Gateron Melodic Switch Review

At least once or twice throughout my many years in the mechanical keyboard hobby, I may have been accused of taking things a bit too seriously. I know that it’s a bit of a shocking thought that I, the single guy who has been writing books about switches every other week for over four years now, could be someone who could have even jokingly received criticism as such. However, I’m telling you that I’m (mostly) reformed. And from that questionably reformed moral high horse, I would like to remind all of you here today to go outside and touch some grass. Mechanical keyboards, as a whole, is a hobby based on buying expensive metal rectangles and ogling over colorful plastics to go in, on, and around those metal rectangles. At almost no point in your time in the hobby should it be taken any more seriously than that. While certain people who take things a step too far and exit scam or deliberately inflict financial damage onto others via their behavior are more than deserving of their own circle in hell, there is no reason to push nearly anybody out of the hobby nor should you feel like you can or should go out of your way to treat them poorly because of differences between you and them. (Yes, this even applies to how I feel about people who are Topre fans.) The hobby is large enough, diverse enough, and crazy enough to accommodate all of us and if you think that isn’t true than I encourage you to do some more digging or just try stepping into the 40% Keyboard Discord even once. Now while all of that rambling may seem a bit out of place to the majority of you here, just know that this has been spurred on by some recent, incredibly tasteless behavior by a community member that shall not be named. It makes me quite upset to think that that person could consider themselves part of the same community that I do and simultaneously treat other members of the community with such misplaced hostility, vitriol, and bigotry born out of some deeply problematic part of themselves. And so while I say that we should be inclusive and warming to all and not go out of our way to ruin anyone else’s expensive rectangle fun time, please allow me to be hypocritical and take one last parting shot at this bigoted individual referenced above as I address this for the last time. Now, watch this drive.

**Figure 1:** Trust me that this is the one time you should walk away from a review of mine feeling better for not understanding something if you have no idea what this is referencing already.

Anyways, let’s go ahead and get on to discussing some fun colorful plastic that goes into our fancy rectangles.

Switch Background

In the decade that has elapsed since Cherry’s patent on the MX style mechanical keyboard switch has expired, it’s hard to argue that anything short of explosive growth has happened in the design and availability of switches in this style. In the roughly 30 years that passed between when Cherry MX Blacks were first introduced all the way back in the early 1980’s up to 2014, the evolution of MX style switches was basically linear. Analogously, these may as well have been finches growing slightly larger beaks as time went on. But, as soon as the patents for Cherry’s designs lapsed, the MX footprint for switches has set out on a path of damn near hyper-genesis. Instead of finches growing larger beaks every so often, the switches are morphing from finches into dinosaurs with lasers coming out of their eyes like that one Godzilla movie. While many vintage keyboard enthusiasts may roll their eyes at that claim knowing full well how variegated the designs and mechanisms of switches of old were compared to the ‘traditional MX’ footprint, I’d encourage them to take a look at just the last few years of releases. New technologies have been developed in the MX footprint allowing for metal coatings on the outside of switches, conversion of various parts of the stems into metal inside of the switches, nearly a half dozen new dampening mechanisms for silent switches by brands like Kailh and LICHICX, and even completely novel click mechanisms as have been seen in Novelkeys Cream Clickie switches. Mind you that all of these have taken place in parallel to the revitalization of ‘older’ switch technologies like the Aristotle-style click mechanisms in TKC Blackberries and click leaves in Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez. While I briefly touched on click leaves somewhere in my over 10,000 word Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez Switch Review, I admittedly only did so while talking about ProWorld switches. The technology is actually much more broadly used across the wide world of switch designs and more much more narrowly of interest here leading into a breakdown of the new Gateron Melodics.

**Figure 2:** You know, these funky looking things.

While I will be the first to objectively claim with zero bias that MX-style switches are the premier format for mechanical keyboard switches, I do have to be a touch honest in recognizing that click leaves are largely a technology that was introduced and mastered outside of MX switches. According to DeskThority, which is barely hanging on for dear life as of the time of writing this review, the first instances of click leaves appeared in Fujitsu Magnetic Reed switches all the way back in the late 1970’s. However, this technology would not remain solely in the production of Fujitsu’s switches as it was modified and adapted by Alps into several iterations of SKCL and SKCM switches throughout the 1980’s which have since become commonly thought of as the shining posterchildren of the click leaf mechanism by mechanical keyboard hobbyists. Even as Alps’ switch production slowly dried up and they ultimately ended up closing shop, their execution of the click leaf mechanism was so iconic that it has since propagated into the designs being made by modern day Alps clone brands like Tai-Hao and Hua-Jie. Throughout all of these iterations, though, click leaves have consistently been small, thin pieces of metal sheets which are fastened at one end into the internal base of the switch and bent downwards at the other end in such a way as to protrude into the path of the stem of the switch. As the stem is pushed in to register a keystroke, the stem temporarily deflects the bent part of the metal leaf which then snaps back into place after the stem clears past it. This snapping back into place motion, as well as design features inherent to the leaves and stems being used, are what produce a clicking noise and/or a tactile event within the switch. Examples of what various click leaves look like outside of their switches may be found below in Figure 3.

**Figure 3:** Image of different click and tactile leaves of various shape and sizes shamelessly stolen from Deskthority given the recent blackouts in service.

Even with the click leaf mechanism being popularized by Alps SKCL and SKCM switches, the first MX style switches that I’m aware of to feature this mechanism were that of the ProWorld Clickies. Introduced in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s as discussed more in depth in my Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez Switch Review, these switches featured broader top housings and an overall bulkier construction in order to accommodate a removable click leaf while remaining within the MX footprint. However, this technology has really only seen sparse adoption between this starting point and present day. The few examples I am aware of include Taiwan Jet Axis White and Dai-Ichi MX Clicky Yellow and Black switches, though some vintage keyboard collectors I know believe there may be a few other examples out there yet to be properly documented within the MX footprint. While one may immediately think that this sparse design adoption must be due to some difficulty in production or installation of the click leaves given their more complex nature than most modern clicky mechanisms, I would argue that this likely isn’t the case as the leaves of Alps switches were likely stamped out of metal, bent, and injected into a switch via assembly line in a very similar fashion to that of how modern MX-style switch leaves are today. Perhaps a much more reasonable guess as to this lack of adoption is likely based around the much more narrow internal space available in the traditional MX footprint to accommodate extra internal design features. After all, the Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez which revived this mechanism in modern MX switches in late 2021 also did so by expanding their top housing sizes similar to that of both ProWorlds and Taiwan Jet Axis before them. Determined to show this internal space constraint as not being a limiting factor, though, Gateron has recently debuted their Gateron Melodic switches at the latest of a very narrow set of attempts at click leaf switches within the MX footprint.

First debuted in December of 2023, Gateron Melodic switches are a clicky switch that not only feature a majority of Gateron’s recent design improvements and mold upgrades, but also feature an entirely new designs for a click leaf mechanism and the interface between the stem slider rails and bottom housing guider rails. While only initially available via Gateron’s direct storefront at onset, these switches have gained a decent amount of community attention and subsequent western-facing vendor support in the first few months of 2024. (An unusual amount of community attention for being a clicky switch, in fact.) Regardless of where they are purchased from, though, they appear to be fetching a price of $0.65 per switch as of the writing of this review. While no explicit statements have been made from Gateron regarding their longevity or if they plan to continually produce this switch moving forward, given the premium design features of them as well as the immense R&D time that likely went into their execution, it can be assumed that they will likely be available for quite some time in the future.

**Figure 4:** Marketing renders of Melodics from Gateron showing new stem shapes and location of click leaf mechanism.

Melodic Performance

Appearance

At the highest level, the Gateron Melodic switches come in a pink and blue color scheme with a transparent pink polycarbonate top housing, opaque light pink colored stem, and baby blue nylon bottom housing. Internally, these switches feature 20.00 mm long silver springs of normal threading rated for approximately 50 grams of bottom out force. While these switches may not necessarily look all that different from most other MX-style switches at a distance, they are absolutely teeming with unique features across all three major components upon closer inspection. A breakdown of the unique and not so unique features of each of the housing components may be found below in the following paragraphs.

**Figure 5:** Gateron Melodic switches and their components.

Looking first to the transparent pink polycarbonate top housings of the Gateron Melodic switches, these initially do not look all that different from most modern, premium Gateron switches. The two features which immediately distinguish the Melodic top housings as coming from the more premium lineup of offerings is that of the inverted ‘GATERON’ nameplate and the half-height LED diffusing bubble that has most recently been seen in Gateron’s Jupiter set of switches. However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen from the outside that the left hand side of the bubble is not uniformly filled in with plastic underneath like the rest of the bubble. Flipping the top housing over, this portion of the LED diffusing bubble is not only hollow but also features a thin vertical outcropping not present in other switches to date. The purpose of this outcropping is to compress the click leaf in the bottom housings of the Melodics, and without this compression, the leaf does not bend forward enough into the bottom housing to interact with the stem upon pressing. (In fact, I did not discover this was even present until after I had tried activating the click leaf in a switch that had had its top housing removed for better visual inspection.) Beyond this outcropping, though, there are no other distinctive features of the Melodic top housings that separate them from other Gateron switches. Like most other premium offerings, the molds markings for the top housings come in the form of capital letters in both the upper left- and right-hand corners underneath the nameplate region on the inside of the switch.

**Figure 6:** Gateron Melodic top housing external design showing inverted 'GATERON' nameplate and asymmetrical, mid-height LED bubble covering the LED/diode slot.

**Figure 7:** Gateron Melodic top housing internal design showing mold markings in upper left- and right- hand corners as well as underside of asymmetrical LED bubble with outcropping for compacting the click leaf.

**Figure 8:** Angled view of Gateron Melodic top housing interior showing protruding clip in LED bubble used to compress click leaf for proper mechanism activation.

Moving next to the opaque pink POM stems of the Gateron Melodic switches, its honestly a bit incredible just how many unique design features they managed to cram into them. The most obviously distinctive feature of their design is that of the raised, split hollow slider rails on the sides of the stem. As can be seen below in the bottom housing internal design photographs, the Gateron Melodics also feature a brand new guider rail design, in addition to their new click leaves, which come in the form of a centered ‘third rail’ that slides inside of the stem slider rails when the stem is pressed. While no modern MX-style switch has had guided rails modified out of the existing MX platform in quite this fashion, there have been a few which have had interlocking housing and stem designs to aid in up and down travel straightness, though they invoked the design of the Taiwan Jet Axis switches in doing so. As was covered in my Taiwan Jet Axis Switch Review, the guided rail system seen there relies on poles mounted on the top housings which slide into vertical circular cutouts present roughly where the slider rails are in modern switches like the Gateron Melodics. As well, these Jet Axis switches featured no guiding rail systems in the bottom housings making for a much more hollow bottom housing interior. Given the raised nature of the hollow Melodic slider rails on the stems, these are the first MX stems I’ve measured to have a complete cross-stem width that is beyond the 9.00 mm mark, measuring in at 9.61 mm wide. In addition to these unique slider rails, the lower left-hand side of the backplate of the Melodic stems also feature a unique square outcropping that acts as the portion of the stem that rakes across the click leaf during normal usage. This outcropping is especially more easily seen in the marketing photos from Gateron as shown above in Figure 4, above. Beyond these two unique features, the rest of the stem design for the Gateron Melodics is largely mundane and includes points I otherwise commonly note like the small mold ejector circles located above the stem legs on the front plate as well as the fact that the back plate of these stems is angled rather than squared off.

**Figure 9:** Back and front sides of Gateron Melodic stems showing their expanded, hollow slider rails and angled backplates.

**Figure 10:** Angled view of Gateron Melodic stem backside showing hollow slider rail construction and click leaf actuation nub on far right-hand side of image.

**Figure 11:** Size comparison between Gateron Melodic click leaf and stem. Note that the small, raised portion of the leaf is what interfaces with the stem during usage. The large flat end is what is wedged into the bottom housing.

Finally arriving at the baby blue nylon bottom housings of the Gateron Melodic switches, these too pack in an impressive amount of features as they directly interact with the plethora of new design points noted above in the stems. The first feature which jumped out to my eyes upon opening the switch is that of the click leaf located in the lower left hand corner of bottom housing. Taking up roughly 20-25% of the horizontal span of the LED slot much like that of the top housing asymmetrical LED outcropping noted above, the click leaf is secured in the housing by being wedged in between the outer wall and a pair of lateral outcroppings that are best seen in the marketing photos from Gateron in Figure 4, above. The click leaf, itself, is only about 1.08 mm at its widest point where the stem interacts with it and is made of a silver-colored metal that is presumably steel. As a result of the click leaf storage location taking up a portion of the LED region, its also interesting to note that Gateron shifted the external plate clip rightwards in order to center it in the remaining LED space available with this switch. As a result, when viewed from the front the Gateron Melodic housings appear asymmetrical in nature.

**Figure 12:** Angled view of Gateron Melodic bottom housing interior showing location of click leaf outcropping and 'third rail' stem guider system.

**Figure 13:** Head-on view of complete Gateron Melodic switch showing bottom housing plate clip being off-center relative to the centerline drawn through the switch's stem.

The second feature of note inside of the Gateron Melodic bottom housings is that of the ‘third rail’ guiding system present in the slider rails. Located dead center of the guider rails on both sides, it is interesting that the width of the guider rail is not consistent laterally nor vertically. Laterally, the third rail is winged at the furthest point away from the housing in order to ‘lock’ it into the stem when inserted and prevent side-to-side stem wobble. Vertically, the third rails are also thin and then flare out to a much wider, flatter appearance about 1/5th of the way down their length. The reason for this is unknown to me.

**Figure 14:** Top-down view of Gateron Melodic stem in housing without a spring showing the interlocking effect of the hollow stem slider rails and third-rail guider rails in the bottom housing.

Beyond these two large defining features of the Gateron Melodic switches, though, the bottom housings otherwise have fairly normal design points. Internally they also feature a mild south side spring collar and small dampening pads at the bottom of their slider rails. Externally, the Melodics clearly only come in 5 Pin/PCB mount configuration and also feature a series of mold markings similar to that of other premium Gateron switch offerings. This specifically refers to the inverted capital letters present in the lower left- and right- hand sides of the bottom housing exterior as well as the sideways ‘GATERON’ anticounterfeiting mark present between the metal PCB pins. As well, I did find it a bit interesting to see the lower right hand side of the LED slot blocked out from the outcropping used to house the click leaf in the switch.

**Figure 15:** Gateron Melodic bottom housing internal design showing location of click leaf in lower left-hand corner, innovative new guider rail system, south side spring collar, and front-side asymmetry.

**Figure 16:** Gateron Melodic bottom housing external design showing 5-pin/PCB mounting posts, anticounterfeit mold marking between the metal PCB pins, and LED slot asymmetry from the click leaf mechanism.

Push Feel

While the Gateron Melodics are the second switch which I’ve reviewed in full that have a click leaf mechanism in them, I have to admit that my takeaway experience with their push feeling was pretty substantially different than when I had tried the clicky mode Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez. In that review, I had constructed the push feel section by comparing and contrasting the different modes of the Clickiez switches, and given that the clicky mode came after that of the tactile one, the majority of the comparison was pointing to how the clicky mode felt like a ‘baby tactile mode’. However, upon trying a click leaf switch like the Gateron Melodics on their own, I think referring to the push feeling of a mechanism like this as tactile-like in any way is a bit misleading. Sure, the force curve below this paragraph very clearly shows a bump that more or less could be considered ‘tactile’ on paper, though I think this interpretation is missing a key bit of nuance. A tactile bump has a ramp up in force to some peak point followed by a fairly symmetrical curve down in force. Even clicky switches which have click jackets or click bars, to a degree, have this similar sort of rise up to a peak force followed by a symmetrical return back down to baseline, even if it is incredibly short. The Gateron Melodic switches, though, have more of an asymmetrical construction to their “bump” in which there is a linear increase in force up to 1.50 mm of displacement followed by a sharp, sudden drop off in force. Without that rise up and symmetrical return down in force, you end up with a feeling in hand that is basically two different linear regions that are separated in a step change-like fashion by an incredibly short bubble-popping sensation about halfway through the downstroke. Further surprising is that this is really the only thing I feel in Melodics. Even with the click leaf removed, the housing collisions of these switches are almost completely unnoticeable, making for an almost floating linear experience that is punctuated by that click leaf-induced drop in force.

**Figure 17:** Force curve diagram for stock Gateron Melodic switch.

In addition to the more elegant interpretation and appreciation I now have for the click leaf mechanism in action, I should also stress that the two separate linear travel regions in the Melodic’s push feeling are also quite technically sound as well. As was noted above in the ‘Appearance’ section, the Melodic switches clearly had premium design features put into the mold-level details, though it did not just stop there. The factory lubing that is present on the stems produces a quite smooth feeling throughout the stroke of any given switch and was incredibly consistent in its application across the batch that I received in a similar fashion to that of some other premium Gateron offerings which I’ve reviewed to date. However, it should be noted that the factory lube is a bit heavier than quite a few other modern lubed switches and thus it is a touch more noticeable in the hand than not. Regardless of this, though, I’m actually fairly impressed that the factory lube worked this well given the increased surface area between the stems and bottom housings as a result of their third rail guiding system. Switches like the Taiwan Jet Axes that also feature increased housing-stem interfaces than traditional MX-style switches largely seem to suffer from increased scratch even when lubed by hand in my experience and I assume this is largely as a result of that increased surface area for contact with the stems. So while the factory lube in the Gateron Melodics may be a bit more heavy handed and feel a touch more gummy than other, more delicately lubed switches, the fact that these are just largely smooth overall with extra area for friction to occur is quite honestly a feat in and of itself.

Sound

Without any other pretense leading into this description, I think a great way to really nail the overall sound profile of the Gateron Melodics is to return immediately to the ‘bubble popping’ analogy used in the push feeling notes above. Strikingly similar qualities to how one would physically describe a bubble, the click leaves in the Melodics sound light, airy, thin, and only the vaguest bit metallic as they ‘pop’ with their sharpened, medium-high pitched sound. They sound more crisp than any click jacket could attempt to match with their mechanism while also maintaining a certain amount of hollowness that is absent from the comparatively heavy, pen-clicking like sound that people associate with traditional click bar clickies. In a way, these are among the most refreshingly light clicky switches I’ve ever tried that actually deliver a substantial enough volume of sound as to actually register as clicky switches instead of only accidentally so while also not being overly aggressive on the ears. Given that there is basically no sound that is noticeable from the housing collisions, and the heavy factory lubing present largely dampens the majority of the sound of these switches save for some subtle large grain scratch that can be heard at lower typing speeds, these switches are almost entirely characterized by their short and bubbly click leaf sound. It’s a certain amount of elegance I simply can’t describe in any more words than that, regardless of my tendency to ramble.

Wobble

Surprisingly, given all of the internal design details poured into the stems and the bottom housings that should, in theory, reduce stem wobble in these switches, there is still a noticeable amount of equal magnitude N/S and E/W direction stem wobble. Is it going to really bother anybody? No, almost certainly not unless they are sensitive to it. However, I really had expected there to be damn near no wobble in these switches whatsoever and they clearly did not live up to that.

Measurements

If you’re into this level of detail about your switches, you should know that I have a switch measurement sheet that logs all of this data, as well as many other cool features which can be found under the ‘Archive’ tab at the top of this page or by clicking on the card above. Known as the ‘Measurement Sheet’, this sheet typically gets updated weekly and aims to take physical measurements of various switch components to compare mold designs on a brand-by-brand basis as well as provide a rough frankenswitching estimation sheet for combining various stems and top housings.

**Figure 19:** Numerical details regarding the stock Gateron Melodic switch force curve diagram.

The latest in the content-adjacent work that I’ve picked up, the new ‘Force Curve Repository’ is now hosted on GitHub alongside the Scorecard Repository and contains all force curves that I make both within and outside of reviews. In addition to having these graphs above, I have various other versions of the graphs, raw data, and my processed data all available for each switch to use as you please. Check it out via the ‘Archive’ tab at the top of this page or by clicking any of the force curve cards above.

Break In

Break In Notes

17,000 Actuations

- There was really no change to the performance of the Gateron Melodic switches after being broken in for 17,000 actuations save for a small increase in both N/S and E/W direction stem wobble. In case you are not aware, this is fairly common behavior amongst switches which I’ve done break in testing for so far.

34,000 Actuations

- Between 17,000 and 34,000 actuations, there wasn’t really any increase in the stem wobble or general performance of these switches whatsoever. The only thing that I did notice was that a few of the switches had a slightly different tone to their click, leading me to believe that under enough break in these switches may thus drift a little bit on their cross-batch consistency with respect to sound.

51,000 Actuations

- Out at 51,000 actuations, we again only see a minor increase in stem wobble from previous break in stages but really no other changes of note. In fact, I think these are among the switches that I’ve seen the least movement in performance in during break in testing and that is a bit surprising. While I would have expected the heavy factory lubrication to have moved around quite a bit at this point in the break in testing, I guess the more enclosed space between the stems and housings which traps that lubrication must help keep it in place more so than the traditional MX style internal design.

**Figure 21:** Comparative force curve diagram showing no distinctive trend in change of Gateron Melodic force curve diagrams throughout the break in process.

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 Gateron Melodic switches side by side.

Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez (40g)

- In terms of their overall sound profiles, the Clickiez switches have a much more rounded, full-bodied sound with higher pitched tones and bassy undertones whereas the Melodics are more singular, flat sounding, and much less imposing on the ears.

- While the actual ‘bump’ leading up to the click leaf mechanism in these two switches appear to be quite similar, the Clickiez are noticeably more heavy in the hand and feel as if they take quite a bit more force to not only ramp up to but brush past. As well, the housing collisions are much more noticeable in the Clickiez than in the Melodics.

- These two switches are decently comparable with respect to their stem wobble with the Melodics being perhaps just a hair more wobbly in both directions than the Clickiez. Regardless, it is quite close.

XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stem

- As to be expected from the Lotus Stems having a click jacket mechanism, their sound is much more grainy and plasticky in its tones that the comparatively clear and crisp bubble-like sound of the Gateron Melodic’s click leaves.

- Perhaps due to the more pointed nature of the ramp up to the actual click mechanism, the Gateron Melodics feel a bit more heavier at the point of their clicking mechanism actuating than do the XCJZ Jerrzi Lotus Stems. Much like the comparison made above with the Clickiez, though, the Lotus Stems have much more noticeable housing collisions than the Melodics.

- Even though these two switches sound wildly different in hand, they are surprisingly similar in terms of their overall volume. Generally I guess I’ve come to expect sharper, more refined clicky mechanisms to just be louder than click jackets, though I assume this must be some ingrained bias from thinking about Kailh Box Jade and Box Navies for all these years. The Melodics are definitely a quieter “refined” clicky.

Novelkeys Cream Clickie

- Much like with the Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez, the Novelkeys Cream Clickiez simply have a depth and complexity to their clicking sound that is not present in the Gateron Melodics. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that it’s bad that the Melodics are missing richer undertones to their clicks. Rather, it’s just surprising when comparing these switches in hand that the Melodics are incredibly simple sounding and don’t really try to do anything crazy beyond that.

- The Gateron Melodic switches are quite a bit better than the Novelkeys Cream Clickie switches in terms of both their N/S and E/W direction stem wobble.

- I think the comparison of these two switches is incredibly more intriguing after my recent revelation of how click leaves act to divide two distinctive linear regimes in a switch rather than actually form a tactile bump event of their at the top of this review. While the Clickie switches truly are the most linear clicky switch there is out there, it’s like comparing a single linear regime with a click in the Novelkeys Cream Clickie switches and a two linear regime switch with a click in the middle for the Gateron Melodics. They’re almost opposite ends of a spectrum I hadn’t considered existed before.

Cherry MX2A RGB Blue

- Even with Cherry’s improved MX2A platform, they still simply haven’t made Cherry MX Blues any better sounding than their original iterations. These click jackets are infinitely more rattly, grinding, and chaotic sounding than the Gateron Melodics and it’s not even close which one is technically ‘better’.

- The stem wobble of these two switches is fairly comparable, though as noted in my Cherry MX2A RGB Black Switch Review, this first batch of MX2A switches I received have a touch of housing budge that is otherwise missing in the Gateron Melodics.

- While their peak force from their clicking mechanisms are only separate by about 0.40 mm, or roughly 10% of their full stroke lengths, the Gateron Melodic switches feel as if their click happens significantly sooner in the downstroke than the MX2A RGB Blues when testing these switches out in hand.

Kailh Box Jade

- In terms of both volume as well as their overall sound profile, the Kailh Box Jades sound like the more aggressive, grown up version of the Gateron Melodics. To bring it into analogy, if the Box Jades were a mixed drink, then the Gateron Melodics would be the mocktail version – similar enough to be enjoyable but missing some of the more rich undertones and punching feeling delivered by the “real thing”.

- Like all other switches on this list, the housing collisions in the Kailh Box Jades are much more noticeable than the collisions in the Gateron Melodic switches. And to be entirely honest, that’s quite impressive given just how strong the click bar is in the Box Jades.

- Much like with the Zeal Clickiez comparison above, the Kailh Box Jades feel substantially heavier at the point of their click bar activating than the Gateron Melodics. It’s enough of a difference that these would be on opposite sides of the ‘medium tactility’ line if they were to be tactile switches instead of clickies.

TKC Blackberry

- While the TKC Blackberries’ Aristotle-style clicking mechanism is a more refined and clean version of the click jacket mechanism, even these do not deliver as singular, narrow, and pristine of a sound as the Gateron Melodic switches.

- As can be seen in their comparative force curves below, these switches feel pretty wildly different from each other in spite of both being the same type of switch. The TKC Blackberries, by comparison to the Melodics, feel almost linear and as if they don’t really have any tactile feedback through their mechanism.

- The Gateron Melodic switches are quite a bit better than the TKC Blackberry switches in terms of both their N/S and E/W direction stem wobbles.

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.