Kailh BOX White vs Matias Click
The Kailh BOX White and the Matias Click do not fit the same keyboard, so this comparison starts with what you already own rather than with how either one sounds. Our switch library already points each of these at the other. Hear them back to back below with the trims matched before you read a single number.
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 | Kailh BOX White | Matias Click |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Clicky | Clicky |
| Brand rates force at | actuation | actuation |
| Actuation force | 45 g | 60 g |
| Bottom-out force | 60 g (our estimate) | not published |
| Pre-travel | 1.8 mm | 2.2 mm |
| Total travel | 3.6 mm | 3.5 mm |
| Silent (dampened) | No | No |
| Factory lubed | No | No |
| MX-compatible stem | Yes | No |
| Price tier | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Street price | varies | varies |
Kailh and Matias both advertise an actuation force, so the two headline figures in this table are measured at the same point and can be read against each other. Kailh publishes no bottom-out figure for the Kailh BOX White, so the figure marked "our estimate" is our own derivation from the forces that are published rather than a rating. What actuation force actually measures .
Verdict
Both the Kailh BOX White and the Matias Click are clickies, but they are not the same click: the two use different mechanisms, and that is where most of the difference lives. These are not drop-in alternatives to each other. The Matias Click needs a board built for it and will not take ordinary MX keycaps. There is a real weight gap too: 60 g against 45 g at actuation, so the Matias Click asks noticeably more of your fingers over a long session. One pick, not three: the Kailh BOX White takes gaming and typing, and it is the less punishing of the two in a shared room, though neither really belongs in one. The Matias Click is the answer only to a question our scoring does not ask.
- Overall pick
- Kailh BOX White
Gaming, typing and a shared office all point at the Kailh BOX White, so printing the same name three times would tell you nothing. One pick it is.
Force curves
Kailh BOX White
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.
Matias Click
Matias 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 BOX White or Matias Click: the long answer
This pair has a fit problem to clear before feel or sound matter. The Matias Click does not use an MX style stem, so it will not drop into a standard hot-swap board or accept ordinary MX keycaps. Both are mid priced. Lube is on you with both of these, which is a real cost in time whichever one you order.
On to the mechanical side. The springs are a long way apart: 60 g against 45 g at actuation, so the Matias Click asks noticeably more of your fingers across a long session. Travel differs at both ends, with the Kailh BOX White registering first at 1.8 mm and the Kailh BOX White running deepest at 3.6 mm. The stroke itself is shared: both stack a click mechanism on a bump you already feel. With the stroke shared, that spring gap does most of the deciding here.
What the table cannot tell you is how either one lands in a room. The Kailh BOX White sits at sharp, clean tick-tick; click bar snapping on press and release; the Matias Click answers with modern Alps-style click, brighter than vintage. They do not even click the same way: a click bar snapping inside the housing on the Kailh BOX White against a leaf-driven Alps click on the Matias Click, 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. The usual caveat applies. Nothing here is a studio recording; both packs are synthesized from published specs, and the players say so.
So who should buy which? The same switch wins every way we score it: the Kailh BOX White is our pick for gaming and for typing, and the quieter of two switches that both announce themselves. On speed, a lighter spring at actuation and a shorter distance to actuation go its way. On typing feel, the click is a metronome for a long draft, which some writers will not give up. On noise, neither of these belongs in a quiet shared room, and this is only the less punishing of the two clicks. That leaves the Matias Click to anyone who preferred its voice in the player above, which is a good enough reason on its own. Do the listening first. It costs nothing and it changes minds more often than a spec table does.
There is more on both than a head-to-head can carry. Start with the Kailh BOX White page and the Matias Click page. Or leave switches aside for a minute and run your current keyboard through the free keyboard tester.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Kailh BOX White or the Matias Click the better gaming switch?
We pick the Kailh BOX White for gaming. It takes this one on a lighter spring at actuation and a shorter distance to actuation, which is what a fast repeated press actually cares about.
Which of the Kailh BOX White and the Matias Click is quieter in a shared room?
Neither is quiet. Two click mechanisms means two switches that broadcast every press, and picking between them will not save your colleagues. If noise decides this, look at a silent tactile instead.
Is the Kailh BOX White heavier than the Matias Click?
The Matias Click, and the comparison is clean: actuation on both sides, 60 g to 45 g.
Can the Kailh BOX White and the Matias Click go in the same keyboard?
No. The Matias Click does not use an MX style stem, so it needs a board built for it and will not take ordinary MX keycaps, while the Kailh BOX White is a standard MX switch. Whichever you pick decides the keyboard, not the other way round.
More comparisons
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