Kailh Box Mute Jade Switch Review

Quite honestly, I feel inclined to keep the introduction to this review relatively short and sweet as not all that much has really happened since I sat down and put together the previous review on the Gateron Oil King switches a few weeks ago. School, homework, cooking every few days for meals, and grocery shopping have seemingly entirely filled the void of time that exists between waking up and going to sleep each night, and I’m not entirely certain if the idea of free time even exists anymore. But hey, as I’ve said before, this just makes the perceived time between new switch releases all that faster – and I sure damn well enjoy my new switch releases.

Corsa Tactile Switches from BolsaSupply — **Figure 1:** These new Corsa switches from Bolsa, for example, are the first time I’ve been *really* excited by the color of a switch in some time…

Perhaps one minor topic that I wanted to bring a solid 15 seconds of attention to is that of the hate and negativity that content creators – and specifically ones in the keyboard community in this instance – can and do receive on a semi-regular basis. I can’t lie to you, being a written-only content reviewer has its benefits in that I seem to not draw nearly as much ire as my audio-visual based friends in the content creation side of things, but that doesn’t mean I’m entirely immune to these issues. In fact, over the past few months now I’ve been dealing with a concerted series of harassment events from an individual or small group of people attempting to get me to alter my content “or else.” While I can certainly appreciate the ‘beatings will continue until morale improves’ type mindset of these individuals, I see no further reason to address it beyond this point as it will not alter my content in any manner. In fact, I think people who implement these kinds of harassment measures against content creators often don’t realize that it leads to a strengthening of the content creator’s resolve, regardless of if the harassment is for content issues, personality mismatches, perceived slights, or even something as banal as a disliking of someone’s expression, identity, or appearance.

Given that I usually reserve the slots at the beginning of these articles for meta-based commentary about my personal life, keyboard life, or the community at large, I couldn’t help but make the majority of you who read my content aware of this facet of life for content creators large and small in the hobby space. More often than not, they continue to produce their content in spite of this hatred which they receive from a small but loud minority around them even when their tolerance for the slights against them might be completely gone. So, my simple request from all of this is that if you have a few favorite creators in this hobby space, go do yourselves a favor today and follow them on their social media, subscribe to their YouTube or Twitch channels, or put on a show of support for them however you see fit as those could be the tiniest and yet most significant reasons that keep them coming back to stream, edit, write, etc. (Especially those smaller creators out there – you should be going and interacting with all of them whenever you get a chance as every big reviewer you know by name now was once in their shoes too.) If I happen to be on that list of favorite creators of yours as well, please do relegate me to the bottom of that list in favor of making sure everyone else gets their love first – I’ll have the switches to keep me company in the meantime.

Gator Ron figurine editing review — **Figure 2:** I’ll also always have Ron too when he isn’t busy being late on his edits.

Switch Background

Of all of the strange switch ideas that I’ve heard tossed into the wind in jest over the past few years of collecting and interacting within the community, “silent clicky” switches have got to be one one of my favorite memes to throw out ther. Sure, 2022 so far is shaping up to be an absolute fever dream of switch releases just as a result of Kailh Box Mute Jades and Zeal’s 3-in-1 Clickiez switches alone, but we are also only a fraction of the way into the year with surely many more crazy designs on the horizon. However, one could easily recognize that these switches were not designed, manufactured, and released all within the span of just a few short months, thus firmly placing the blame on 2021 for all of these crazy ideas. While there are no horse-paste based COVID jokes to be found here about lockdowns or quarantine, the rough timeline of the Box Mute Jades does cement into my head cannon these being an idea that Mike came up with while pacing in circles in the Novelkeys warehouse after days and weeks of consecutive lockdown. I further evidence my imagined timeline by the glorious beard that Mike had been sporting in the 2021 update videos from Novelkeys, which make Tom Hanks, Wilson, and myself all incredibly jealous.

Novelkeys Mike in Summer 2021 Announcement Video — **Figure 3:** You can’t even convince me that Brodie isn’t a little bit jealous as well.

First announced on June 22nd of 2021, the Kailh Box Mute Jade switches were teased on Novelkeys’ Instagram page via an “Updates with Mike | Summer 2021” video. Without all that much in the way of hard and fast details provided, what was shared about the Mute Jades was a description of their design followed by a brief, single switch sound comparison between a prototype and a normal Box Jade switch. Describing the new switches as similar to a Box Jade, but with a silicone insert in the housing to prevent the clickbar mechanism from clicking as much, Mike capped off the discussion of them hoping for their release around August of 2021. However, a few months down the road on August 25th of 2021, a “Update with Mike | Summer 2021 Part 2” video was released, in which Box Mute Jades were stated to be delayed until October as a result of manufacturing delays resulting from the new mechanism used.

The next announcement regarding the status of the Box Mute Jade switches skipped entirely over the hopeful October deadline and landed on November 23rd, 2021 with Novelkeys’ “Updates with Mike | Fall 2021” announcement. In this video, Mike happily shared that the Box Mute Jades had not only completed production but were being shipped to Novelkeys via air-mail, with an expected arrival time sometime in December. (For those of you who are unaware, shipments of the size that Novelkeys and many vendors acquire can come either via boat or by air shipping, the latter being not only quicker but also more expensive route overall.) Beyond this December arrival date, though, no further word regarding the Mute Jade switches was officially posted until their in-stock release announcement on January 11th of 2022.

Novelkeys' Kailh Box Mute Jade Sales Page — **Figure 4:** Kailh Box Mute Jade sales page on Novelkeys as of the time of publishing.

Priced at $16.20 per 36 switches (or $0.45 per switch) as of the time of writing this article, the Box Mute Jades stand as one of the 14 various Kailh Box switch options seemingly round-the-clock available on Novelkeys’ website. With an 82g. bottoming out spring, grey-colored box stem, and 3.6 mm total travel distance, these switches differ from the normal Kailh Box Jade switches on all but the last point, not addressing the muting mechanism either. While discussions nor statements about their long term presence as an in-stock option on Novelkeys has been made anywhere to the best of my knowledge, recent business practices over the past year or two would indicate that these will continue to be an option for the foreseeable future and will likely remain around for several years on end.

Kailh Box Mute Jade Performance

Appearance

At the highest level, the Kailh Box Mute Jades look suspiciously similar to the other 13 in-stock Box switches that Novelkeys also offers. Speculation as to whether or not there is some sort of underlying thematic design scheme that eludes me, though, will have to be pushed to another article. The Box Mute Jades feature five pin, opaque white bottom housings, clear top housings, and a “silver grey” stem with the dustproof box-style enclosure. As well, the 82g. bottom out springs are silver in color with a slightly greater thread per length count than normal, MX-style springs, though not to such a large degree as to make them particularly stand out. A final detail about the overall appearance worth noting here is that the spec sheet for the Box Mute Jade switches, as per Novelkeys’ website, posts details regarding the color and material of each component housing. What’s also worth noting here is that the ‘Slider’ (#8) that is listed as Green refers to the activating lever for the Box mechanism whereas the ‘Keystroke’ (#3) listed as Silver Grey refers to the stem. While this may not be confusing to most people who have read this, I could totally imagine someone getting their hopes up for a different shade of green stem in these switches after having misread this chart. Couldn’t possibly be me though…

Kailh Box Mute Jades Spec Sheet Materials and Colors — **Figure 5:** Just reading the words “Slider POM Green” over and over again makes me sad when I realize it’s not actually the stem.

Looking first to the to the top housings of the switch, I want to make a note here that it already appears that the molds and design features of these top housings are markedly different from that of the only other Box style switch which I’ve reviewed prior in depth in my From The Vault: Novelias Switch Review. The first and most obvious difference is the LED slot, which is entirely covered by a rather thick, flat plane of nylon rather than the tiered or open style LED slots of many other modern switches. Ostensibly, this is done in this fashion in order to prevent any through-switch LEDs from accidentally interacting with the clickbar mechanism of the clicky, Box style switches, as the clickbar runs directly through this region in the bottom housings. Externally, there is not all that much more to note about the top housings other than their iconic winglatch style attachment mechanism and inverted ‘Kailh’ nameplate identical to that of a slew of Box style switches before these.

Kailh Box Mute Jade Top Housing Externals — **Figure 6:** Kailh Box Mute Jade top housing externals showing flipped nameplate, thick covered LED slot, and muting bar mechanism in the front right-hand corner.

Moving interior to the top housings, we will work from least interesting details to the most interesting ones. The first and most obvious detail to note is simply how much more hollow the internal structure is relative to that of normal, MX-style switches. Traditionally, the area around the nameplate region is significantly more packed with components and design structures which would otherwise interfere with the large stem size and design here. On the upper rim of the top housings, four mold ejector circles are noted in each corner, with the upper right-hand side one featuring a single number mold marking in extremely small font. The final, and most interesting component of the top housings is the singular, white dampening rod which can be seen in the bottom left-hand side (viewed internally) or bottom right-hand side (viewed externally as a closed switch) that extends from the exterior to the interior of the housing. Slightly padded on the interior side, what this mechanism does is hold the clickbar in place when the switch is in closed position, such that it does not ‘snap’ back when the activator mechanism is raked across it, and thus dampening the overall sound produced by the clickbar. Further details regarding the dimensions, exact location, or manufacturing implementation method are otherwise unknown to me and/or not belayed clearly in the spec sheet of these switches.

Kailh Box Mute Jade Top Housing Internals — **Figure 7:** Kailh Box Mute Jade top housing internal design showing the mute bar mechanism in the center top of the image and the single number mold marking in the bottom center.

Stopping by the Box Mute Jade stems, these grey (and not green) stems come unlubed from the factory and appear no different from that of other Box style stems which I’ve seen prior. Keeping in mind that I hardly, if ever, get around to opening and inspecting Box style switches, all of the traditional components of the stem that I am aware of are present. Worth noting here, though, is that the mechanism of these stems operates slightly differently than traditional expectations of those who have not explored the Box mechanism prior. Aside the significantly different shaped stem, there are two different stem legs on Box switches – a front one for activating the clickbar mechanism, and a second one for activating the Box mechanism that activates the switch. Both of these sit on the same side of the stem, with the Box activating mechanism being on the more recessed side as can be seen below. This image also demonstrates the ‘hollow sider rail’ design common to that of other, previous Kailh Box style switches.

Kailh Box Mute Jade Stem — **Figure 8:** Kailh Box Mute Jade stem showing externall facing clickbar stem leg (left) and internally facing activation stem leg (right).

Finally arriving at the bottom housings for the Mute Jades, these yet again appear to be similar or identical in nature of that of other Box style switches that I am aware of, yet we will visit these details for posterity. In normal operating configuration, you’ll note the Box mechanism which houses the leaf and activating lever as well as the clickbar holding region in the front underneath the LED slot of the switch. Beyond these two features, and looking internally to the base of the bottom housing, it’s worth noting several channels and mold design features which do not appear to have any functionality as well as a complete absence of slider rail receivers. Strangely, as well, there appears to be a minor amount of either factory grease or lubricant present though the functionality that it provides is still a mystery to me. Opening up this Box mechanism, from which this switch derives its name and not the dustproof style stems, we are greeted with an as-expected sideways leaf design and factory lubed neon green activating lever. One minor detail worth noting here is that Kailh appears to be sticking with its historical design trend with respect to the activating levers of their Box switches, as neon green colored ones appear to only be present in Linear or Clicky switches, whereas Brown colored activating levers are noted only in tactile switches to the best of my knowledge.

Kailh Box Mute Jade Bottom Housing Internals — **Figure 9:** Kailh Box Muted Jade bottom housing internal design showing box mechanism covered (left) and open (right).

Looking at the exterior of the bottom housings, the five pin, white-opaque housings have a few slight deviations from normally expected switch designs. The first, and much more subtle point which I want to note is that the stem central pole region appears to be not only significantly thicker in diameter than other MX style switches, but much more flat and shorter as well. Relative to other iterations of Box switches both new and old alike, it’s also worth noting that this region is strangely completely covered whereas some older generations had intentional holes in bottom of the central pole region. Next to this is what appears to be a thickened bottoming out pad which sits directly underneath that of the activating lever in the Box mechanism of the bottom housing. This padded region does also appear to shorten the extra stage of material around the left most PCB pin, which is traditionally similar in size to that of the right most one. The final detail worth noting here is the pair of mold markings on the bottom housings. On the left-hand side there is a single number mold marking facing inwards and on the right-hand side there is a number and letter code facing externally, assumedly used in marking molds or machines used to make the bottom housings.

Kailh Box Mute Jade Bottom Housing Externals — **Figure 10:** Kailh Box Muted Jade bottom housing externals showing pair of mold markings in either corner as well as sealed central pole region.

Push Feel

From their earliest announcement all the way back in the first Summer video with Mike, the Kailh Box Mute Jades were stated as being similar but not identical to that of the push feeling of the normal Box Jade switches. To some degree, Mike is entirely correct with this statement as these definitely don’t feel like normal Box Jades. The first and most prominent feature that I noted was the pronounced pre-clickbar linear travel region. Commonly seen in switches with extremely steep spikes in force required to get over clickbars or tactile bumps on the stem legs, linear pretravel refers to a miniature region in the stroke of a switch in which you can push the stem for a fraction of a millimeter or so up to the tactile event and then back to rest without ever having activated this switch nor crossing the mechanism. While clickbars of high activation force have had slight linear pretravel regions before, the extra muting bar in the top housing effectively prevents the bar from flexing as much under the force of the stem, causing a noticeable spike in force to get over the bar and thus increasing the noticeability of the linear pretravel region. As well, its worth noting that this increased force leads to a significantly decreased chance of accidentally exiting the linear pretravel region relative to that of other clickbar switches. (These details are also noted in the peak mechanism force of 75g for the Box Mute Jades versus that of the 70g peak force in the normal Box Jades.)

Once the linear pre-travel region is passed, though, the tactile bump of the clickbar mechanism is reached followed fairly shortly by a bottoming out. Due to the muting bar mechanism here, the tactile bump is actually rather interesting as it carries just a tinge of the metallic sharpness that clickbars normally have while also leading to a slightly more rounded, medium strength tactile bump not unlike that of lighter to medium strength tactile MX switches. Two extra details worth noting about this bump, though, is that it is both slightly scratchy in nature as well as noticeably less harsh than would be implied by the spring weight of these switches. Likely due to the fact that the force caused by the clickbar mechanism is not entirely based in the spring of the switches, unlike that of normal MX style tactiles, these definitely do feel much less imposing than marketing like a 75g. peak activation force may imply. As for the ‘scratchiness’ of the tactile bump, I have previously referred to this phenomenon as ‘singular’ versus ‘grainy’ feeling tactile bumps, in which this would definitely fall under the grainer side.

Kailh Box Mute Jade Force Curve — **Figure 11:** Kailh Box Mute Jade force curve as provided from Kailh spec sheet.

Beyond the new muting bar mechanism described above, though, the Box Mute Jades are fairly on par with other stock Box switch offerings regarding the push feel. While they are hardly the smoothest stock switch out there in their linear pre- and post-bar regions, they’re smooth enough such that they don’t absolutely require modification out of the box. (No pun intended.) Additionally, the bottoming out is fairly subtle and quite firm, with a topping out that is decently firm but also a bit thinner given the difference in mechanical thickness between the top and bottom housings.

Sound

As for the sound of these switches, they are definitely one of the more unique sounds to have came from a switch that is marketed as ‘clicky’ by name and design. To a surprising degree, the muting bar mechanism actually does significantly alter the sound of these switches from a traditionally sharp, high pitched, and singular piercing noise notable of Box Jade switches to that of a much more subdued, scratchy, and flatter sound matching that of the push feel description above. Broadly speaking, these don’t sound all that much different from an average performing tactile switch with slightly underperforming factory lube, though the sound is much more ‘distilled’ and clear here given that the mechanism making the sound is open to the outside of the switch rather than being fully internally located like in a tactile bump of a traditional, MX style switch. While I have previously described aggressively long-pole switches like Moyu Blacks as “tactiles for clicky fans”, the Box Mute Jades sound like clicky switches for tactile fans.

One rather subtle point that I do want to note, though, is that there is a pretty noticeable spread in sound of these switches across the batch that I received from Novelkeys. While the vast majority have a sound in the significantly dulled range that I described above in the previous paragraph, approximately 20-30% of the switches in my batch actually had a bit sharper of a sound to them even through the dampening. These switches with issues, though, interestingly sounded much more reminiscent of that of actual Box Jade switches, carrying slightly sharper and higher pitched tones. With even these slightly sharper variants having their own range in sharpness as well, it does point to perhaps some systemic manufacturing issues leading to a pretty wide degree of variability in the Mute Box Jade switches. As funny as it may be, though, to some degree I actually personally prefer these minority ‘variant’ switches a bit more as they sound much more like what I would think of as a “muted Jade” switch than what appears to be the actual intended product.

Wobble

The stem wobble on these switches, in both the N/S and E/W directions is as expected not entirely all that great nor overly poor. Falling very much in line with other previous Box switch releases, these have a noticeable but not overwhelming amount of stem wobble that will likely not bother anyone who chooses to use them. As well, the top housings have no budge to them whatsoever due to the iconic winglatch style design, as to be expected. Interestingly, I do want to note that the spec sheet has a small region of interest marked as an ‘Angle of Slope of Shaft’ diagram, shown below, that I haven’t felt all the inclined to share previously but find highly interesting in the current moment. Appearing to show clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW) rotations on this diagram, it would appear that Kailh expects that the tolerances of their has at maximum a one degree rotational ‘wobble’ which I find particularly interesting given that I naturally have felt measuring N/S and E/W wobble to be more indicative of normal use cases rather than a rotational wobble.

Measurements

To date, I have not devised a good way to effectively measure the stems nor housings of Box style switches in the same way that I do for normal, MX-style stems and switches. Additionally, the fact that the measurement sheet also doubles as a means by which someone can effectively test frankenswitching combinations between stems and top housings to estimate wobble without actually having to try the switches first kind of kills the inclusion of the Kailh Box Muted Jades as Box style stems are incompatible with traditional MX style housings. Additionally, it’s worth noting that even on their own, there are a few design details which makes Box switch stems hard to measure in the same fashion, such as:

- The center pole is completely surrounded by the external design of the stem making it impossible to measure the non-tapered gauge of the stem like Measurement E typically does.

- The slider rails on the sides of the switches have an almost concave like top to them in which the edges of the rails stick out slightly higher than the center in a pointed fashion, making them hard to make Measurement F.

- Due to the square nature of the dustproof style stems, Measurements A and B are identical. (As well, its assumed X and Y are as well for the top housing.)

- The slider rails are not centered on the B side of the stem, making measurements like D impossible to functionally use for calculations.

- The lack of slider rails in the bottom housings make Measurements L and O impossible.

Perhaps in time I will devise a way to go about measuring these features, but for the current moment I wanted to partially address why you don’t see them here in this review. If you by chance made it this far and have absolutely no clue what any of the measurement letters refer to, I would like to point you to the Switch Measurement Sheet in the Archive tab at the top right corner of the website.

Comparison Notes to Other Notable Clicky Switches

Note – These are not aimed at being comprehensive comparisons between all factors of these switches as this would simply be too long for this writeup. These are little notes of interest I generated when comparing these switches to the Box Mute Jades side by side.

Various Mechanical Keyboard Switches — **Figure 13:** Switches for comparison. (L-R, Top-Bot: Kailh Box Jade, Kailh Box Navy, Cherry MX Blue, Gateron Blue Ink V2, TTC Brother, Kailh Pro Light Green)

If you would like to learn more about these switches, I’ve already completed reviews or scorecards for some of them. If the names below are highlighted in a grey color, click them to be taken to my other content or reviews on them!

Kailh Box Jade

- Comparing the push feel of these two switches, the Box Jades feel significantly stronger through their clickbar, though it is much easier to “accidentally” activate it from the linear pre-travel region than that of the Mute Jade switches.

- With regard to the intended sound of the Box Mute Jades, they are hardly recognizable as a ‘muted jade’ when comparing the two switches. All of the sharpness, pointedness, and in-your-face-ness of the original Jade switches feels completely missing and not toned down in the Mute Jades.

- Regarding the stem wobble of these two switches, the Box Mute Jades feel slightly less wobbly in both directions as compared to the original Box Jade switches, which may be likely due to simple mold and manufacturing improvements over the previous years since the initial release of the Jades.

Kailh Box Navy

- Much like with the notes above for the Kailh Box Jade switches, the Navies have a certain volume, tone, and sharpness to their sound that is simply nowhere to be found in the Mute Jade switches. The only similarity I would draw here is that they are tonally more similar than the Box Jades and Mute Jades due to the deeper and less high-pitched sound they share.

- Features such as smoothness, bottoming out, and topping out feeling between these two switches is shared almost in entirety. As well, the noted point above about slight improvements in stem wobble between the Mute Jades and Box Jades also appears to hold true here as well.

- In terms of force required to get over the clickbar bump in the switch, the Box Navies feel a bit closer to that of the Mute Jades than the original Box Jade switches do.

Cherry MX Blue

- Even though I feel hard pressed to call the Box Mute Jade switches truly “clicky” in a sense, they still sound leaps and bounds better than the classic Cherry MX Blues purely based on the lack of grainy, plasticky, and springy tones from everyone’s (least) favorite click jacket mechanism.

- In terms of topping out and bottoming out feeling, the Cherry MX Blues do marginally outpace the Kailh Box Mute Jades, though this is not entirely surprising given the hobby’s general fondness for Cherry nylon housings.

- Regarding the stem wobble, it is also no surprise to many people that the Kailh Box Mute Jades also beat out the Cherry MX Blue switches in both N/S and E/W directions.

TTC Brother

- Scratchiness in the sound of the Box Mute Jades aside, the depth in tone of the TTC Brother’s click mechanism is actually fairly comparable to the depth of sound of the Box Mute Jades. I’m not entirely sure how this similarity in performance was reached out of all of those on this list, but who am I to judge.

- In terms of stem wobble, these two switches are also surprisingly close to one another, both slightly edging out previous Kailh Box switches designs by a thin margin.

- Regarding the actual push feel of the TTC Brother switches, the overall tactile bump from the click mechanism feels much smaller and more singular than that of the Box Mute Jades, which feels wide and grainy by comparison.

Gateron Ink Blue V2

- The improvement in the clicking mechanism of the Gateron Ink Blue V2 switches actually removes not only a lot of the grainy, plasticky, and scratchy sounds that click jacket mechanisms have become known for, but have also made them roughly on par with the Box Mute Jades with respect to this metric.

- Additionally, while the push feel might feel more singular and sharper in the Gateron Ink Blue V2 switches than the Mute Jades, they are also fairly close to each other wish respect to the graininess in their click mechanism.

- The Kailh Box Mute Jades are better than the Gateron Ink Blue V2 switches with respect to stem wobble in both the N/S and E/W directions.

Kailh Pro Light Green

- In terms of overall sound, while the Kailh Pro Light Greens are slightly higher pitched than that of the Mute Jades, they are surprisingly similar in terms of overall volume and the closest comparison out of this initial comparison list.

- The tactile bump of the clicking mechanism in the Kailh Pro Light Greens, though, feels a lot less grainy than that of the Kailh Box Mute Jades.

- There is a certain metallic crunch and/or grinding sound present in the Kailh Pro Light Green switches that is simply not present in any capacity in the Box Mute Jade switches.

Bonus Round

Given the modified nature of the Kailh Box Mute Jade switches, it seemed fitting that I should also compare these to the classic modified clicky switch in Cherry MX ‘Jailhouse’ Blues. Outfitted with some form of O-ring between the stem and the clickjacket mechanism, the one being used in this comparison actually came from Novelkeys back when they sold these in testers.

Cherry MX Jailhouse Blue

- The relatively firm O-ring used in the jailhousing modification of these Cherry MX Blues leads them to have a significantly more snappy feeling than that of the Mute Box Jades. From experience, squishier O-rings would likely cause the jailhoused switches to feel more in line with the Box Mute Jades.

- In terms of overall sound modification, the Cherry MX Jailhouse Blues are almost entirely silenced whereas the Box Mute Jades are turned more tactile sounding than clicky. Don’t worry though, the Cherry MX Jailhouse Blue still has plenty of scratch sound to it throughout the entirety of the stroke.

- As well, the addition of the O-ring in the jailhouse modification of the Cherry MX Blue switch did absolutely nothing to alter the stem wobble of the switch, continuing to make it significantly more wobbly than the Kailh Box Mute Jades.

Scores and Statistics

Note – These scores are not necessarily completely indicative of the nuanced review above. If you’ve skipped straight to this section, I can only recommend that you at least glance at the other sections above in order to get a stronger idea of my opinion about these switches.