People in offices and shared rooms want the feel of a mechanical board without the noise. There are a few common fixes: O-rings on the keycaps, foam in the case, a mat under the board and quieter switches. Each one changes the sound in its own way, and the packs below were recorded by people who say they made the change, so you can hear it before you try it.
The packs come from the Mechvibes community, and their views count how often people opened them in the 30 days to November 13, 2026, each person once a day. We have not made these changes ourselves. What each change does comes from the sources linked, and what was done to each board comes from its pack maker's own words.
Some links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Mechvibes earns from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you.
O-rings
O-rings are small rubber rings that go on the stems under your keycaps. How-To Geek describes them as little shock absorbers that stop the keycap from clattering against the switch when you press it all the way down. They make each press shorter, they will not silence a board, and they do nothing about the click of a clicky switch (How-To Geek).
No pack in the library says it was recorded with O-rings yet. If you have a board with them, you can record your own pack so others can hear it.
Case foam
Many cases have empty space under the plate and circuit board. Glorious explains that this space lets the sound resonate into a hollow tone, and that foam at the bottom of the case fills it, cutting down the hollow sound and the high-pitched ping of metal cases (Glorious).
These packs say they were recorded with foam added:
- TM680 White by stupid user: a TM680 with lubed Gateron CJ switches and a PC plate. Its maker lists plate foam, case foam and PE foam.
- Gazzew Boba U4T: a custom build with Boba U4T tactile switches, with "car foam mod" in its description.
- Gateron Ink Black Lubed and Foamed: a DZ60 with Gateron Ink Black switches, lubed and foamed, as its name says.
- Gateron Red Mod: a NuPhy Air75 with low-profile Gateron Red switches. Its maker says it was lubed, given a PE foam mod and taped, so you hear all three changes together.
None of these boards has a pack that says it was recorded without the foam, so you cannot hear the same board before and after. Try typing the same sentence on two of them, then on a pack from a board you know.
Desk mat
The desk can make typing louder. KeebsForAll says a desk mat absorbs the vibration from each keystroke so it does not pass into the desk, where it can amplify the sound, and that softer materials dampen more than hard ones (KeebsForAll).
A mat changes the room more than the board, so no pack in the library shows it on its own. It works alongside the other fixes here.
Silent switches
On a hot-swap board you can replace the switches without soldering. Silent switches add a damper inside. Cherry says the operating noise of its current Silent Red, the MX2A Silent Red, is kept down by a patented damping, while it stays a linear switch with 45 cN of operating force (Cherry).
These packs were recorded with silent switches:
- CherryMX RED SILENT BY NOT AGAIN: Cherry MX Silent Red switches under PBT keycaps. Its maker writes that "it is silent tho".
- Boba: a custom board with Gazzew Boba U4 switches, which its maker calls silent tactile.
- Silent Alpacas V2 smolpp: a custom board with Silent Alpaca V2 linear switches.
- Silent Topres smolpp: an HHKB Professional 2 with 55g Topre switches. Its maker names it silent but does not say what was done.
Hear one of these next to a pack of the same switch without the damper, such as the Cherry MX Red packs, and type the same sentence on both.
What you need
Keycap O-rings
They sit on the keycap stems and soften the clack when a key is pressed all the way down.
- Good for: you want a quieter board without opening it
- Skip it if: your switches are clicky; O-rings do not quiet the click
Keyboard case foam
It fills the empty space at the bottom of the case, which cuts down hollow sound and case ping.
- Good for: your board sounds hollow or rings when you type
- Skip it if: your board already ships with foam in the case
Desk mat
It absorbs the vibration from each keystroke so less of it passes into the desk.
- Good for: you type on a hard desk that carries the sound
- Skip it if: your keyboard already sits on a soft mat or pad
How to listen
Every pack page has a keyboard you can type on. Turn the volume up and type anywhere on the page to hear the pack. To hear it while you work in other apps, download Mechvibes, open the pack and press Install.
The same keyboard can sound very different from one recording to the next. Switches, keycaps, the desk and the microphone all change the sound, so treat each pack as one person's board, not a measurement. If you have made one of these changes to your own board, you can record your own pack and add it to the library.