CES 2024: This Is the Best Audio Gear We Spotted
Featuring a speaker that enhances dialogue audio, waterproof earbuds, and much more.
At CES 2024, we spotted plenty of audio products, from a totally wacky speaker with a built-in picture frame to practical offline translation earbuds. The concepts and products displayed at CES never cease to amaze, even if many of them ship months or years later, or not at all. This is not the conference to attend if you want to buy products today, but if you want a peak at the future of tech, there's no better place to be. Here are the best of these audio products from CES 2024.
Samsung's musical picture frame
Remember Samsung's popular The Frame TV? If you have one of these, or even if you don't, you should check out the Samsung Music Frame, which is a speaker with an integrated photo frame. It has a square frame (12.9 inches on each side) and it ships with an actual print, which you'll be able to customize before ordering, per Samsung. (In other words, it doesn't have a digital screen for downloading or swapping images on the fly, like a digital photo frame.) The company says this speaker provides surround sound when paired with its 2024 lineup of TVs and soundbars, but it can function as a standalone Bluetooth speaker too.
A speaker to help with that inaudible dialogue
One of the biggest problems with modern movies is that the dialogue track is often too hard to hear. If you're tired of sound effects sounding too loud and not being able to understand the dialogue, the Mirai speaker might interest you. It claims to enhance dialogue audio so that you won't have to keep looking for subtitles again. Unlike a lot of the future-looking tech at CES, this one's available right now for $300.
Waterproof earbuds that sit outside your ears
The popular accessories brand Anker is showing off a pair of earbuds called Soundcore Aerofit, which it calls the "world's first open-ear earbuds with waterproofing." The Aerofit has an IPX7 waterproof rating, which means that you can submerge this pair of headphones in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes. The open-ear design means that it sits just outside the ear canal, which may be more comfortable for some people. Anker already sells the Aerofit Pro, which has an inferior IPX5 waterproof rating. The new Aerofit offers up to 11 hours of playback on a single charge, which can be extended up to 42 hours with the charging case, according to Anker.
A sleek soundbar for your monitor
When we talk about soundbars, we mostly refer to speakers for TVs, but the Blueant Soundblade is a soundbar designed for monitors. The speaker is being showcased at CES 2024 and its sleek design immediately caught our eye. If you place it under your monitor, it'll look far more like a stand than a speaker. It supports 3.5mm aux input, USB-C, and Bluetooth 5.3. The product is available in five colors and you can pre-order it at $200. The company claims that you won't be charged until the product ships.
Earbuds that offer offline translation
Mymanu Clik 2 is a pair of wireless earbuds that supports live translation both in-person and online. Its makers claim that the product has an eSIM and supports wifi too, and that its translation tools can be accessed offline. This product has been selected as an honoree in CES' Innovation Awards. Although pricing and availability are unclear, you can take a look at the Mymanu Clik S on the company's website to get a general idea about pricing and features.
Reducing cable clutter in home theater setups
An audio video receiver (AVR) is at the center of nearly every home theater setup. This creates a mass of cables behind your TV and running to each speaker in your setup. Audio Cu is a product that can replace the AVR for home theater audio and lets you reduce cable clutter by distributing sound over power. The company claims that you can connect an audio transmitter to your TV and a receiver to each speaker. The transmitter sends sound via power to each Audio Cu receiver. This means that a couple of cables will go from your TV to Audio Cu's transmitter, and each speaker will run one cable to each receiver unit. Audio Cu claims to Dolby Atmos for audio as well. The project was initially funded via Indiegogo, and it's now an honoree at CES 2024's innovation awards.