CES 2016

Definitive Technology and Polk Audio demonstrated for the first time the capability of its soundbars pairing with smaller, wireless speakers to form a true 5.1-channel wireless surround system. While company representatives would not confirm the technology being used, one could infer that since all of the speakers involved were from the PlayFi wireless ecosystem, and since one of the recent PlayFi updates enabled the possibility of adding surround speakers, that PlayFi was the underlying wireless technology at play.

The KUBE portable speaker is one of the coolest new products at CES - literally.

Cassia Networks demonstrated what the company is calling, “the world’s first Bluetooth router which uses a new enabling technology that redefines what’s possible with Bluetooth.” The word router isn’t one that’s normally heard in association with Bluetooth. Nor is the term “long-range”. (I’ve used another choice term or two when talking about Bluetooth, but we’ll leave those unspoken for the moment.)

ARCHT Audio (pronounced “ark” as in “architecture”) arrived on the audio scene last year with its ARCHT One wireless speaker, following its Kickstarter campaign in 2014 that raised $242,000 from over 500 backers. Following on that success, ARCHT is debuting the Mini speaker.

You probably haven’t heard of Maroo Audio. The company, after all, is just launching this year. But based on the sound quality of its initial products, you might want to hear more from Maroo Audio.

Chinese TV makers are all over CES showing sets with the same high-end tech that Korean and Japanese companies are touting. While some companies — HiSense, for example — will sell those models through outlets familiar to U.S. consumers like Best Buy, others like Konka have no plans to ship their premium models to these shores.