(SwitchTalk) Silent MX: The Best All-Round Silent Switches

For a long period of time silenced Topre was the quietest switch you could find, and the go-to recommendation for work boards. Now that a whole bunch of silent switches have come out on the market, silenced Topre has lost its place as the king of quiet.

In my opinion, MX Silents are a fantastic switch. Together with Healios, it is by far the quietest switch on the market. The reason for this is probably because they both use more of the silencing material in the stem than its competitiors. In the pictures below, you can see that the MX Silent stems have significantly more “rubber” on the bottom compared to other silent switches. For the record, I feel that MX Silents are a little quieter than Healios, and take my top spot for the quietest switch available right now.

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Interestingly, the bottom-out feel of the MX Silents is not any worse than its competitors even though in theory it should feel mushier due to the larger amount of silencing material present. So the MX Silents don’t lose any points here.

In terms of smoothness MX Silents do lose to the Healios by a little. Even when both are lubricated, a good batch (Healios can be inconsistent in smoothness) of Healios is still noticeably smoother than any MX Silent switch. The factor that prevents me from calling Healios the best overall switch is its price, Healios cost a minimum of $1.7USD per switch when not on sale, compared to Silent MX which only costs $0.55USD per switch from most vendors. I do not think the slight smoothness advantage of the Healios warrants such a price premium, and that is why MX Silents are the best overall silent switch to me.

Below is a typing test comparing MX Silents in a Tofu to silenced Topre in an HHKB, and spoilers, it is a complete blowout. The lubed MX Silent Blacks in the Tofu are so much quieter it makes the HHKB sound like a jet engine in comparison.

For the wealthy people out there, the combination of MX Silent stems and Zealio housings, also known as MX Zilents, are the best feeling and sounding silent switches I have tried. Wonderfully smooth and silent, when lubed it feels like the perfect silent switch. But it is pricey, the Zealio housings will set you back $1.2USD per housing plus $0.55USD per MX Silent stem, making MX Zilents more expensive than even the Healios at $1.75USD per switch. For the commoners like me. MX Silents will do you just fine.