Best home audio products from CES 2017

Though there are dozens of gadget shows around the world each year, there are probably only three that are worth following for audio-visual tech: IFA, CEDIA and CES. CES is the biggest.

At the close of the last day of 2017, we look back on the last week and pick out some of our personal highlights: From Atmos sound bars to Alexa clones, to the latest creations of one of our favorite audio companies.

Wireless speakers, or "Alexa is the new Bluetooth"

 

Gadget Ogling: Floating Speakers, Neckbrace Audio, and Charming Caffeine Fixes

Welcome, dear friends, to another incarnation of Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that occasionally peels its eyes from Super Mario Run to cast its gaze over the latest gadget announcements.

In the Mushroom Kingdom this time around are a levitating speaker, a speaker to hang around your neck, and an adorable coffee machine.

 

Dell puts 10 speakers inside new XPS 27 all-in-one PC

Making a distinctive and uniquely appealing desktop PC is a daunting task nowadays, but not an impossible one. Dell’s approach to this challenge, unveiled with the 2017 XPS 27 all-in-one, is to go for audio overkill. This new desktop has six speakers staring down the user — four covering the mid and bass frequencies, plus dedicated tweeters in each corner — along with two more down-firing, full-range speakers and a pair of passive radiators. I say overkill, but audio has been generally a neglected aspect of desktop PCs, with makers expecting people to buy separate speakers or use headphones, so Dell is tapping into an opportunity to deliver a true all-in-one.

Dell XPS 27

 Jake Kastrenakes

TWO TIMES LOUDER THAN AN IMAC, 10 TIMES THE BASS OF AN HP ENVY 27

Dell’s new audio system has been engineered in collaboration with music producer Jack Joseph Puig, and the PC-making company isn’t too shy to claim it has "the best sound for an All-in-one PC." It certainly has more than enough hardware to grab that title. But Dell’s claims don’t end there: the company also says the XPS 27 is two times louder than Apple’s 27-inch iMac and has up to 10 times the bass of HP’s Envy 27.