Xbox Ally X Silent Button Mod Video Tutorial
Hey gang!
After a month of tinkering with the Xbox Ally X, I have a Silent Button Mod I'm comfortable sharing with you all. It's fairly easy to do, makes your buttons very quiet, and it's reversable if you change your mind. The video is below if you're interested.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know and I'll be happy to help.
EDIT: I'm adding a FAQ here. I'll update it as i receive more questions! 😄
❓FAQ❓
1. How did you figure this out?
Desperation, trial, and error. The XAX is an excellent device, but it should not be this loud. As a portable device, you're going to play near others and having buttons that loud is a huge oversight from ASUS/Microsoft. Portable gaming devices should not be an annoyance to others.
2. What's that black gunk on the side of your buttons?
That's liquid electric tape. Before using Rubber Cement as the cushion on the button nubs, I used Liquid Electric Tape. It works as well, but I found it much harder to remove...which would be bad if you decided you didn't like the mod anymore or wanted to sell your XAX and needed to remove the Liquid Electric Tape. So, I experimented some more and found that Elmer's Rubber Cement works just as well and leaves no residue.
3. How long will this mod last?
Honestly, I don't know. I've been running it for a month now with no issues. I'll report back if I ever run into ANY issues. But it seems solid. Just be sure you use a generous amount of glue on the Rubber Membrane part of the video.
4. So, it's REALLY reversible?
From what I can tell, yes. I simply removed the Rubber Cement from my rubber membrane and button nubs, and everything worked just like before. I did this twice. The XAX was back to being loud and clanky, and the buttons worked perfectly fine. No residue left over and no damage to the buttons or original conductive pads.
5. Will my buttons feel different?
Yes! The travel time of your button press will be reduced by at least 1-2mm thanks to all that rubber cement and the extra conductive pad from Mod #3. To me, my buttons now feel closer to that of a Switch 2 Pro Controller. Which I prefer because I love that controller. It's extremely quiet and easy to mash when needed. The stock XAX travel time felt like an eternity to me haha.
6. Got any other XAX mods in mind to share?
I have two more mods that I've performed on my XAX that are working great that I plan to make videos for as well. The first mod is the "Joystick Silencer Mod" and the second is a " Hair Trigger Mod". Both of these are easier to perform than this mod, but I wanted to tackle this one first as I've seen lots of people on Reddit and on YouTube complain about how loud the buttons are and I wanted to help. But also, the buttons were driving me crazy as well.
7. Did you ever run into any issues with this mod?
For this current build of the mod in this video, no. No issues. I only had issues when I first started experimenting and was using other materials.
8. What other materials did you use before?
Before Elmer's Rubber Cement on the button nubs, I used Liquid Electric Tape. It worked really well, but it's much harder to remove. Elmer's Rubber Cement seems to work just as well with no residue and all the benefits. I suppose Liquid Electric Tape is a good alternative if you don't mind the stains and you want something more permanent.
As for the Rubber Membrane step, before Elmer's Rubber Cement, I used regular school glue. BAD IDEA. This almost ruined the original conductive pads when I tried to undo it. I had to sand off the school glue stuck to the conductive pads to make it work again. In the end, I ordered a replacement rubber membrane to continue running more tests. Eventually I discovered Elmer's Rubber Cement 😄
9. Where did you order the replacement parts?