New Products

Doing its part to bring cutting-edge theatrical digital projection technology to a price point that's still hazy but should at least be less thanstratospheric, Sony announced the VPL-VW1000ES projector - the first of its 4K capable SXRD units to be aimed at the home market.

The 2011 edition of the massive Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (that's "Berlin International Radio Show," or just "IFA" for those of us who don't speak German) comes to a close tomorrow, with an overwhelming number of products from some 1,400 exhibitors on display, from super-automatic espresso machines to soundbars. Our own Corinne Iozzio was there, and managed to get a look at some of the latest (and just plain weirdest) stuff on offer from the world of consumer electronics.

Back at CES 2011, Toshiba had promised to get a glasses-free 3D TV set of reasonable size to market by 2012, and true to their word the company rolled out a 55-inch model, the ZL2, today at Berlin's IFA consumer electronics show.

Parasound has packed a few more features into their Zphono moving coil/moving magnet pre, adding to the Zphono·USB ($350) an A-D converter and (obviously) a USB port, making it even more handy as a general-purpose interface for those with older and esoteric turntables (or pretty much any other stereo gear) looking to digitize their collections.

There's a lot of action on the AVR front this week, with new models and upgrades from major manufacturers.

The SL300, the long-awaited flagship model in Chris 'Ludacris" Bridges' Soul headphone line, finally makes its way to major retail chains nationwide today, so pretty much everybody who can make it to a Best Buy or has an Amazon account should have a chance to see if Luda's put his money where your ears are.