Mauve Linears: More of JWK Smoothness
This is a brief writeup on the colorful Mauve Linear switches.
TL;DR
The Mauve Linears can be considered as recolored Alpacas for all practical purposes. These are smooth, work well in stock form and can be filmed for that extra richness of sound.
Introduction and Structure
When a switch becomes so popular, what do you do? You basically, recolor it, alter the spring a little and release it as a new switch. I think this is exactly what has happened with the Mauve Linears. These are identical to the Alpacas except for the color and the spring weight.
The Mauves are 5-pin (PCB mount) linear switches with Nylon bottom housing, Nylon/PC blend top housing, a regularly sized POM stem, and a 65g 14mm gold plated spring. I found a good amount of oil on the stem legs and stem rails indicative of prelubing from the factory. Also, the lubing was consistent as I found a similar amount of oil on all the 70 switches I opened. The housing is completely opaque and has a cutout for the LED to shine through.
There was very little wobble in both the E-W and N-S directions. This was an unscientific test and should not be taken as a standard measure.
Typing Feel
Sound test perception and switch press feelings vary on an individual basis. Hence, my observations in this section might not sync with the reader’s.
Stock
The stock typing was smooth and I didn’t feel any inherent scratchiness in the individual switch press as well. These being regular stems, allowed the full travel of 4mm. The usage of regular short springs also meant the switch press load was uniform for the entire travel distance. There was a hint of spring ping and leaf chatter in 3-4 switches only.
The sound is mainly dominated by the return stroke when the POM stem hits the Nylon/PC blend top housing. This sound felt like popcorn’s popping and was definitely not annoying to my ears. The sound I heard may also have been influenced by the PC plate and other factors.
Lubed and Filmed
I lubed the bottom housing sliders, the stem rails and legs with Krytox 203G0. Bag lubed the spring with Krytox GPL 105 oil. Also, filmed the switch with 0.15mm TX switch films. As expected, the switch stem travel felt almost frictionless and there were no signs of spring ping or leaf chatter. However, as a pleasant surprise, filming brought about more than noticeable changes to the sound profile. To my ears, the lubed and filmed switches sounded much better, and I definitely would take this sound any day over the stock ones.
Conclusion
The Mauve Linears do nothing new when compared to the Alpacas. This switch can be safely skipped if one already has the Alpacas, as it just brings some new colors.
On the other hand these are good switches to try out for people looking to get into Linears. It allows an easy gateway to Linears by working well in stock form and provides an opportunity to film, resulting in an overall better sounding switch.
If ain’t broke, why fix it? If you already have a good switch, why not copy it?