An independent panel of industry expert judges, including members of the media, designers, engineers and more, reviewed submissions based on innovation, engineering and functionality, aesthetic and design. Those rating the highest across the product categories receive the “Best of Innovation” designation. The full list of Best of Innovation and all honorees will be revealed during CES 2022 on January 3.
The announcement was made ahead of CES 2022, the world’s most influential technology event. Many honorees will showcase their product in the Innovation Awards Showcase at CES, located at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas. CTA announced Innovation Awards honorees from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and France, including 14 products from the Netherlands and 16 products from France.
Best of Innovation honorees revealed today include an important distinction to Thunderbolt 4 technology promoted by Intel Corporation, announced in July 2020. Thunderbolt 4 builds on the innovation of Thunderbolt 3 for a truly universal cable connectivity experience. Thunderbolt 4 always delivers 40 Gb per second speeds for data and video, while delivering power over a single connection. It is the most comprehensive Thunderbolt specification yet with compliance across the broadest set of industry-standard specifications – including USB4, DisplayPort and PCI Express (PCIe) – and is fully compatible with prior generations of Thunderbolt and USB products.
Another confirmed CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree is Knowles Corporation, which was recognized for its IA8201 AISonic DSP platform combined with AITransparenc+ from UK-based startup Chatable. This is an AI solution specifically designed to exploit the next-generation AI processing capabilities of the Knowles IA8201 AISonic processor for “Conversation Enhancement” of speech signals without perceptible latency.
Knowles AISonic DSP is an audio edge processor optimized for audio and machine learning, allowing for high compute performance and low power consumption applications on-the-ear for true wireless stereo (TWS) designs. In a TWS form factor, the combination of Knowles AISonic DSP and Chatable’s AITransparency+ provide an exciting new hearing enhancement experience to users.
The Knowles IA8201 AISonic DSP and Chatable’s AITransparency+ will be on display and demonstrated at CES 2022 in the company’s booth in suite #3801 in the Venetian Expo Hall. Attendees are invited to see live demos incorporating the solutions, as well as live demos of reference designs and development kits featuring Knowles' MEMS microphones, Balanced Armature drivers, audio edge processors, and algorithm partnerships for a variety of applications including, TWS, wearable, smart home, appliances, and automotive.
Further audio products and innovations recognized in the CES 2022 Innovation Awards include (for now) the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro true wireless earbuds by Anker Innovations in the "Headphones & Personal Audio" category, which use the second generation of the world's first coaxial hybrid driver unit, and feature HearID ANC for noise cancelling tailored to the user's ears. Anker was twice recognized in the category also with the PowerConf H700 wireless UC headset designed for business calls and video conference meetings - the world’s first UC headset to integrate recording and meeting transcription.
Cleer and Shenzhen Grandsun Electronic are also recognized in the Headphones & Personal Audio category with the Cleer GOAL II earbuds, which are designed for long-term usage and naturally maintaining awareness of surroundings. Whereas most earbuds also rely on the ear canal for stability, the GOAL II earbuds come with an array of secure-fit wings designed with Freebit technology, and support customized voice commands and gesture controls for an hands-free experience during workouts or on the go.
An interesting CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree in the "Accessibility" category is the PYOUR Eccellenza AI premium+ by Absolute Audio Labs, described as "the most feature rich hearing aid in the world" while cutting the price of Tier 1 hearing aids with up to 90%. To achieve this, the company implemented unique proprietary fitting and speech intelligibility algorithms on a consumer audio DSP, instead of ASICs, allowing also to leverage a series of novel processing technologies from other partners. The company says it is ready to work with OEMs to integrate its technology into new product developments.
The "High Performance Home Audio & Video" category already includes an example of home speakers, and those are the Synchrony T600 Premium Tower Speakers from PSB Speakers part of the Synchrony series. This flagship tower speaker features a new 5-way transitional driver array employing three 6.5" woofers, a 5.25" midrange driver, and a 1" titanium dome tweeter, in a heavily braced, four-chamber MDF enclosure, with custom IsoAcoustic isolators.
Harman was also included in the "Home Audio & Video Components & Accessories," specifically with the Harman Kardon Citation AMP, which was first introduced in Europe, and surprised very positively by the ability to support a multichannel wireless surround sound system with other HK Citation products via WiSA uncompressed wireless surround technology, plus Chromecast and AirPlay, or connected to a TV via HDMI ARC. The Citation AMP is a compact, Internet-connected Class-D design, controlled by the Axign AX5689 IC and audio converter.
In the same category Harman was recognized also with the Harman Kardon Radiance 2400 wireless home audio system, which strangely enough were also recognized last year. But I guess we are going to see a lot of that at CES 2022, which effectively will merge many of the announcements from last year, postponed because of the pandemic. The 2400 speaker system features two ultra-slim floor-standing speakers that use a Constant Beamwidth Technology (CBT) topology, with 24 vertically aligned and precisely calibrated transducers per speaker, reinforced with a powerful separate subwoofer. A compact digital hub connects the system to a TV and other AV devices, while Wi-Fi allows easy access to high-resolution music streaming services. This solution also leverages the Axign audio amplifier technology that was used in the Citation Amp.
Other audio products worth mentioning among the CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honorees, include the Heyday Sound Bar by Target, a compact 2.0 channel soundbar with a tablet slot and battery for 8 hours of playback, and the highly praised THX Onyx portable DAC and amplifier by THX, featuring the patented THX Achromatic Audio Amplifier (THX AAA) technology.
A company that racked up an impressive number of awards was Edifier, with four of their newest products, the NeoBuds Pro true wireless earbuds, the original MC500 sound console, MP230 portable speaker and M100 Plus portable waterproof speaker. All were selected as Innovation Award Honorees for CES 2022. The NeoBuds Pro ($129.99) are one of the first ever hi-res audio certified true wireless earbuds on the market, and provide users everything they need for a remote work environment with a six microphone setup combined with its active noise cancelling performance of up to 42dB.
Within the speaker category, the Edifier MP230 and M100 Plus were created to better fit consumers with varying needs. The MP230 portable Bluetooth speaker seamlessly blends portability with the design and technology of wood-framed bookshelf speakers. For those with a more adventurous spirit, the M100 Plus are the waterproof portable, palm sized speakers that users will want to take everywhere, providing sound with minimum distortion.
The most surprising of the new products is Edifier's first ever live streaming sound console and mixer, the MC500. The design combines an audio interface with sound effects pads and audio control for a more integrated, intuitive and interactive livestream. The MC500, MP230 and M100 Plus will all be available to purchase on the Edifier site in 2022. The NeoBuds Pro are now available.
And finally in the normally more innovation-oriented category of Embedded Technologies, effectively enabling future product developments, we can find an interesting range of audio technologies and solutions. The Notecard Wi-Fi IoT System-on-a-module by Blues Wireless is a notable CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree. The device provides high-performance, secure, connectivity for connected devices in a 30mm x 35mm system-on-module (SOM). The cellular solution by Blues Wireless draws as little as ~8μA while idle and comes with a global 500MB data plan usable over 10 years included in the cost of the device. Notecard works with any sensor, MCU, and will route data to any cloud. For developers looking for the ability to expand their wireless connectivity options beyond cellular without sacrificing the simplicity and power of the Notecard, Blues Wireless is also adding a Wi-Fi capable Notecard to its product line-up.
And for audio developers working on next-generation AE/OE headphones or even TWS designs, Dirac also received recognition with its Dirac Opteo solution awarded in the Embedded Technologies, Headphones & Personal Audio categories. This is an embedded software solution for improving the sound quality of headphones and provides a tailored digital sound tuning. It is licensed to headphone OEMs and integrated in the Bluetooth chipset of the device. The latest Klipsch T5 II ANC true wireless earbuds were the first to include Dirac HD Sound.
In the CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree list we can also find Lattice Semiconductor with its sensAI solution stack for Edge AI/ML applications. This full-featured solution stack includes everything developers need to evaluate, develop and deploy FPGA-based ML/AI solutions, including modular hardware platforms, example demonstrations, reference designs, neural network IP cores, software tools for development, and custom design services.
Panthronics was also recognized with its NFC Wireless charging solution in the Embedded Technologies category. The Panthronics solution was recently highlighted by the NFC Forum and is the first NFC Wireless Charging reference system implementation for fast integration into consumer electronics and small portable devices such as fitness tracker, smart watches, smart rings, stylus, smart glasses, or earbuds.
This NFC wireless charging system comprises the PTX100W NFC charger IC, delivering up to 1W on the device to be charged and leveraging Panthronics' patented DiRAC simplified antenna matching technology, reducing development effort, size and cost.
Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2022 will convene the technology industry in person and digitally, Wednesday, Jan. 5 to Saturday, Jan. 8, with Media Days taking place Monday, Jan. 3 to Tuesday, Jan. 4.
www.CES.tech/innovation
