CES 2020

While Meridian’s line-up of digital speakers might be out of your budget, you can still enjoy some of the company’s sonic digital wizardry which is featured in the new line of LG premium soundbars. These bars leverage a long-standing partnership between LG and Meridian Audio and apply Meridian’s in-depth understanding of psychoacoustics and world leading DSP expertise, incorporating key technologies such as Bass & Space, Image Elevation, and Meridian Upmix Technology to boost low-frequency reproduction, widen the soundstage, and ensure a more lifelike listening experience by elevating the perceived height of lead instruments and vocals — extra important when the bar is positioned beneath a display.

For years, the THX logo on a product meant you were buying something that was a cut above the rest, with the company’s demanding certification process guaranteeing that a component met a certain performance level criterion that ensured buyers they were getting the goods, especially when it came to home theater electronics or speakers. However, the certification became diluted over the years as THX seemed to start certifying products and systems well outside of their key areas, and the THX badge seemed to nearly become extinct. But the company is back at CES and has several new technologies, including the launch of Drop + THX Panda, the first audiophile wireless headphone to receive the THX badge.

I met up at CES with Dan Mackta, Managing Director of Qobuz USA, for an update on how things have been coming along for the high-resolution music streaming service since it officially launched in the U.S. market last February. Here’s what Dan had to say.

Samsung is bringing 8K UHD displays and color-enhancing quantum-dot technology to lower price points in a 2020 TV lineup that features more 8K models, more choices of big-screen sizes measuring 70 and 80 or more inches, new contrast-enhancing LCD technologies, and new TV-audio enhancements.

HDR10+, the enhanced version of the HDR10 high-dynamic-range (HDR) format that leverages dynamic metadata to maximize a TV’s black level and peak brightness frame by frame, is kicking off the New Year with an expanded roster of supporters and technical updates.

Headphone specialist Sennheiser announced on the eve of CES 2020 that it has teamed with the technology company Continental to create a unique “speakerless” car audio system designed to fill the interior of a vehicle with lifelike immersive sound.