HHKB Pro 2 Type-S, HHKB Pro 2, and Hypersphere's silencing rings

[the_marsbar]

Background: In December 2015 I read an article about George Hotz and his self-driving car. A video was attached to the article, in which I spotted his keyboard. I didn't recognize what it was, so I had to look it up. It turned out it was a HHKB Pro 2. I had to learn more about this keyboard. The more I read about mechanical keyboards, the more I wanted to try one out. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who owns a mechanical keyboard, so I had to just do a lot of reading. I read so many reviews, and spent quite a lot of time investigating this world, which at the time was new to me.

After a lot of reading and watching videos on YouTube, I decided to order a HHKB Pro 2 Type-S from Japan (February 2016). Around the same time I discovered some of the mechanical keyboard communities, the one on this website, and I was really drawn in by the amount of knowledge available, and the attention to detail when it comes to mechanical keyboards. A few days after receiving the Type-S I was already hooked. It was so nice to type on compared to the rubber dome and scissor switch keyboard I had previously used (I primarily use Macs). At first I thought it would be fine to just have the keyboard at home, but it quickly turned out that I needed one at the office too (I got used to the "weird" layout much quicker than I thought, and it started feeling really natural). I ordered the second keyboard (March 2016), a HHKB Pro 2 (in black, with blank keys), a HHKB bag, set of coloured keycaps (blue ESC/red Ctrl), and an extra set of blank white/grey keycaps (the Type-S had lettered keycaps). Eventually I started looking for colored keycaps, and I ended up getting some blanks (thanks RoastPotatoes and martinyeah/HKP), which I think look really cool. I would really like a pink set of blank RealForce keycaps, but I realize I was too late to the game. Hopefully at some point, some blank colored keycaps will be available again. I was also not aware of matt3o's very cool PBT spacebar project, so I managed to miss that too (here's hoping for another round in the near future).

After having used both keyboards for a while, switching between the Type-S and the black board at the office, I realized I actually preferred the muffled sound of the Type-S. I read a couple of threads about silencing, and became interested in trying it out. Fast forward to yesterday, where I installed the silencing rings that I got from Hypersphere. So far I really like the result, I highly recommend it. They keyboard is not exactly as silent as the Type-S, but it's really close. I'm not sure which one I prefer. I guess time will tell.

In case anyone's interested, I made some recordings of me typing on the Type-S and the regular Pro 2 (both before and after silencing it). I used the built-in microphone of a 15" Retina MacBook Pro, and I made two recordings of each board (one with the keyboard on top of the built-in keyboard of the laptop, and one one the left side of the laptop). I was typing the same text (more or less) on all the boards, and I ended each recording with three taps on the awesome left shift key (which is one of my favourite sounds). I attached a .zip-file with the recordings to this post (.mp3-files created using LAME).

[bocahgundul]

Really nice review with audio recordings!

For me I prefer the feels of hypersphere compared to stock type S because my Type S is soooo damn scratchy

The last thing you need to try is the silenced purple slider mods for your third HHKB

You can't get enough of HHKB.

[the_marsbar]

Thanks for the kind words.

Did you lube your Pro 2 when you installed the rings on your keyboard?

I'm curious, how do the purple sliders (from a Novatouch I assume) feel compared to the HHKB sliders? I suppose they aren't that different, especially when silenced (compared to silenced Pro 2).

Furthermore, I'm waiting impatiently for the PBT spacebars from the last matt3o/Massdrop release

[bocahgundul]

The purple sliders that I'm talking about is not the shitty novatouch one but the Good stuff which is the one that was found on Silenced Realforce.

The differences between Purple sliders, Stock type S and hypersphere is just the travel distance

Purple stem doesn't reduce the travel distance at all so that means its more tactile and they feel just like Stock HHKB but silenced.
Type S silencing ring thickness is 0.2mm so the travel distance became 3.8mm instead of the normal 4mm.
Hypersphere thickness is 0.5mm so the travel distance became 3.5mm instead of the normal 4mm.

Why I prefer hypersphere is because you can lube your hhkb when installing them and they're cheaper than type s.
Well Type S is indeed better than hypersphere in terms of tactility but they are so scratchy and I CBA to open the thing just for lubing 'em
and The best is the purple stem found on Realforce silenced cause the tactility is the same as stock hhkb but silenced

Yes I always lube my HHKB using thick krytox that Zeal sells or you can mix your own using krytox 205 and krytox 103 50/50 mix. Lubed HHKB is so good

PBT Topre spacebar is a must for HHKB imo

Sorry for my bad english

[the_marsbar]

I see. I might have seen photos of the sliders you're talking about, without knowing what exactly they were. Thanks for the information

I didn't lube the HHKB that I installed Hypersphere's rings on, maybe another time.

I had no issues understanding your post

[bocahgundul]

Yep and dude you need to lube your HHKB and see how they feels! for me they feels so goooooood and smooooth its just super good

Get another HHKB and silenced realforce and take out the stem and use 'em on the HHKB

can't have too many HHKB

[the_marsbar]

I've been using the board with Hypersphere's rings in the office for a while now. Before I was leaning towards the Type-S as my favourite. Now I'm thinking I like the silenced black board better