Some of the best designed products at the show belong to Edifier, a Beijing-based firm with North American offices in Canada. The company’s sleek audio systems can stand on their own as object d’art – the fact that they also sound pretty great is icing on the cake.
All of the items are conjured up by an in-house design team, proof that China might be viewed as more than just a source of cheap labor. (Indeed, here at CES the consensus seems to be the country is poised to become the “next wave” CE giant, following in the footsteps of Japan and Korea. At least according to Jack Wayman, who founded the Consumer Electronics Show in 1967 and was here browsing the wares this year.)
Edifier won a 2010 CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award for its $299 Luna 5 Encore iPod/iPhone dock, that has enough room in its rounded shape to fit five speakers, including a 32-watt subwoofer and four others powered by 20 watts.
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