Summary
- Stick to one keycap profile, as mixing profiles can cause tactile unevenness.
- Match keycap materials because different plastics and printing techniques change the feel and sound of the keyboard.
- Choose keycaps from the same manufacturer or product line to keep the sound, style, and feel consistent.
If you have a mechanical keyboard, you’ve probably thought about mixing keycap sets—whether it’s a few accent keys or a full mix, it’s a fun way to make your board unique. However, before you begin, let’s go over a few key points to ensure your mix is just right.
Keycaps Come in Different Shapes and Sizes
Depending on how deep in the keyboard rabbit hole you are, you might know that keycaps come in many different so-called profiles. A keycap profile refers to the general shape and height of the keycap, which directly affects how it feels when you type. Contour, height, and angle are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a set of keycaps.
The most common profiles are OEM, Cherry, SA, DSA, and XDA. OEM and Cherry are likely the ones you’re most familiar with, as they are the most popular. Both have a medium height and a sculpted shape that makes them comfortable to type on. The main difference is that Cherry is slimmer, has a less pronounced angle, and feels more consistent between rows, while OEM is slightly taller with a slightly steeper slope.
In contrast, XDA and DSA provide a very different typing experience. These keycaps have a uniform row height and angle, giving a flatter, more consistent feel across the keyboard. XDA is slightly taller and has a larger, more spherical top, providing more surface area for your fingers, whereas DSA feels a bit snappier and more precise.
The SA keycap profile is in a league of its own. Just like Cherry and OEM, SA keycaps are sculpted, but they’re significantly taller and chunkier. This helps them achieve a super thocky sound profile, but SA keycaps can feel challenging to type on for some people.
Remember, this is just a high-level overview of the most popular keycap profiles and should provide you with a reference point for buying other types, such as KAT, MT3, MDA, ASA, and so on. As long as your keyboard uses switches with a standard MX-style stem, these keycaps should be interchangeable.
The important thing to know is that not all keycap profiles feel good if you mix them blindly. For example, moving from a sculpted profile like Cherry to a flat one like XDA can feel jarring, even if their relative height isn’t drastically different.
This inconsistent height between individual keycaps or rows creates a tactile unevenness, kind of like a “wobbly staircase.” The distance between rows feels uneven, and you’ll notice abrupt dips and peaks when typing quickly. I’ve tried mixing all kinds of keycap profiles in different positions, and honestly, it never felt as smooth as using a single profile across the board.
To complicate matters further, even if an online set claims to be a specific profile, it doesn’t always strictly match the dimensions of other sets. Even a few millimeters of difference between adjacent keycaps can create an annoying tactile mismatch, which defeats the purpose of mixing profiles.
That’s why I strongly recommend sticking to the same keycap profile, and to avoid manufacturer discrepancies, stick to one manufacturer you like, if possible.
Keycap Materials and Finishes Don’t Always Mix
While the keycap profile is probably the most important thing to pay attention to when mixing and matching keycaps, it’s not the only factor. Keycaps can be made from many different materials, with the most popular being PBT, ABS, and, to a much lesser extent, POM.
A few niche materials like wood, resin, and metal can also be used for keycaps, but those are typically reserved for one or two accent keys, such as Esc and Enter (and those are usually fine to mix and match how you please).
While mixing the same profile using different materials is fine, it’s not going to make for a consistent typing experience as using the same kind of material. ABS feels more slippery, whereas PBT is usually more matte.
However, while the material is relevant for long-term wear, it alone doesn’t fully determine the finish when the keycaps are new. The manufacturer can polish a grainy PBT keycap to feel smooth, or texture ABS to feel more like PBT when it’s new. I personally don’t like mixing materials, as I find it creates an unpleasant tactile feel, but it’s not as bad a problem as mixing different profiles.
One more thing I should point out is the method used to apply the legends (letters and symbols) onto the keycaps—such as double-shot, dye-sub, UV printing, laser etching, etc. While this doesn’t matter that much, it’s worth noting that not all double-shot keycaps are made equal, which can have a drastic impact on the sound of the keycaps.
For example, double-shot keycaps use two pieces of plastic: one for the legend and one for the exterior. Some double-shot keycaps only use a small piece of plastic at the top for the legend, while others use a partial or full-injection double-shot process, meaning the two plastics are fused together throughout, not just at the top.
To show you what I mean, compare these three types of keycaps in the picture below.
The reason keycaps are made this way is to save material and, therefore, cost. As you might expect, a keycap with less plastic is lighter and sounds more hollow, which is why it’s best to try to source keycaps that are fully injected, though determining the type of injection from online listings alone isn’t always possible.
If you don’t pay attention to this and mix, for example, Cherry profile keycaps that look and feel similar on the surface but have different amounts of injection, you might notice a subtle sound inconsistency from key to key that’s hard to pinpoint. Now that you know about this little-known quirk, it will be much easier to make your keyboard sound consistent throughout.
Stick to One Product Line for Best Results
When you’re mixing keycaps, consistency is key (pun intended). That’s how you’ll get the best results in terms of sound, style, and feel. To make your life easier, buy keycap sets from the same manufacturer and, ideally, product line. This way, you’ll know everything from the profile to the materials and the legend application is equal.
For instance, both the KeyKobo Sacred Timeline and KeyKobo Soju R2 are made by the same manufacturer, are double-shot ABS, and have Cherry profile keycaps. If you like both sets, you could buy them and mix them however you like, and they would still look and feel consistent.
- Form factor
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Full-size
- Keycaps
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ABS
The KeyKobo Sacred Timeline is a Cherry profile ABS keycap set inspired by the TVA organization from the Loki TV show. It features retro-futuristic novelties and 1970s-inspired colors. The keycaps use triple-shot sublegends for the alphas, double-shot and pad-printed novelties, and are compatible with MX-style switches.
Mixing keycaps is a great way to bring new life to your mechanical keyboard. If you already have a few keycap sets and want to make do with what you have, pay close attention to the nuances outlined above. This way, you can create a keyboard that looks unique without compromising typing feel or sound. Have fun swapping keycaps around!
