BSUN Jade Rosales: Review by Vere

Opening Words:

Greetings again, there's quite a few new releases I'd like to go over (thankfully) and they are from various manufacturers! It's nice when you get to experience the different designs that each manufacturer has to offer, especially when the newer releases all have a little uniqueness to them. Without further ado, we'll be going over the Jade Rosales from BSUN this time, a very beautiful switch with some interesting additions to the materials.

 

Switch Introduction:

The BSUN Jade Rosales are long-pole linear switches with a modified PC top housing, thickened Milky bottom housing(with glue injected), and an updated proprietary stem called Y3X.

They carry a 20.5mm single-stage nickel-coated spring with an operating force of 45g and bottoming out at 53g. 

They have a travel of 3.5mm which is standard for long-poles.

These switches were designed by XY Studio who had previously designed the BSUN X linear and the BSUN Hutt tactile.

Once again, they have meticulously designed a new switch with a lot of creativity in mind, it is definitely a more unique switch compared to the currently popular options in the market.

(Jade Rosales is quite the elegant name)

Short Summary

 

Stock Experience:

These switches come with a specially formulated lubricant according to XY Studio. This lubricant seems to be applied using BSUN's standard process on the stem faces, legs, sliders, and bottom housing railings. I can also see it has been applied on the leaf and slightly on the spring.

(It is thin, but coated generously over the stem)

XY Studio has previously released the BSUN Hutt Tactile which had a special blend of Tribosys 3203. The lubricant that is applied to these seems quite thin and looks to be less viscous than Krytox 205g0. Despite the thinner lubricant, there is truly no scratchiness or lack of smoothness to be found within these switches.

(It is consistently over all the sides, more than other BSUNs)

Regarding my worries over the leaf tick, this is something that I have become sensitive to whenever I review switches from BSUN or HMX, as these two manufacturers are the only ones that I experience this sound with. The leaf tick itself is very quiet, and only occurs during the slight actuation press of the leaf. In most cases this sound is negligible and gets drowned out by the sound of the switch itself. 

(Adding more than this could cause issues)

As they have confirmed the 3 different QC processes that have occurred, this issue likely stems from the source of BSUN's leaf provider in the first place, as they most likely did QC on the lubrication process and smoothness rather than the minor noises that could be heard. There is also a chance that HMX sources their leaves from the same place, as they had changed their leaf provider once in the past.

 

Would I re-lube them? No, there is honestly no need to add more lubricant, the leaf ticking is something that lube likely won't fix as I have attempted to do so ever since 2023's releases from BSUN and HMX. It is an extremely minor amount of leaf tick that most people probably won't even notice in the first place. (I'm just overly sensitive to sounds)

 

Completely modified:

As seen in the BSUN Hutt Tactile, XY Studio is once again bringing palladium back to the menu by utilizing it on the leaf spring as a palladium-gold alloy.

As a reminder for those who may not have read the BSUN Hutt review, palladium is an extremely lightweight natural element that offers high resistance to wear, it is used often as an alternative to platinum in jewelry.

This time they've brought this tech to the leaf instead to improve the longevity and stability. However as mentioned earlier, there is occasionally the smallest amount of leaf tick which can be heard during actuation, though unfortunately I truly don't know what causes this sound, I think that the palladium material does help in reducing the tick itself as it is quieter than other BSUN switches. (Notably, the X, SSW v2, Aniya, and the other switches from the Aniya generation) 

In regards to the spring, they've instead used a nickel coating over the spring instead of palladium for durability.

Previously on the BSUN Hutt, I definitely had a positive experience with the springs that were coated with palladium and these springs are silent as well. Nickel is commonly used in coins as we know, but it also serves many industrial uses when combined into alloys, it is more sturdy than palladium which would imply that the purpose of this coating is to strengthen the springs even further to reduce any pinging from the spring recoil.

Does this have any effect on spring weight? I do not know, but they certainly feel snappy and consistent, the rated 53g weight seems to be accurate.

 

An update to the Y3 material:

As some of you may know from BSUN's previous releases, the Y3 material first appeared on two other BSUN switches:

The BSUN Roselle and SSW v2.

It quickly became apparent that it was another blend of UHMWPE based material from BSUN that wasn't LY. The notable traits would be the very smooth travel, loud but shallow tone, and slight scratch that can be heard during travel.

With the new Y3X material, it seems that they were able to remove the scratch entirely (A sad day for us scratch enjoyers), increase firmness in feel, and improve smoothness.

This should also help clean up the sound slightly as both the Roselle and SSW v2 were muted in tone despite being loud in volume.

It is personally hard for me to believe that this material is based on the same UHMWPE that would fall apart after a few weeks of usage way back in the day. It is notably firmer than before which will help with overall structural integrity, as a very few cases of the original Y3 material being deformed was once noted. 

(A Roselle stem)

The thick Milky bottom housing with glue injection:

Now don't misunderstand, this header might sound weird but these switches didn't get a glue injection just because they wanted to make their butt a little bigger, though the end goal is somewhat similar.

As mentioned by Dashan, the bottom housing material is most likely to be close to POK due to the high impact strength and low coefficient of friction. It is also different from the crystalline sturdiness of POM as the goal of XY Studio seemed to be less on creating a brighter and clackier switch and more on creating a smooth and deeper switch. The reason why you would thicken the housing is to strengthen the molecular bond of the polymeric material, which would then lead to a stronger sound when impacting.

This is also where the glue comes in, although it is called glue, they likely meant to refer to it as an industrial adhesive which would make much more sense when we're talking switch plastics. Most synthetic adhesives are made up of different kinds of polymers, the polymers we commonly know in the keyboard hobby would be stuff like the various Nylons, POM, Polypropylene, etc. 

With this in mind, the purpose of injecting the glue into the bottom housing would be the same as thickening the housing: to strengthen the molecular bond. Although I'm not an expert on the topic, and I don't know exactly how much they applied, the only thing I can guess is that they wanted to improve the bottom housing as much as possible to work together with the new Y3X stem to create a clear sound while also deepening the pitch.

Despite the glue injection, the Jade Rosales fit snugly into plates, so you don't have to worry about the bottom housing being a little too thick for some builds.

 

Overall Design:

Again, I'm just stunned by XY Studio's attention to detail and creativity when it comes to switch design. The BSUN Hutt was probably my favorite release of last year, and easily one of my favorite tactiles of all time.

Let's break down the overall design for the Jade Rosales.

It seems that they were looking to create a switch that was smooth, deep, consistent, and aesthetically beautiful, the end result is as clear as day.

First, with an almost entirely custom mold that was created due to the vast modifications to this switch, they've worked together with BSUN to produce an extremely high quality product in today's market. With almost no wobble on an UHMWPE based stem, extraordinary smoothness, consistent lubrication, unique materials, elegant looks, and also a pleasant sound, these switches are killer.

On top of that, XY Studio took a lot of time ensuring that the end result would be a product that customers would be satisfied with, discarding a couple hundred-thousands of switches that were dissatisfactory until they were able to reach their endgame. QC was done during the process of production and even after production was complete. There was also additional tuning to ensure that everything was fine after the production run.

This might just sound like a bunch of sentences to butter up the customer, but in reality this kind of QC is absolutely important. There are always cases of projects going awry or having the production run of a new release be different than the prototype. For example the Meirun Pleiades prototypes were great, but the actual production was a fiasco, the Gateron Summertimes were also catastrophic on release, even the recent HMX Snow Crashes suffered from over-lubing due to some batches being lubed more than the desired amount, but they didn't know until they were already in the hands of the buyer.

It's because of this meticulous core mindset that I can truly appreciate these switches, they may not sound perfect in every board, but they are most certainly worthy of being used in an endgame build as a high-end switch.

 

Smoothness: Phenomenal

These switches are ridiculously smooth. These days I have been repeating the same sentence over and over: smoothness is slowly becoming irrelevant, yet these switches were able to impress me.

Are they smoother than HMX? No, but they are on the same tier as HMX's smoothest releases, especially the ones using LY and P4.

You will have no need to open up these switches for lubing, they are immaculate in that regard.

 

Sound Profile:

Regarding the sound profile, I will need to delve a little bit into why these switches generate their unique sound profile.

First let's go into the stem and bottom housing combination:

We have a smooth and softer stem that still has plenty of firmness.

We then have a heavily modified bottom housing of a material that is on the moderately stiff side. However, POK as a material doesn't have the same rigidity or impact strength as POM, so we can expect a slightly weaker sound.

The modifications to the bottom housing may have increased the strength and integrity, but with thickening the material and even injecting more polymers into the base, it can also increase the overall density of the material due to all the additives. With a more dense mass, the sound frequencies that can travel through the housing are more likely to be absorbed.

This is where my earlier comment comes into play, the sound of this switch is subdued, yet clear and concise. It is extremely similar to the Huano Caramel Latte, where the clear sound of that switch originated from the modified fiberglass bottom, but with the overall sound being weakened with the rounded stem. With the combination of Y3X stem on the modified Milky bottom, we have a relatively firm impact in the bottom-out but with less high notes due to the composition of materials.

Next, with a modified PC top instead of the original plan to use a PA66 top, it is more prone to top-out noise compared to the latter, which would mean that you would hear crisp sounds on both bottom-out and the return. Surprisingly, this would mean this switch should be noisy, but the sound is well contained and still sounds clean.

Perhaps this is also why they modified the Y3X stem even further to prevent any kind of transient scratchy noise from the interaction between different materials, in order to preserve the soothing and untainted sound profile of these switches.

The overall volume is moderate for a long pole, but the bottom out is noticeable and clean, the various sounds that come out of the switch are inoffensive and mesh well together.

Clean in the sense that there is no transient noise, and the bottom out is clearly heard over the top-out sound. 

Inoffensive refers to the overall moderate and contained volume of the switch, despite being long-pole.

Crisp refers to having a solid bottom out that is clear and easy to hear, doesn't necessarily mean loud and bright.

I almost would have used the term Rounded here as well, but these switches are more on the deeper end compared to some other options, they were only loud and poppy because I tested them on a Polypropylene Top Mount board. Depending on your setup, these switches should be able to lean towards the brighter or lower end of the spectrum, but slightly more towards the latter.

 

 

Direct Comparisons to other linears:

Huano Caramel Latte (POK/Mod. PA66/POM Stem) 3.6mm Travel

• These switches share almost no similar materials, yet share extremely similar sound profiles.
• They share a very similar volume. 
• Their stock form is nearly identical. (Barely audible tick)
• The Jade Rosales is slightly lower pitched.
• They both have very tight wobble control.
• The Jade Rosales is slightly smoother stock.
• The Caramel Latte has a slightly firmer bottom-out type-feel.

BSUN Tuzi (Nylon/Nylon/LY Stem) 3.6mm Travel

• These switches both share an UHMWPE based stem, but no similarities besides manufacturer otherwise.
• The Tuzi is slightly louder, but the overall tone is more muted and dull.
• The Jade Rosales has a better stock form. (Lube consistency and less ping)
• The Jade Rosales is slightly higher pitched.
• The Tuzi has slightly more wobble in all directions.
• The Jade Rosales is slightly smoother stock.
• The Jade Rosales has a firmer bottom-out type-feel.

Keygeek Y3 (PA66/PA66/M3 Stem) 3.8mm Travel

• These switches share very few similarities besides having a proprietary stem. My hypothesis is that the M3 material has some UHMWPE within.
• The Jade Rosales is slightly louder in volume, but the Keygeek Y3 is more full in depth of tone.
• The Keygeek Y3 has a better stock form. (No tick at all)
• The Keygeek Y3 is slightly lower pitched.
• They both have very tight wobble control.
• They both have similar smoothness stock.
• The Jade Rosales has a slightly firmer bottom-out type-feel.

 

FLAWS:

The only flaw I can think of is the minor leaf ticking issue that occurs on actuation. However I've had to write about this flaw a few times already on previous BSUN and HMX reviews so it isn't new.

Unfortunately, the other possible flaw would be that these switches are slightly priced higher than the average market price for most switches these days. 

However, I can assure you that it isn't without reason, compared to the incessant Gateron Ink Tax, these switches are comprised of various upgrades and modifications that ultimately raise the price slightly more than their competitors. On top of that, you are also paying for the guaranteed quality checks that ensure that you won't need to return, refund, or lose hope for these switches.

 

PERSONAL BUILD RECOMMENDATIONS: (PREFERENCE/OPINION BASED)

I used these switches on a Polypropylene plate with Top Mount, the result was a very crisp and overall bright sound profile. However if you were to switch it to something like FR4 or POM with a gasket mount, you would be able to hit more mid/low notes easily.

As mentioned above, this switch is subdued but not quiet, the bottom out is clear and can hit more firmly than most other UHMWPE based switches. So the trade-off is that you can benefit from excellent type-feel but not have to worry about excessive volume.

I really enjoyed Top Mount with these switches, but I think a slightly softer experience in O-Ring mount would be great as well. I think using foam would dampen the sound profile too much when it is already moderate

Go for something like POM/Polypropylene Top Mount, or perhaps Aluminum/FR4 O-Ring if you want to maintain some crisp feedback while enjoying the cleaner sound.

 

CLOSING SUMMARY:

The newest project from XY Studio just goes to show they plan to continue innovating and releasing unique products that set themselves apart on the market.

For $0.55 per switch, they have produced another beautiful banger of a long-pole linear, this time with various modifications and even a bit of glue.

It has a contained and almost balanced sound profile that provides a crisp bottom-out and enjoyable typing experience. The main thing would definitely be the performance of the Y3X material which doesn't force us to suffer from a wobbly stem or a duller sound due to softness.

Of course, the leaf tick is a possibility, but it only occurred in a small batch of my 90 switches, and it isn't something we're unfamiliar with when using HMX or BSUN.

If you have been looking for switches similar to the Huano Caramel Latte, or if you want to take a break from HMX and other brighter long-poles, these switches definitely shouldn't be slept on.

The Jade Rosales are an immaculate jewel, the result of a designer's meticulous crafting over a year and a manufacturer's ability to make their ideas into reality. Especially for those who appreciate switches on the soothing, slightly deeper side, these should be great for any time, place, or occasion!

 

FINAL SCORING: 9.2/10