Most of the products on display at CES are new to the world market, but there are a few exceptions. For example, the Sunray speaker from Germany's Tidal Audio has been available for several years, but not in the USA—until now. North American distributor Aaudio Imports used CES 2010 as the venue to introduce the Sunray to the American audiophile community.

Many audiophiles love vacuum tube-based components for their warm analog sound. Einstein Audio of Germany understands this well, as demonstrated by the introduction of The Tube MKII 2-channel preamp at CES next month.

Most consumers would probably apply the word "stereo" exclusively to 2-channel audio systems. So you might be surprised to learn that "stereo" has nothing to do with the number 2 per se—it derives from the Greek word for "solid." The word was applied to 2-channel sound systems when they first became available because those systems rendered a much more "solid" sonic image with more specific placement of individual elements (instruments, voices, etc.) than the monaural systems that had preceded them. Similarly, 5.1 surround systems are far more "stereo" than 2-channel systems.

AC power has long been the bugaboo of high-end audio—necessary to power the electronics, but prone to polluting the audio signal path with unwanted noise. American boutique manufacturer Veloce Audio has come up with a unique and elegant solution to this problem in its LS-1 vacuum-tube preamp—put the power supply and audio electronics in completely separate boxes and run the electronics with a rechargeable battery.