The Sounds of CES 2007

CES is a loud, loud show (except in the booths showcasing headsets, of course). Some of the new products in the sound category this year address wireless issues, others look to increase fidelity, and others are just ingenious good fun. Here are a few that I learned about during our hunt for the Last Gadget Standing. Though they didn't make the finals, they're bound to make a splash at the CES show.

Plantronics .Audio 910 Bluetooth Headset: With all the headsets on this year's show floor, CES is starting to have that "mission control" feel. Last year's "all the rage" headsets let you switch between music and a phone call. This year's twist is that you can switch between your mobile phone and an Internet call—fielding calls from multiple devices. The Plantronics .Audio 910 Bluetooth Headset, for example, lets Skype users get a call from their PC as well as their mobile phone, and answer/end the calls directly from the headset ($149.95).

The Digital Snake: Over at Gibson (the same folks who bring you Gibson guitars), they're working on ways to bring concert hall sound to consumers. The Gibson Digital Snake consists of two rack-mount modules with integrated high-quality pre-amps. Right out of the box, the Snake allows 24-bit/48kHz digital audio transfer to 100 meters (328 feet) without signal loss when using lightweight Cat-5 cable. The company says that the Digital Snake is aimed for use in live sound, studio recording, house of worship, or home theater environments. It ships March 1, 2007, with an expected retail price of $1,599.

Wi-Fi speaker systems make sense as an alternative to stringing wires around your home, but the reality is that Wi-Fi speakers have latency and distortion problems. Avega Systems is demonstrating a rather unique solution that they hope to license to others. It allows audio products like wireless speakers, TVs, media docks, receivers, and more to easily be Wi-Fi and networked. The company says its proprietary technology solves many of the problems that Wi-Fi has for distribution of audio and video, including latency, reliability, control of distributed devices, and using the least possible bandwidth. We're expecting them to announce some partnerships with major brands at CES.

For the car, Kensington Computer Products Group is showing its RDS FM Transmitter/Car Charger for iPod. It only costs $80, but your iPod's artist information gets displayed on your car stereo (no more near crashes as you reach over to read your iPod to find out what you're listening to). It's also got a unique design that fits nicely in some of those weird car power outlets.

In the ingenious fun category, karaoke lovers on a budget will get a kick out of IXT's DVD Karaoke Microphone. A $40 microphone connects between any DVD player's audio-out jacks and TV or stereo audio-in jacks. The singer's voice gets mixed with whatever is playing in the DVD player. That could be karaoke, CDs, movies, anything. And you can use it as a plain old microphone too.

Lightcast, from Farm Fresh, adds a Fillmore-worthy light show to your audio. Connect the device to your iPod, stereo, or PC, turn down the lights, and you get a synchronized multicolored light show. Lightcast uses 33 LEDs of various colors and enhanced parabolic projection to create the show, and you can choose between a number of effects.