DSA vs. SA profile: what is more confortable? (Matt3o’s DSA/SA Retro)

[Cherry1990]

Today I got a message about a nice DSA Retro set (here). I read that an SA set will be available. My question is: what is the more confortable profile?
I checked them here but I cannot make a decision...

The IBM Model M keycaps are SA?
The Ducky are DCS?
The original Cherry G-80 are DCS?
The new, flat (not the chocolate one) and cheap keyboards have the DSA?

Thank you!

[7bit]

SA-family!

Model M are model M/F and are cylindrical and can't be compare with Cherry or Alps key caps, because the switches are mounted on a curved plate.

Ducky and Cherry keyboards are DCS (Cherry is different, but more or less the same shape).

Shit-keyboards, like those you find on laptops or the Apple chicklet or so, are not the same as DSA.

DSA:

^^^ DSA-family ^^^


Trashy DCS (not recommended):

^^^ DCS-family ^^^


Thick smooth sphericals (very recommended!!!!)

SA-family

Want some?


You will find them here:
http://deskthority.net/for-sale-f55/rou ... 10328.html
http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/d ... t6732.html
http://deskthority.net/wiki/R5_leftovers
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Round_5a


All thumbs up for the SA-family!

[SL89]

SA ALL DAY

[jacobolus]

Personally I love spherical keycaps, but I’m not huge on either SA or DSA. The problem is that there’s insufficient height step from the back of one keycap to the front of the next, and as a result you have to move your hand more than necessary to reach top row and number row keys. I much prefer the profiled spherical Alps keycaps from a typewriter shown in the comparative picture below:

Given the choice of only keycaps that Signature Plastics currently makes (in the past they had fantastic SS and DSS profiles, but those have been “retired”), I’d stick to DCS.

[SL89]

What are these SS and DSS profiles? Also that Alps sphereical looks like it would be best suited to something with a curved backplane.

[davkol]

What are these SS and DSS profiles?

See this thread.

[SL89]

Thank you davkol

[jacobolus]

[Cherry1990]

Thanks to all for the useful informations and the clear examples!
I think that I will wait for the SA retro version. Unfortunately they won't be PBT...

[Muirium]

Try both. They're different, all right, and in multiple ways. All comes down to taste, really. I like SA more. But I like PBT more still.

[Firebolt1914]

I personally like SA more than DSA. I ended up selling my SA set however cause I didn't like the color scheme.

[SL89]

https://creativemarket.com/benharman/22 ... FINALLY%21

[Mal-2]

https://creativemarket.com/benharman/22 ... FINALLY%21

Wrong thread. However, still awesome.

[Hypersphere]

Just got my first SA set and put it on my Novatouch. I really like the SA profile! I cannot type well on the flat DSA profile, but the SA profile seems perfect.

[salsaverde]

Does anybody make a blank SA set?

[Hypersphere]

Does anybody make a blank SA set?

That would be great! I would especially like to have blank black modifiers. Then I could get rid of the orange mods in my new Carbon SA set.

[t!ng]

Where did u Read that an Sa Retro Set will be available?
Afaik there wont be a 2nd Run.

[mtl]

You can order SA blanks from 7bot. I believe Signature Plastics also sells them directly.

[macclack]

I prefer SA to DSA. I recently purchased a set of DSA Dolch from SP. They look awesome but because the tops are narrower, my fingers don't always hit the keys in the center and end up hitting the edge of the spherical top, causing finger fatigue. I don't seem to have that problem with SA, which feels much more ergonomic.

My only criticism of SA is that height can become annoying after extended use, especially if the keyboard case is tall as well. SA is fantastic in smaller doses, and looks amazing, but for long typing sessions, I still think Cherry and AEK profiles are hard to beat.

Some people swear by DSA tho so it's definitely worth trying the different profiles before buying if possible.

[Findecanor]

BTW. Why are there no sets in DSS profile? I think it looks more reasonable than SA or DSA. The home row is about the same height as DSA and it is more sculptured than SA.

I found this image in a Geekhack thread, posted by jacobolus, comparing DSS to IBM Beam Spring:

DSSvsBeamspring.png (753.42 KiB) Viewed 42445 times

In the same thread were discussions on maybe combining DSS and SA, using r1 and r2 SA for the function key and numeric rows. That would require that the finishes match. If DSS's finish is like DSA's then maybe the DSA's space bar could be used so that there would be no need for flipping the space bar.

[hansichen]

We had a talk and thread about the SS profile some time ago. This profile is only compatible with my and other switches but not with mx switches. That's probably a reason why SP ended the production of the profile. I don't know how it is with DSS (somebody else could probably tell more about it) but I could imagine that it's similar. Additionally these old profiles had way less molds so that could be a reason too as you would have to invest quite a lot of money for the first normal keyset.

[chuckdee]

Today I got a message about a nice DSA Retro set (here). I read that an SA set will be available. My question is: what is the more confortable profile?
I checked them here but I cannot make a decision...

Highly subjective question, so in the end, you'll have to try to make your own decision. I asked a similar question when I was first getting in to it, and many said SA. So I started getting those. And realized that I don't really like SA. But only found that out after use.

[consolation]

As Chuckdee said "I Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man..." ok, "in the end, you'll have to try to make your own decision..." It takes a week, or three, to get used to a new profile; a lifetime of using DCS/cherry makes it more familiar from the get go, but once you get used to sphericals - they are just as comfortable. The hardest one to switch to is R3 uniform SA, you get little feedback on location when touch typing, but even that is fine with a bit of time.

So, pick one you like the look of, then invest some time into developing muscle memory for that profile.

[chuckdee]

Bonus internet points for a good song and recognizing my S/N

[E3E]

I recently traded someone for an obscure keyboard that has the equally obscure Signature Plastics SS profile. It is sadly only compatible with Futaba ML (and I suppose Cherry MY too if they are cross compatible like that).

I wanted to post images of them, but the caps discolored badly in the ultrasonic cleaner, likely due to the grease and oil that saturated the keys.

Anyway, it's essentially like DSA but sculpted. The tops of the keys are very similar to DSA.





Bear in mind this is before they were washed.

SA is kind of like a compromise that went from being uniform to being sculpted, when that wasn't its original design.

I love the spherical Alps profile caps. SA isn't bad, but I don't use Cherry these days. Topre HiPro is... strange, yet charming. It's not really a favorite in terms of feel, but I like it.

That said, I didn't like beamspring sphericals or Alps SKCC sphericals on the pingmaster, so my tastes might diverge a bit from the typical.