« Review: Sanwa Denshi OBSFS-30 30mm Silent Pushbuttons »

Sanwa OBSFS-30 Pushbutton: Plunger (left), Rim with foam disc pad (top right), Foam disc pad (bottom)Most if not all of us who used an arcade stick know the sound of the pushbuttons by Sanwa Denshi. It's a very characteristic clack that you can hear from miles on end. Hyperbole aside, the acoustics of the clack when tapped is pretty loud. For those who play fighting games at night, the effect can be considered distracting for those around who might be sleeping. The tournament setting can be another considered situation when some need sound cues from their opponents to fully utilize their strategy.

Sanwa Denshi has been experimenting with technology to minimize volume when used for both their joystick lever and pushbuttons. Now after a couple of months into the market, did the efforts pay off?

To fully understand how the clack works, you must understand how a normal Sanwa OBSF-30 pushbutton is constructed. It's made of three main pieces: the plunger, the rim, and the microswitch. The rim allows the button when assembled to be placed on an arcade stick. The microswitch is attached to the bottom of the rim's inside. The plunger then is added to allow the player to press it and the microswitch. The plastic sides of the plunger goes in contact with the rim's inside, thus creates the loud tapping clack.

To nullify this issue, Sanwa Denshi added a foam disc pad which muffles the sound when pressed. This pad is removable in case you want to use it in another button; it's probably possible to use it on buttons from Seimitsu. This ability is pretty convenient for those who might have color preferences. It does come with a minor cosmetic concern though. In my review of Gamer Finger's HBFS-30 buttons, they use similar foam padding but are thick and glued into the buttons. Sanwa uses a thin layer of foam pads which looks flimsy although it might not be too concerning to others.

Although called "Silent," they are not technically silent but rather just noise reducing. I tested the sound of the buttons when installed on a Hori Fighting Edge. It was recorded with the same things I used for the previous sound test with the HBFS-30 pushbuttons. The microphone was nearly placed the same way used for the aforementioned test. Here are the links to both tests: Sanwa OBSF-30 vs Gamer Finger HBFS-30, Sanwa OBSFS-30. You can check out the average decibels and waveform on a music editor like Audacity. From the recordings, regular Sanwa buttons have been nearing 0dB due to the consistent loud clack. The HBFS-30 buttons definitely lowered with an average of -11 to -12dB, same goes for the Sanwa Silent buttons but was much more consistent in reducing sound. Sanwa definitely made sure the feature works as intended.

While they pull of the noise reduction well, it's the only good main draw of these buttons using the foam pads. Actually using these buttons are another story. Sanwa intended to have these buttons feel much like their regular sets but with the added aspect but from testing these in various fighters, they didn't pull it off. Trying to double tap for example felt very unusual and my one of my fingers I would use slip without actually confirming an input. Another example is just pressing a button once and hard only to feel the impact too dampening and indirect. In short, it feels very mushy. The nuances when pressing a regular Sanwa OBSF-30 is too muted when adding the foam pad. Performance is necessary and when the foam gets in the way to play optimally, there is a significant problem. By no means the foam pad doesn't make the buttons unplayable, it's just the overall result is inefficient.

Sanwa Denshi was ambitious in making noise reduced products. The output, in the case of the buttons,  proved to be unsuccessful and disappointing. While the foam pad does it's job well, it's unfortunately outweighed by how unoptimal it performs when in actual practice. The clack is gone but at the price of being uncomfortable? I will just stick with using regular Sanwa OBSF-30 pushbuttons or even Gamer Finger's HBFS-30s which has noise reducing technology and actually performs well. At the least when you get the buttons, you can remove the foam pad. Time to return to the drawing board.

You can get the Sanwa Denshi OBSFS-30 pushbuttons from Arcade Shock and Focus Attack now!