CES 2009

French audio specialist YBA announced its first one-box media server. Seen at the top in the photo, the Encore falls in the company's Design series (the two pieces below it are the Design series' CDE and DVD player). The Encore will be available with either a 500GB or 1 TB hard drive ($4500 and $5500 respectively).

With its on-board 40W per channel stereo amp, the Encore can service a modest playback system without requiring external amps (though line-level outputs are available). It will handle most common audio codecs including MP3 to FLAC, and WAV, and most video formats as well. With connectivity via WiFi (a/b/g), HDMI, coaxial and optical digital, analog, and USB, it can be used with virtually any consumer source.