Cherry MX Blue MX2A vs Kailh Choc White V1
The Cherry MX Blue MX2A and the Kailh Choc White V1 do not fit the same keyboard, so this comparison starts with what you already own rather than with how either one sounds. Our library of every switch we simulate links the two to each other for that reason. Play the A/B bursts below to hear them back to back, match the volumes, then read the spec table and the verdict.
Hear them back to back
simulated from real specssound loads on your first tapShortcuts: press A or B anywhere outside a text box to fire that burst. Use the volume trims to loudness-match the pair before judging which sounds better.
Spec by spec
| Spec | Cherry MX Blue MX2A | Kailh Choc White V1 |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Clicky | Clicky |
| Brand rates force at | actuation | actuation |
| Actuation force | 50 g | 50 g |
| Bottom-out force | not published | 60 g (our estimate) |
| Pre-travel | 2.2 mm | 1.5 mm |
| Total travel | 4 mm | 3 mm |
| Silent (dampened) | No | No |
| Factory lubed | No | No |
| MX-compatible stem | Yes | No |
| Price tier | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Street price | varies | varies |
Both makers rate these at actuation, which is the one case where the advertised numbers compare directly. Every other force row still has to be matched basis to basis. The figure marked "our estimate" is our own derivation and not a manufacturer number, because Kailh publishes no bottom-out figure for the Kailh Choc White V1. What actuation force actually measures .
Verdict
Both the Cherry MX Blue MX2A and the Kailh Choc White V1 are clickies, but they are not the same click: the two use different mechanisms, and that is where most of the difference lives. Check your board first: the Kailh Choc White V1 does not use an MX style stem, so the two are not interchangeable in the same keyboard. Actuation is the only row with a figure for each of them, and both figures read 50 g. By use case, then: the Kailh Choc White V1 for gaming, the Cherry MX Blue MX2A for typing and a shared office. Read that office call as relative: the Cherry MX Blue MX2A clicks too, just less insistently.
- Gaming pick
- Kailh Choc White V1
- Typing pick
- Cherry MX Blue MX2A
- Office pick
- Cherry MX Blue MX2A
Force curves
Cherry MX Blue MX2A
Cherry publishes no bottom-out force for this switch, so the dashed end of the curve is an estimate, not a spec. Everything up to actuation comes from the published numbers.
Kailh Choc White V1
Kailh publishes no bottom-out force for this switch, so the 60 g at the end of the stroke is our estimate and the run into it is dashed. Everything up to actuation comes from the published numbers. How we derive it.
Cherry MX Blue MX2A or Kailh Choc White V1: the long answer
Before anything else, check that both of these will go into the board you own. The Kailh Choc White V1 is a low-profile switch and does not use an MX style stem, so it needs a board and keycaps made for it and cannot go into a standard-height MX board alongside the other. Both are mid priced. Lube is on you with both of these, which is a real cost in time whichever one you order.
The specs are the smaller half of this pair, but they are not nothing. On distance the Kailh Choc White V1 registers at 1.5 mm against 2.2 mm, and the full stroke runs 4.0 mm on the Cherry MX Blue MX2A against 3.0 mm on the Kailh Choc White V1. The stroke itself is shared: both fire an audible click alongside the bump. Weight looks like a tie, 50 g each at actuation, but without a bottom-out figure for each of them there is nothing to check it against. Kailh publishes no bottom-out figure, so treat that 60 g as our estimate. Same family of stroke, so read the detail rather than the headline.
The ears usually get the last word here. Put them through the player above and the Cherry MX Blue MX2A lands as high-pitched two-part click with a faint upstroke rattle where the Kailh Choc White V1 lands as bright, thin double-click from a miniature click bar. They do not even click the same way: a click jacket sliding down the stem on the Cherry MX Blue MX2A against a click bar snapping inside the housing on the Kailh Choc White V1, which is most of the tonal difference you are hearing. A click you love at your own desk can still be the loudest thing in someone else’s meeting. Both packs are synthesized rather than recorded, so read the comparison as a faithful sketch of each voice and not as a measurement of it.
Who buys which, then? Gaming goes to the Kailh Choc White V1, because a shorter distance to actuation goes its way. Writing goes to the Cherry MX Blue MX2A, since the click is a metronome for a long draft, which some writers will not give up. A shared room goes to the Cherry MX Blue MX2A, as neither of these belongs in a quiet shared room, and this is only the less punishing of the two clicks. Match the trims above, play both, and trust whichever one you keep replaying.
Want the full story on either switch? Read the dedicated Cherry MX Blue MX2A page and the Kailh Choc White V1 page. Or leave switches aside for a minute and run your current keyboard through the free keyboard tester.
Frequently asked questions
Cherry MX Blue MX2A or Kailh Choc White V1 for gaming?
We pick the Kailh Choc White V1 for gaming. Of the two it has the quicker, less intrusive stroke, winning on a shorter distance to actuation.
Which is quieter, the Cherry MX Blue MX2A or the Kailh Choc White V1?
Neither, honestly. Both are clicky switches that announce every keystroke, so neither belongs in a quiet shared space. If noise is the deciding factor, a silent tactile is the better direction entirely.
Cherry MX Blue MX2A vs Kailh Choc White V1: which one is the heavier press?
Neither, as far as the published numbers go: both are rated 50 g at actuation, the only measuring point with a published figure for each. Bottom-out is where two switches matched at actuation often diverge, but neither switch here has a published bottom-out figure at all. Treat this as a tie on the spec sheet rather than a proven match in the hand.
Can the Cherry MX Blue MX2A and the Kailh Choc White V1 go in the same keyboard?
No. The Kailh Choc White V1 does not use an MX style stem and is low profile as well, so it needs a board built for it and will not take ordinary MX keycaps, while the Cherry MX Blue MX2A is a standard MX switch. Whichever you pick decides the keyboard, not the other way round.
More comparisons
More vs Cherry MX Blue MX2A
More vs Kailh Choc White V1
Or browse every switch comparison on the site.