Angry Miao Cyberblade review: These $199 gaming earbuds are unlike anything I've used before

Angry Miao is an outfit like no other; the Chinese boutique brand made its name on the back of bold keyboard designs like the Cyberboard, which models itself after Tesla's Cybertruck. The brand sells its products in limited production runs, and that isn't astonishing when you consider what its keyboards cost — the latest Cyberboard R4 goes for an incredible $740.

In fact, I'm using the Cyberboard R4 right now, and while I have dozens of mechanical keyboards, it's safe to say that nothing matches the sheer lunacy of Angry Miao's offering. The brand uses the same design-focused ethos with its other products, like the Cyberblade wireless earbuds. Obviously, there's no shortage of wireless earbuds available today, and you can get a great-sounding option with a lot of extras for less than $100.

But the Cyberblade is different. These wireless earbuds don't look like anything else in the market — that's saying something, as I used the Nothing ear 1 and Ear 2 as well as Acefast's see-through earbuds — and they have a unique dock that has RGB lighting.

I'll get to the RGB lighting in a bit, but before that, let's talk about the cost. The Cyberblade launched for $329 at the end of 2022, and they're now available on Amazon for $249. You can get the earbuds for even less via the Angry Miao store, where they're just $199 as of writing. There are three colors: The Dark Side, Ghost White, and Shell Black, which has a two-tone texture that includes grey and black.

The Cyberblade goes up against the best wireless earbuds, but it has a lot of unique additions that you don't get anywhere else. The earbuds are encased in a circular case, and there's an RGB ring light that changes colors based on the mode that's being used. The lid of the case closes magnetically, and the top portion has a knurled design that is great to hold and use. There's a USB-C charging port at the back of the case, and pogo pins on the underside.

The earbuds have a distinct design that is based on the Focus earpiece that Aloy wears in Horizon: Zero Dawn. The angular design looks futuristic, and the stalk has configurable RGB lighting as well. The shells have a bulbous design, and while they are large, they don't exert much pressure on the ear canal, so they're highly comfortable to wear.

Just the fact that there's an abundance of RGB lighting was enough to sway me on the design front, but what I didn't realize was how ergonomic they would be; I wore the earbuds for hours at a stretch over the course of the last six months, and not once did I notice any fatigue; Angry Miao clearly paid a lot of attention to the fit as well as the design.

On that note, you get a set of silicon alongside memory foam eartips in the box, and that's not something you usually see in this segment. In fact, the only issue I have with the design of the Cyberblade is that the gesture control area is limited; it's a tiny section toward the bottom of the stalk, and it makes triggering gestures needlessly annoying. And as we're on the subject, the earbuds don't have any ingress protection, so I wouldn't suggest using them for workouts.

The pogo pins on the case are interesting, because they attach to a dock, which also has RGB lighting. The base lets you pair the Cyberblade with your Windows machine via USB-C, and what's great about it is that it has its own built-in DAC, so you get a clean sound with a lot of vibrancy.

What's particularly great is that in this mode, the Cyberblade uses Angry Miao's custom connection standard instead of Bluetooth, delivering latency as low as 36ms — six times less than what is usually the case with most earbuds. The base has three modes — Gaming, Movie, and Music — and the characteristic of the sound changes considerably between each mode.

You can cycle between the modes by long pressing on the case when it is docked. But what I like the most about the dock is that the top of the charging case acts as a large volume knob, giving you the ability to easily control volume. The movie mode has a virtual 7.1 surround sound, and it sounds pretty good in its own right.

Of course, all wireless earbuds in this category have ANC, and the Cyberblade doesn't miss out in this area. The ANC mode does a great job tuning out ambient noise — it blocked the sounds of the Cyberboard keyboard and the hum of the air con. You don't get a transparency mode, but that's not a huge omission.

Coming to the sound quality, the Cyberblade delivers a vibrant sound with a tight bass, clear mids, and detailed highs. The sound is immersive, and thanks to the low-latency connection, there is no lag when viewing videos or gaming.

I listened to a lot of music on these earbuds, and they're a fun listen. While I connected the Cyberblade to my Windows machine most of the time, they're just as easy to use with a phone, and I had no issues pairing it over Bluetooth 5.2 with the Pixel 8 Pro, Zenfone 11 Ultra, and a whole host of other devices I used in 2024.

Switching over to the battery side of things, the Cyberblade lasts just under six hours between charges, and that is more than adequate for my use case. The only issue in this regard is that the earbuds take over two hours to charge, but on the plus side, you get wireless charging in addition to USB-C. Each earbud has a 75mAh battery, and the case has an 800mAh battery that charges the earbuds thrice over.

It's hard to stand out in this category, but the Cyberblade manages to do that with ease. The RGB lighting gives these earbuds considerable presence, and the design looks futuristic — no one will mistake these for Sony or Samsung earbuds. They're comfortable to wear, last up to six hours, and the sound quality is terrific. What gives them an edge is the low-latency connection — it makes a difference while gaming — and the custom sound tuning.

If you don't like the look of most earbuds and want something that has an edgier design combined with great sound, you should give the Cyberblade a try.