Mechanical Keyboard Sound Isn't That Simple
Figure 1: I couldn't think of a more literal way to represent this article if I tried... Looking back just a few years ago, there’s no doubt that the huge influx of people that joined the hobby at the peak of the COVID pandemic were drawn to keyboards by way of YouTube, TikTok, and other audio-visual content platforms. Even as the output from these content creators has waned in recent months, their collective impact and legacy on the keyboard hobby is rather firmly etched in the history books. As a result of all of their sound tests, build logs, and opinion videos, the message is clear to any new person joining the hobby: mechanical keyboards are all about the sound. Thock this, clack that. Whether it’s keyboards, keycaps, or even singular switches, seemingly everyone new to the hobby meticulously pores over each component of their keyboard not in an attempt to figure out how it will feel in hand, but how it will sound as they’re furiously grinding their way out from...
Mar 27, 2024
There just isn't a demand for them on higher end boards to hit MOQ (minimum order quantity). Dedicated media keys are generally reserved for lower-quality "g4m3r" style boards.
Most people who own higher end keyboards who also care about tactile audio control already own dedicated amps/DACs for their PCs. I know I do, and my headphone amp has an extremely nice Alps 27 volume pot on it, much better than anything offered on any keyboard on the market today.
It's worth pointing out that I am not at all talking down your preferences or what you're looking for, it's just the nature of the market. This assumes you're trying to get into higher quality mechanical keyboards. It'll be difficult, but you can find or build a really nice keyboard that has dedicated media controls, but a volume wheel just isn't going to be feasible unless you go 100% custom and do it yourself. At that point you're looking at around $500-900 for the complete board.
You can get USB volume wheels for $30. What's nice about a separate wheel is that you can use them regardless of whatever keyboard strikes your fancy at that moment, and unifies headphone controls.
However, I built this for $15 bucks. Just Google "Rotary Encoder Volume Wheel". It's powered by a pro-micro clone and a rotary encoder knob. A little solder, a little hot glue, a little copy-pasta and *DONE* . (I mostly did a DIY so I know for a fact it will work with Mac, and in the future I can add more buttons to have more features)