BlackSilent series 92mm fans

	Fan speed (rpm)	Loudness (dB)	Airflow (m3/h)
BlackSilent series XE2	1700	21	65

The BlackSilent series from Noiseblocker are meant to stay as quiet as possible, but also cost less than half of the UltraSilent series. We only received one 92mm BlackSilent fan, the XE2. As the rest of the BlackSilent series, this fan comes in a typical cardboard box and has a black frame and blue blades. The XE2 is a rather slow 92mm fan, spinning at 1700RPM, making it almost silent. The XE1 is even slower though, spinning at only 1400RPM, which should make it almost inaudible. Once again we were happy to see that the fan generated nearly no vibrations, despite its ‘value’ oriented nature.

UltraSilent series 120mm fans 

	Fan speed (rpm)	Loudness (dB)	Airflow (m3/h)
UltraSilent series SX1	1200	17	65
UltraSilent series SX2	1850	31	126

The last and largest of the UltraSilent series are the 120mm SX fans ... the SX1 and SX2 also feature clear frames and blue blades like the rest of the series. Unlike the other families, these fans are on opposite ends of the spectrum. The SX1 is a 1200RPM fan, which is entirely silent, does not vibrate and generates a good amount of airflow. The SX2 generates massive amounts of airflow but is quite loud. One cannot nearly consider the SX2 as a silent fan, it clearly is a high performance fan aimed at hardcore users only.

BlackSilent series 120mm fans

	Fan speed (rpm)	Loudness (dB)	Airflow (m3/h)
UltraSilent series XL1	1000	16	58
UltraSilent series XL2	1400	21	98

Much like the UltraSilent series, the last and largest of the BlackSilent series are the 120mm XL fans. We received both XL series fans, the XL1 and XL2. Both are slow spinning fans and we could consider the XL1 silent, but we were disappointed to find out that it generated slight vibrations. These vibrations were not important at all, but if 3 or 4 of these fans are installed inside the case, the chassis will become a speaker and multiply the noise of the fans, which is certainly not desirable. Strange enough, the XL2 fan seemed to generate no vibrations at all, although it was spinning faster.

Final words and conclusion

UltraSilent series fans

The UltraSilent series fans are extremely high quality fans. Noiseblocker offers them in many variations, so you can choose either an exceptionally silent fan or a high performance fan. The fans are also aesthetically pleasing, which should appeal to modders and gamers. Noiseblocker also claims a failure rate of only 0.01% on 100.000 units per year, a truly spectacular number which only a very high quality product can achieve. That said, quality has its price and so the UltraSilent series fans cost almost 3 times as much as a generic fan. Considering all of the above we believe that the UltraSilent series fans deserve our Shortlist award. They are the highest quality fans money can buy, and even with the high price tag they are worth the outlay.

The MSRP price of the UltraSilent 80mm fans is 13.95€.
The MSRP price of the UltraSilent 92mm fans is 15.95€.
The MSRP price of the UltraSilent 120mm fans is 17.95€.

BlackSilent series fans

The BlackSilent fans offer good quality at a competitive price. Noiseblocker offers their BlackSilent fans only at low noise variations, so they are mostly suitable for silent systems. While not as high quality as the UltraSilent series, Noiseblocker claims a failure rate of 0.15% on 100.000 units per year. This is still is a very low number for components with moving parts, but mathematically it is a 15 times higher fail rate than the UltraSilent series. For those interested and too lazy to do the math, this is an approximate fail of 150 fans per 100.000.  Considering the above, we believe that the BlackSilent series fans deserve our Shortlist award. They offer a very good price/performance ratio for silent fans.