Linear switch · sound test
Cherry MX Red
sound test.
Smooth all the way down, with no bump and no click. What you hear is the keystroke itself, which is why linears sound rounder than anything else here. Press any key to play a real Cherry MX Red board.
Choose a sound
This test needs JavaScript and audio enabled.
Press any key to start
What you are hearing
How a Red
actually sounds.
With nothing in the way of the stem, a Red produces one sound per press rather than two or three layered together: the bottom-out. It lands as a soft thock rather than a snap, and it is noticeably lower in pitch than the Blue.
The upstroke is audible too — a lighter tap as the key returns and meets the top of its travel. At 45 cN the spring is the lightest of the four, so the whole thing has less force behind it and comes across as the most even, least eventful sound of the set. It is the one people describe as easy to listen to for hours.
The player above is loaded with Ruby Thock, this site's name for the Cherry MX Red recording. Switch packs with the buttons and type the same sentence again — comparing two switches on identical text tells you far more than tapping one key on each.
Why it sounds that way
The mechanism
behind the noise.
A Red is a plain linear: the stem slides straight through its travel with a spring pushing back and no bump, collar, or click. There is no separate feedback event at all, which means the only way to know a key registered is that something happened on screen. Everything you hear is contact between plastic parts at either end of the travel.
- Operating force
- 45 cN
- Pre-travel
- 2 mm
- Total travel
- 4 mm
- Feel
- Linear — no bump, no click
The honest version
Who a Red
is really for.
Pick it if
- You type for hours at a time and want the least fatiguing sound of the four.
- You game, where light and consistent beats tactile feedback for rapid repeated presses.
- You like the deep, even thock that modern keyboard builds are usually chasing.
Skip it if
- You want to feel a key register. A Red gives you nothing, and people coming from tactile switches often bottom out hard for the first week to compensate.
- You make a lot of typos from resting your fingers on the keys — at 45 cN a Red is easy to actuate by accident.
Hear the others
Compare it
against the rest.
Or open the full keyboard sound lab to play all eight across an entire keyboard, and read the guide to getting these sounds on a Mac.
Head to head
Red against
the others.
Each page loads two recordings side by side, so you can type the same sentence on both and flip between them instantly.
Want to know whether the sound actually helps you type? Run a typing speed test with this switch playing on every keystroke.
Take it with you
Want a Red
on your Mac?
This page only makes sound while the tab is focused. TypeLouder plays the same Cherry MX Red recording system-wide — in your editor, your terminal, your email — on whatever keyboard you already own, through your speakers or privately through headphones.
It never reads or stores your keystrokes, and it has no network access at all.
Get TypeLouder — $2.99 one-timemacOS 15.5 or higher · No subscription
Good questions
Red
questions.
Are Cherry MX Reds quiet?
Quieter than a Blue and a little softer than a Brown, but not quiet. Removing the click and the bump takes away two of the noises, and what remains is the bottom-out, which still carries. A linear switch is a rounder, lower sound rather than an absent one.
What is the difference between a Cherry MX Red and a Black?
Only the spring. Both are plain linears with identical travel and no tactile event; the Red operates at 45 cN and the Black at around 60 cN. The Black's heavier spring makes it slower to actuate accidentally and gives it a deeper, more deliberate sound, while the Red is lighter and quicker.
Why do linear switches sound better in keyboard sound tests?
Because a linear only makes one sound per press, so it is the switch that most clearly reveals the board around it — the case, the plate, the keycaps, and any foam inside. The deep thock people chase in build videos comes mostly from that construction, and a linear is what lets you hear it.
Can I get the thock without building a keyboard?
The recording on this page is doing exactly that, and TypeLouder plays the same audio on a Mac while you type on whatever keyboard you already own. It will not change how your keys feel, but the sound is the part most people are actually after.
The audio on this page comes from a community-recorded sound pack of a Cherry MX Red board, used under the MIT licence. Cherry and Cherry MX are trademarks of their respective owner; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.