CES 2012 taking place in Las Vegas opened it’s doors this week on Monday the 9th January.
All the doom and gloom around how tuff the economic climate is it’s still being reported that global sales of consumer electronics are expected to break through the $1tn barrier in 2012. That’s a 5% growth rate according to the CES organiser the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
Western Europe will account for 22% of that $1tn total. Growth in the European CE sector was up 7% in 2011, that is expected to slow to just 1% in 2012.
It’s expected that the tablet market will grow by a massive 63% in 2012, with smartphone sales due to rise 22% and the mobile PC sector growing 11%. Linking and interfacing music and films is bound to be a key part.
It’s been reported by the CEA that in 2002 most people wanted a DVD player, in 2005 it was an MP3 player, 2008 a laptop, and now in 2011 it’s a tablet that’s top of most people’s wish list.
What is clear is that the trend is around smart technology, streaming, cloud computing, touch / voice control, apps and the introduction of these products from more high-end specialist brands.
CEA boss Gary Shapiro says that 20,000 new products will be unveiled at CES 2012.
There are some very exciting products being launched and here are some of our favourites so far!
The Arcam rPac portable DAC is a simple, portable, affordable and high quality DAC which will enhance any music stored on a laptop or digital media player.
The Arcam rPac sits within the Arcam rDAC range building on the success of the rDAC & rCube.
Expected to retail for around £150 the Arcam rPac will be available in mid March. The rPac is a USB-powered digital-to-analogue converter and headphone amplifier, and is designed to be used with PC or Mac computers.
It requires no drivers when used under Windows 7, Windows XP or Mac OSX, and of course being USB powered needs no external power supply, making it a fully portable USB audio solution.
It’s reported that Arcam will use the DAC which is normally found in their very high end Hi-Fi kit, take the files stored on a PC or MAC and convert them in to fantastic sounding music.
Headphone and line level outputs are available and the product is comes in a funky looking black aluminium case.
Mon
itor Audio Shadow series slim line on-wall surround sound speakers
Expected to be truly the ultimate in style driven and unquestionable performance versus any competitor the ultra-thin shadow range of home cinema speakers is guaranteed to be a much sought after home cinema speaker package.
Monitor Audio Shadow range has a number of brand new design technologies.
Firstly the 4in mid bass driver users a high power Neo magnet system.
Then there is a floating driver and a special ‘concertina’ driver suspension arrangement, plus a proprietary tweeter wrapped in a one-piece aluminium extruded cabinets.
There is also hidden cable entry and connection points which is all presented in a stunning matt black finish.
There are three models in the range plus a centre channel.
The Monitor Audio Shadow 25 (£500 per pair) is the smallest and is designed for use as a satellite or rear channel speaker. It has a 4in Flat RDR mid bass driver and a 25cm dome tweeter.
Designed to be wall-mounted, it comes with a metal desktop stand, has 84dB sensitivity rating and a max power handling of 60 watts.
Then there is the Monitor Audio Shadow 50 (£800 per pair) which uses dual 4in RDT drivers, a 25mm C-CAM tweeter and two flat ABR drivers. It’s designed to work with TV screens up to 50in in size.
The largest of the Monitor Audio Shadow range is the Shadow 60 which uses a similar driver configuration in a slightly larger cabinet and is therefore aimed at larger screen sizes.
The Monitor Audio Shadow centre speaker (£450) uses the same selection of drivers as the 50 and 60.
The Shadow 50, 60 and centre all have an 87dB sensitivity rating and a max power handling of 120w.
These are guaranteed to be on demonstration in our home cinema room!
Dynaudio Xeo 3 and Xeo 5 high-end wireless multiroom loudspeakers.
Reported as being the world’s first high end wireless the Dynaudio Xeo 3 is a compact bookshelf speaker and the Dynaudio Xeo 5 is a floorstanding speaker which connect wirelessly to Dynaudio’s Xeo wireless transmitter, which is wired to your music source.
The Xeo transmitter has digital optical, USB, stereo analogue and 3.5mm minijack inputs, allowing for connection to a range of three sources, with selection between optical, USB and analogue.
The Dynaudio Xeo transmitter can wirelessly support up to three pairs of speakers, giving you the potential for a three-room, multiroom system and playing music from three separate sources.
Each pair of speakers comes with its own remote, allowing you to a switch between inputs on each set of speakers and adjusts the volume.
When connected via USB the Dynaudio Xeo transmitter requires no mains power, drawing what it needs from your laptop/PC, otherwise mains power is required.
The transmitter supports files up to 24bit/48kHz and sends audio at full CD resolution up to 16bit/48kHz. It connects to the speakers via a 2.4GHz A-to-B connection and promises a range of up to 50m.
The speakers themselves use Dynaudio’s 27mm soft dome tweeter designs and 14.5cm mid/bass drivers with the company’s proprietary MSP (magnesium silicate polymer) cones.
Expected availability from Dynaudio is mid to late March, the Dynaudio Xeo 3 is set to cost around £1,100 a pair, Dynaudio Xeo 5 £2,250 and the Dynaudio Xeo Transmitter £215.
Rega RS10 loudspeakers.
More information will be announced however the Rega RS10 loudspeakers just with their powerful looks and Rega history of producing outstanding speakers are expected to be used as a bench mark for all true audiophile high end loudspeakers.
Colour ways are expected to mirror current loud speaker ranges.
