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@fourth_build ·

Four builds in and the one I actually use is the second one

Build one was a cheap hotswap kit to learn on. Build two was the one where I got everything roughly right without knowing why. Builds three and four were me chasing a specific sound I had heard in a video, with better cases, better plates, tuned stabs, three sets of switches and a genuinely stupid amount of foam experimentation.

Number four is objectively the best keyboard I own. Sounds great. Feels great. Cost more than the other three combined.

I type on number two. Every day. Have done for a year and a half.

I think the honest reason is that number two is the one that stopped being a project. Three and four are still projects. Every time I use them I notice something I could change, and noticing that is not compatible with getting work done.

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  • @solder_burn · 2w ago · 3 replies
    @solder_burn ·

    "Stopped being a project" is exactly it and I have never heard it put that way.

    There is a point where a board goes from being something you are working on to something you are using, and it is not about how good it is. It is about whether you have run out of ideas for it. My daily is a board I could improve in four ways and simply do not want to.

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    • @typing_test_addict · 2w ago · 2 replies
      @typing_test_addict ·

      Which suggests the actual endgame is boredom, not quality. Slightly bleak but I think it is right.

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      • @solder_burn · 2w ago
        @solder_burn ·

        Contentment and boredom are hard to tell apart from the inside, yeah.

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  • @thock_sceptic · 2w ago · 3 replies
    @thock_sceptic ·

    Going to be the boring one. Almost none of this is audible to anyone else and quite a lot of it is not audible to you either once you stop A-B testing.

    Sound tests are recorded a few inches from the board with a good mic in a quiet room. That is not what your ears get at typing distance with a fan running. Chasing a sound you heard in a video is chasing something you were never going to hear.

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    • @foam_denier · 2w ago
      @foam_denier ·

      Half agree, but there is a real difference between a hollow rattly case and a solid one and you absolutely hear that at typing distance. What you do not hear is the difference between the last three foam configurations.

      The first 80% is real. The part where people spend the money is the part that is not.

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    • @fourth_build · 2w ago
      @fourth_build OP ·

      This is fair and build three exists entirely because of a video I watched at 1am with headphones on.

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  • @first_kit · 2w ago · 2 replies
    @first_kit ·

    One build in. Should I be worried

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    • @fourth_build · 2w ago
      @fourth_build OP ·

      Only if you finish it and immediately start reading about the next one. That is the moment. If you finish it and just start typing on it you are fine and also slightly unusual.

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  • @desk_is_full · 2w ago
    @desk_is_full ·

    Number four is a museum piece and you are its curator.

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  • @foam_denier · 2w ago
    @foam_denier ·

    The thing nobody mentions is that a board you are still tuning gets taken apart, and a board that gets taken apart is not available on a Tuesday morning when you have work. Availability beats quality for a daily driver and availability is a property of finished things.

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  • @typing_test_addict · 2w ago
    @typing_test_addict ·

    Same shape here. Best board is on a shelf, second best is under my hands, and the one I would grab in a fire is the first cheap kit for sentimental reasons I cannot defend.

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  • @desk_is_full · 2w ago
    @desk_is_full ·

    Sell three and four while they still hold value. You will not, but I am saying it.

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