Angry Miao’s crazy keyboard and headphone designs

What does a $2,000 flex look like in the form of a mechanical keyboard? Or a pair of wireless headphones ripped from the post-apocalyptic future of a video game? What kind of craziness does a boutique microbrand achieve when it has the freedom to charge high prices for arthouse-level tech projects?

A loyal Discord host stuck in the recesses of the mechanical keyboard fandom angry miao — Based in Zhuhai, China, the company was founded in 2019 as a small-scale keyboard company and now says it’s forming the “Art Society of the Future.” serious VC money and feedback from fans. But it’s not the camp slogan that captures our imaginations here – it’s provocative designs with dazzling price tags.

I have to try one of Angry Miao’s keyboards and their upcoming keyboards. Horizon Zero Dawn-Inspiring wireless headphones and I’m ready to take you on an emotional roller coaster of intriguing design combined with a light airy edgelord fly musk.

Angry Miao’s efforts are simultaneously unreasonable, admirable, heartbreaking and kind of loving. The 67-person company primarily makes mechanical keyboards, yes, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it lost the plot a bit after that. Angry Miao also makes a massive wireless charging mat for both of its keyboards. And its own weird-looking USB-C charger. And for Logitech’s own wireless charging adapter Powerplay compatible mice. And NFT trading cards.

And now, after all, it’s choosing Apple’s AirPods Pro as the thing to beat with a new set of noise canceling headphones. Angry Miao’s products It is released in limited-edition drops, usually as few as 100 units at a time.

But first, let’s talk about the Am Hatsu wireless split-ergonomic mechanical keyboard. Even if you’re familiar with split ergo designs, you’ve probably never seen or felt anything like it. Wrap your hands around this keyboard and tap the linear, translucent to transparent smoked keycaps frosted silver keys you feel like you are running something from another world – not a tool or peripheral but a small interactive sculpture. The sculptural part is almost real: the cases feature a curved and contoured all-aluminum construction that uses costly five-axis CNC milling for their chassis.

Hatsu has a unique layout on both sides; 52 keys arranged four by six for your fingers and a set of six for each thumb. The sharply curved angles of each key floating above the white LED remind me of a jagged mountain range, but it’s oddly calming to hold my fingers over their elegantly sculpted shapes.

Angry Miao packs 12 into Qi charging coils cyber mat — A huge sheet of metal and fabric specially designed to live under Am Hatsu or her other keyboard, cyber board. (Take this, apple air power.) Ten of these coils are spread out in the middle, giving you enough space. Conveniently place Am Hatsu in a large area. The other two coils are next to the keyboard to animate your phone and mouse if you have a Logitech Powerplay. limited edition work of adapter or Angry Miao cyber money this fits under compatible mice. All powered by a single USB-C cable to the company’s included 90W GaN charger. cyber charging. In case you haven’t noticed from the names, Angry Miao has a penchant for the dramatic. It not only makes a special charger for a mat’s surfboard, but also embellishes the design with vitality. interchangeable covers – even if you can never see it during use.

For Am Hatsu, this setup is devoid of most cables, but spoils you with its clean desk aesthetic with a constant charge. As for the typing experience, custom-molded high-gloss covers with frosted interiors feel great, and the all-metal base produces a rock-solid sound with every keystroke. Pleasant to type thanks to even and clear sound signature of each key, no pings or gaps – Although some find it extremely deadly. When you take your typing step, it feels like you’re entering a state of flow with subtly scratchy sounds that give a slight stereo effect as they come from farther away.

Name of Angry Miao’s newest product cyber knives because of course, everything he does should be called something Cyber ​​- as if he wanted to shout from a rooftop: “I’m angry and not only did I inspect the blade, this blade is a neon purple glowing katana. It’s from the future!” But I have to admit this stuff looks pretty crazy. A pair of triangle noise canceling headphones inspired by Aloy’s Guerilla Games ear-worn Focus accessory. Horizon Zero Dawnand they contain some connection tricks that are really interesting.

cyberblades Launch via Kickstarter on September 1 $299 for the supporter-only price, or $179 for early birders who order within the first 24 hours. They should normally cost $328 after Kickstarter. That sounds almost, dare I say, normal. But that’s where all the sense of normalcy ends. In the looks department, the “shell black” color set I tested is a super bright and reflective purple and green – like a pearlescent paint job that goes from mirrored black in low light to really pop with great reflections in bright light. Each earbud has a color-changing RGB lighting strip on the side because of course they have to be RGB.

While most headphone manufacturers focus on typical compliments like sound quality, battery life, and noise cancellation, the Angry Miao instead offers super-low-latency audio for better gaming performance. It even put an extra processor in the charging case and was built in a pseudo-wired mode to achieve a latency of around 40 milliseconds. To use this so-called wired wireless mode, you plug in the charging case via the USB-C port and Cyberblades are taken as a USB audio output, eliminating the need for Bluetooth pairing.

You might think it’s a bit silly to add a cable to the setup of wireless headphones – and that’s a bit – but this feature is pretty cool too in practice. Wired headphones still While they are the best choice for lag-free listening and gaming, Cyberblades make a convincing case as they are genuinely fun. The lid of the cylindrical charging box itself is a button. and a rotary dial and key to using Cyberblades with your computer. You press or hold the cover to connect, disconnect, mute, or switch between preset EQ modes (game, movie, and music). Flipping the lid controls system volume and with clicky locks that give you some physical feedback.

A unique and new way to use a pair of earbuds is definitely the most I’ve ever seen implemented. And I appreciated this the most during my workday when using Cyberblades with my M1 MacBook Air when working with my Steam Deck and gaming PC where I can see the biggest difference being the reduced audio latency. Pairing with my phone via Bluetooth while connected to the Mac in wired mode allowed me to seamlessly switch back and forth with just a double-tap on the case’s lid – a little touch of Apple Handoff convenience without being trapped in Cupertino’s walled garden.

All these low-latency features and connection tricks are mostly pointless if the earbuds don’t sound good, but the Cyberblades’ overall performance is good. They meet the basic requirements with great sound (though not the brightest in the treble range), good battery life, and a nice fit – with eight sets of silicone and memory foam tips included to ensure this. AirPods Pro still have a slight advantage in noise canceling and better transparency mode, but Cyberblades are not far behind in sound quality.

The accompanying Angry Miao app, which was only for Android at the time of testing, lets you customize the RGB lighting and choose three Bluetooth EQ modes: soft, vocal, and bass. Of the three, bass and vocals were best for music. It felt soft, too emotional, and compressed. The bass was a little high on the low end, though I didn’t mind. The middle setting was the vocal, catch-all balance.

But let’s be honest with ourselves here: No sound quality will come in the way of how Cyberblades look and present. You will stand out by wearing these in public and on the street. Personally, I’m used to earbuds being mundane and even completely obscured by my long hair. While I was getting Cyberblades to ruffle my hair, I noticed how much they were sticking out of her ears and was begging you to look at them. If you’re looking for something designed to set you apart from all the AirPods and Galaxy buds in the world, they certainly do.

I’ve used these earbuds for hours, but since they are pre-production, I won’t be reviewing them. examples – and a lot can change how Kickstarter works and beyond. But just as Kickstarter has its risks, so does buying your tech products from a boutique brand. Cyberblades has its fair share of punk and clumsiness that is not guaranteed to be ironed out. For example, the swivel lid is stylish, but it takes a lot more rotation than it should to register small volume changes. Also, the headphones don’t automatically pause unless you quickly unplug the two at the same time. And frankly, auto-pause is the least of my annoyances, until a firmware update fixes issues like frequent disconnections and nearly unusable touch controls. While Angry Miao is still doing something, always remember that tech products should never be bought with the promise of the future.

While most of Angry Miao’s products are outrageously expensive and hard to buy, it’s nice to see a small team with unique identity-creation hardware that compels some emotions. “The art community of the future”? This term still seems like a pointless exaggeration to me. But it’s definitely a lifestyle tech brand that has carved out its own weird little niches in niches and does it in interesting and unique ways.

And I have to admit, there is a part of me that is absolutely fascinated by these products. Designs can evoke an emotion that’s not quite there. For example, after first learning about Angry Miao and seeing pictures of one of the Cyberboards and its colorful LED matrix, I had a specially modified personal fire dream. boundary the model is connected to a ticker that displays the latest status boundary hovering titles. To take you exactly to this story, I imagined a special key that opens a web browser. Why did I think this? Probably not because I’m a total geek, but also because these cool, interesting designs can help you come up with your own ideas. my fantasy boundary keyboard something reachable? Probably not. But hey, it’s fun to dream.

Photograph by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge