on, command line power geeks can’t be wrong. ;-)
  • The keys still have the tactile feedback of a mechanical clicky keyboard. Whilst the responsive spring-back is a little more subdued than on the Model Ms, it still delivers a very nice feel.
  • The blank keys are AWESOME. People who try to use my computer are always really put off at first, however if you’re a touch typist it won’t take long to get used to it.
  • It’s not exactly silent -“quieter” is a more accurate term, I certainly have the loudest keyboard in the office, but it’s nowhere near as loud as an actual Model M is. The sound is more a subdued tap as the keys hit the bottom of the keyboard when typing, rather than the audible click of a traditional clicky keyboard.
  • My colleagues are a pretty good bunch of people since they haven’t murdered me for loudly typing and stretching the “silent” label to the limits. ;-)
  • I have occasional issues with finding a particular symbol key (things like ^ or &), but I can touch type almost any of the 104 keys on it without an issue.

Personally I’ll keep using the IBM Model Ms as my personal keyboard, they’re great quality keyboards and I love the fact I can keep using something designed in 1980s (mine were manufactured in 1994) on my computer for possible the rest of my life, but I’d be very content with using a Das Keyboard personally as well as professionally if I didn’t already have the Model M.

It always amazes me how often geeks will spend huge money on their computers and then neglect the keyboard or buy something that features lots of flashy lights and special keys, but ignore the most important requirement of good typing ergonomics and performance.

I haven’t tried the clicky version of the Das Keyboard myself so I can’t really compare it – I expect you’d find that the clicky version has a even nicer feedback (like the Model M) but the silent is the better investment if you work near anyone else.

I brought mine from AusPCMarket who have local stock and it arrived in a couple of working days without an issue, otherwise buy direct from Das Keyboards.