LAS VEGAS -- Sony's massive CES 2014 booth contains a wealth of home theater and audio products, sporting the company's particular knack for design.
First up, the Sony SRS-X9, a wireless speaker capable of playing high-resolution audio files, plus it supports just about every wireless feature you can imagine, including Bluetooth, aptX, NFC, Wi-Fi, AirPlay, and DLNA. The SRS-X9 isn't portable, so you'll need to keep it plugged in at all times.
I was truly surprised to see the Sony STR-DN1050 on display, the follow-up to the excellent STR-DN1040. Sony wouldn't give me any information on what's new with the STR-DN1050, so we'll probably have to wait until the spring to get the full details.
However, I was able to sneak a back-panel shot of the STR-DN1050. At least on this early demo unit, there were only five back-panel HDMI inputs, down from seven on the STR-DN1040.
Sony's HAP-S1 isn't new for the show, but it still looked stunning on the shelf. The HAP-S1 is a high-resolution audio player, with a 500GB internal hard drive, LCD display and $1,000 price tag.
Like nearly every other big manufacturer at CES, Sony was showing off a pedestal-style sound bar at its booth. It may be the nicest one I saw at the show, although LG's Sound Plate is a close second.
The PHA-1 isn't new for CES 2014 either, but its rugged metal design made it stand out among the plastic gadgets all over the show floor. It's a portable headphone amplifier that offers 10 hours of analog input use and 5 hours of digital input use.
Sony's SRS-X7 might be the sweet spot of Sony's new wireless speakers, offering up refined looks, a portable design (6 hours of playback time), and tons of wireless connectivity, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC.
Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box systems may be on their way out, but Sony was showing one model at its booth that supports high-resolution audio playback and built-in Bluetooth.
The Sony UDA-1 is also part of the company's high-resolution audio line that was announced in the fall. This integrated amplifier and USB DAC may be my favorite of the high-res line, coming in at a semi-reasonable $800.
Not everything at Sony's both was high-tech, though. These cubelike alarm clocks surprisingly are Bluetooth-free, so you'll need to rely on AM/FM for your bedside tunes. On the plus side, there is a USB port specifically designed to charge your gadgets overnight.
