CES 2014 news review – the highlights

International CES 2014, the world's largest consumer electronics show, is over for another year. But you can still catch up on all the new products, from flexible TVs to 105in 4K TVs, from high-res music players to crazy, high-end audio products.

Your first port of call for all things AV, should be our list of the top 10 AV products, the Stars of CES 2014 winners.

Then you can check out the good, the bad and the downright crazy from CES 2014 or take a look at the Best TVs of CES 2014.

Or you can see all the news as it broke, with our day-by-day highlights.

CES 2014 Day 1 highlights – including the incredible LG 105in curved TV, an invisible wireless speaker, Samsung home cinema systems and our highlights video from CES Unveiled.

CES 2014 Day 2 highlights – TVs, TVs, and more TVs, as all the big-hitters including Panasonic and Sony revealed their 2014 TV ranges. There was also news of new hi-fi brands, plenty of wireless speakers and headphones, home cinema systems and some high-res audio goodness from Astell & Kern.

CES 2014 Day 3 highlights – There was more from the audio specialists in The Venetian, including B&O, Naim and Damson. There was still time for another TV, this time in the shape of the Philips Android TV.

CES 2014 Day 4 highlights – News from Arcam, Monitor Audio and Sony, plus the reveal of our Stars of CES took over Day 4.

CES 2014 Day 5 highlights – There was one final day of new products, the highlights today coming from cheap 4K TVs from Kogan and Polaroid, plus yet more products from Eclipse, Focal, Sennheiser and more.

Or if you want to browse all the new products by category, scroll down this very page to see all the best new TVs, home cinema, hi-fi, tablets, smartphones and more from the world's biggest consumer technology show, CES 2014.

And what's next? MWC 2014...

CES 2014 TVs - 4K Ultra HD, OLED and LED/LCD

LG

LG was the first big name to hold a press conference on Monday morning. With it, LG was keen to show off the 105UC9; a 105 inch 21:9 curved Ultra HD TV, which boasts a 5120 x 2150 "5K resolution".

The giant set also includes a 7.2 multichannel sound system, supplied by Harman Kardon.

Elsewhere, LG announced a staggering 42 new TV sets for 2014.

Five of these will be plasma screens, divided into four ranges.

MORE: 4K Ultra HD TV: Everything you need to know

There will be eight new LED/LCD ranges, consisting of 25 sets in total. All of these will be Full HD 1080p and at least half will come running LG's new webOS smart TV platform.

4K Ultra HD was always going to be a highlight of CES 2014, and LG has delivered. The South Korean firm will be releasing six LED ranges, made up of 12 sets.

A range of curved OLED 4K Ultra HD sets will include 55in, 65in and 77in versions. Along with these, there will be a 77in flexible OLED TV which will let the user configure the curvature of the screen with the remote control.

MORE: OLED TV: Everything you need to know

Also announced was the 55EA8800 Gallery OLED, a flat OLED TV. The screen will be surrounded by what looks like a picture frame that in fact houses the speakers. The TV will be able to display photos and art as a screen saver when the TV isn't in use.

Panasonic

Pansonic unveiled a range of 14 new TVs at its press conference. 4K Ultra HD and LED/LCD are the only two screen types it will be using after it announced it would beshutting down its plasma production.

There will be two 4K TVs released later this year; the 65in TC-65AX800U and the 58in TC-58AX800U. Panasonic was keen to demonstrate a range of new imaging technologies to be implemented in the two sets.

Studio Master Colour will aim to provide rich, accurate colour reproduction thanks to a newly developed high-colour-space LED backlight.

Local Dimming Pro promises high contrast and rich gradation getting deep blacks without the loss of detail.

A 4K Fine Remaster Engine is a high-perfomance image-processing engine which processes corrections more precisely. It will also have the ability to upconvert low-res images to 4K from virtually any source.

Nine of the 12 LED/LCD Panasonic TVs will run the new Life+ smart TV platform. This new service aims to learn the preferences of each individual user, and will recommend live TV and on-demand services based on what it knows. Users will be able to "like" different programmes and content in order to speed up the learning process.

Sharp

Sharp was keen to show off its new 2014 range of TVs, with 14 sets to be released across four ranges.

There will be two new Aquos 4K Ultra HD sets in 60in and 70in guises. Both of these will offer THX 4K certification and four HDMI inputs which will all be 4K and HDMI 2.0 compliant.

A second range of Quattron+ Full HD TVs will come in 60in, 70in and 80in screen sizes. This is currently the only series of Full HD TVs that can deal with 4K content, and claim to come packing 15W subwoofers in each of the sets. Bluetooth connectivity will also be onboard.

The Quattron range will consist of 60in and 70in screens, and will offer 33 per cent more subpixels than 'standard' Full HD TVs thanks to Sharp's commitment to yellow subpixels.

Rounding off the 2014 range is the Aquos series of Full HD TVs. This will serve as the entry level and will consist of seven new sets, in 32in, 39in, 48in, 60in, 70in, 80in and 90in variants.

These will all come running Sharp's new SmartCentral TV platform, which can access cable, satellite and streaming services through an interactive guide.

Sony

Sony is well and truly pushing for 4K Ultra HD to become the standard screen type. At the press conference on Monday, three new ranges of 4K Ultra HD TV were shown off, comprising seven new models in total. Also announced were five new Full HD series, consisting of ten new models.

The flagship 85in X95 series features Sony's own 4K X Reality Pro engine, as well as X-Tended Dynamic Range Pro, which claims to offer deeper blacks and enhanced shadow detail.

It also uses Sony's Triluminos Display technology and uses a long-duct speaker design.

The X9 series will come in 55in, 65in and 79in variants and use the same screen technologies found in the X95. This will be one of the ranges sporting Sony's new "wedge design."

The X85 series loses the X-Tended Dynamic Range technology and the wedge design. It will come in 49in, 55in and 65in sizes.

The W95 series meanwhile will be Sony's flagship Full HD series. Coming in 55in and 65in sizes, it will use the X-Reality Pro engine as well as a Triluminos Display and X-Tended Dynamic Range. It too will use the wedge design and a long-duct speaker.

The W8 series takes a step down and loses the X-Tended Dynamic Range and wedge design. It will come in 42in, 50in and 55in variants.

The W7 and W6 series' round off Sony's 2014 range. Both use the X-Reality Pro engine and a bass reflex speaker. The W7 will sport 32in and 42in guises while the W6 will come in 40in and 48in variants.

Also on the agenda was the announcement of a collaboration with Netflix. The two tech giants are looking to provide a streaming solution so viewers can watch shows such asBreaking Bad and the second series of House of Cards in 4K Ultra HD during the first half of 2014.

Samsung

Samsung unveiled a new range of 4K Ultra HD LED TVs, alongside the world's first 85in flexible LED TV.

The UE9000 range of TVs will come in 55in, 65in, 78in and 105in variants. All of these will be "future-proof" – they come with a UHD Evolution Kit which means they can be upgraded easily should the 4K specification change.

Roku

Roku, not to be outdone, also announced its own range of smart TVs at CES Unveiled on Sunday night. The new sets will run the Roku Channel Store smart TV platform.

Roku claims this will be a much more simple and efficient platform compared with those found on current TV sets. The software is capable of delivering up to 450 channels in the UK including BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Demand 5, Spotify and Now TV.

The TVs will be built in conjunction with Hisense and TCL and will come in sizes from 32 to 55-inches.

Philips Android TVs

Bringing the Android experience to smart TVs is set to be Philips' mission in 2014, with TP Vision, the company that owns the Philips brand, announcing its plans for Android TVs at CES.

Due out in March in some territories and hopefully to the UK soon after, the sets marry the best of existing smart TV technology with apps, games and more from the Google Play store – all built on a new-look interface powered by Android.

MORE: Philips Android TVs

Toshiba

Toshiba has announced a whole host of TVs... but only US models so far. The flagship L7400U Series sports a Radiance Full Array LED panel with SuperBright LEDs, ClearScan 240Hz refresh rate and the CQ Dual + Single Core Engine.

We're expecting to find out details of Toshiba's JUK TVs for 2014 next month.

Home Cinema

Focal 

French company Focal introduced the Dimension soundbar and sub at CES 2014, and it promptly scooped up a Stars of CES award.

Billed as a soundbar and soundbase combined, it's a fine example of this increasingly popular product category.

LG

Along with its range of TVs, LG wanted to show off a new range of soundbars, soundbases and wireless speakers.

There are two new soundbar releases in 2014; the NB5540 and the NB3740. The NB5540 packs in 320W of power and a 4.1 speaker configuration. LG also claims it will come with a "hi-fi DAC and a Class-D amplifier". It will also support Bluetooth wireless streaming and HDMI ARC. This allows for simple, one cable hook-up.

The NB3740 will also have the same 320W and 4.1 speaker configuration, but will also offer Smart TV apps for media streaming services.

The LG LAB540W is LG's new SoundPlate offering - LG's version of a soundbase. This will include a built-in 3D Blu-ray player, smart TV functionality and a wireless subwoofer.

Also announced were two new wireless multiroom speakers. The LG NP8740 (70W) and the LG NP8540 (40W). Both ranges use the latest mesh network technology and support dual-band wi-fi (2.4/5GHz).

The speakers can be set up in a multiroom fashion, and users have the ability to play the same song across all units, or individual songs on each speaker via the smartphone app.

Samsung

Samsung also had a range of soundbars, soundbases and wireless speakers to unveil at CES 2014.

The HW-H750 wireless soundbar uses valve amp technology, which Samsung claims offers 320W of power.

The HW-H610 Sound Stand is Samsung's answer to a soundbase, and supports TVs from sizes 32in to 55in. It includes "active crossovers and vibration reduction technology" and can be wirelessly connected to a TV.

A complete, 7.1 system was also announced. The HT-H7750 system includes a 4K upscaling Blu-ray player, wireless rear speakers and incorporates Samsung's new Smart Hub.

Two new wireless speaker models were also unveiled: the M5 and the M7. These can either be used alone, or combined to create a multiroom set-up. They can also be configured to create a 5.1 wireless set-up.

Alternatively, they can also be combined with the HW-H750 to create a fully wireless system.

Sony

Sony is also getting in on the soundbar and soundbase action, with products in both categories.

The HT-XT1 Speaker Base, due in April this year, can be used with TVs 50in and under. It connects via HDMI and features 170W of power and 2.1 virtual surround sound.

The HT-CT770 soundbar meanwhile features a wireless subwoofer, 330W of power, high-def audio decoding and Bluetooth and NFC connectivity. It is slated for release in May this year.

Sony will also be releasing new Blu-ray players this year. One, the BDP-S6200, will feature 4K Ultra HD upscaling, dual-core processor, advanced picture processing and a digital music enhancer.

As part of a new Life Space UX, Sony unveiled a 4K Ultra HD Short Throw projector, capable of producing a 147in picture from just 28 inches away from the wall.

The projector is surrounded by speakers, which are in-turn surrounded by compartments for the rest of your home cinema kit.

Panasonic

Panasonic has several new home cinema products due for release this year.

Its soundbar range will receive three new additions. The SC-HTB880, SC-HTB580 and SC-HTB8 are all super slim and wall mountable.

The flagship SC-HTB880 will offer 4K passthrough technology, a separate wireless subwoofer and NFC connectivity.

Three new Blu-ray players were also announced during the Monday press conference. The BDT360 offers 3D playback complete with 4K upscaling, while the DMP-BD91 and DMP-BD81 will be 'regular' Blu-ray players.

The BDT360 and BD91 models will come with built-in wi-fi.

Seiki

Seiki is perhaps best known in the US for its budget 4K TVs. However on Sunday night, it unveiled the U-Vision HDMI cable and adaptor. The new accessories can upscale 1080p content to full 4K Ultra HD resolution. The cable will go on sale in Q1 of 2014 in the US for $40.

Hi-Fi

Arcam

Arcam has launched a new flagship stereo amplifier at CES 2014, the A49. Yours for a cool £3250. It will be joined by a C49 preamp and P49 power amp.

Also new is a pebble-shaped miniBlink Bluetooth DAC and a new version of the rDock, which now has an Apple Lightning connection. Read all about it here: Arcam CES 2014.

McIntosh

McIntosh was out in full force to display three new products.

To start, the MXA70 is a new, integrated audio system that removes the use of a CD player, instead favouring digital sources. Inputs include USB, analogue, optical and coaxial. The system comes with a specially designed pair of two-way speakers and features a 50W stereo amp and the same headphone amp found in the new MHA100.

And what exactly is the MHA100? Well, its McIntosh's new, dedicated headphone amp. It uses the same casework and physical design at the MXA70 and has four digital inputs. The headphone section itself uses McIntosh-designed, hand-wound impedance matching Autoformers which claim to deliver "full McIntosh power" into any set of headphones.

The third new product on display was the MB100 Media Bridge, which allows users to stream music directly from their wireless devices through their hi-fi system. A 64GB SSD houses the operating system and 1TB of space is set aside for audio storage.

Meridian

Meridian is celebrating 25 years of its digital speakers the only way it knows how – by releasing a new pair of digital active speakers.

There are three Special Edition models available, the DSP8000, DSP7200 and DSP5200, all of which (shown above) are on display at CES. Standard finishes are gloss black and white, but bespoke colours are also available.

Naim

Naim arrived at CES 2014 to make a statement, and it didn't disappoint.

The new 'Statement' - comprising NAC S1/NAP S1 pre/power amplifier - implements a new vertical design, with the power supplies in the base of each unit.

Each mono NAP S1 mono power amplifier delivers 746W (or 1 horsepower) per channel.

Monitor Audio

The compant took the occasion of CES to announce the first ever Monitor Audio amplifier, the AirStream A100.

The amp sports AirPlay and DLNA wireless streaming, as well as offering analogue and digital inputs and the potential for powering multiple zones of music.

High Resolution Audio

Before the show started, Gary Shapiro, CEO and President of CEA (Consumer Electronics Association), had already said that we can expect plenty of noise about high-res audio at CES 2014, "We expect major HRA (high-res audio) announcements over the next year and believe that the technology will have a strong presence at the 2014 International CES."

MORE: High Resolution Audio: Everything you need to know

Astell & Kern

There's a new high-res audio player in town, the Astell & Kern AK240. Following on from the AK120, the new DAP adds wi-fi for downloading music and streaming audio. The integrated flash memory is boosted to 256GB (there's an SD card slot, too).

The player can play DSD files natively and also has a nice, new AMOLED touchsrceen.

Sony

Sony looks likely to be one of the key manufacturers at the forefront of HRA, and we have now seen the official launch of the Sony NWZ-ZX1 Walkman, which has been given a UK release date and price.

Wireless Speakers

Wireless speakers have so far appeared in many different forms at CES 2014.

The first intriguing design came from ClearView, which showed off the Clio "invisible" wireless speaker. A 1mm thin piece of acrylic glass resonates to create sound. The base of the speaker houses all the electronics, a 2in woofer and stereo dipole speakers.

Next up is the Dream Audio Dream One speaker. The 360-degree design aims to disperse sound evenly around the room its in, thus eliminating the "sweet spot".

A whole host of connections are also available: aptX Bluetooth, WiFi, DLNA, AirPlay, USB and 3.5mm analogue.

The speaker can be used either on its own, or as part of a stereo set-up which allows users to configure them as left and right.

Pure didn't have any new products to show off at CES Unveiled. It did, however, announce that the Jongo series of wireless multi-room speakers can now be used with any streaming service such as Spotify, Rdio and Deezer.

Pure is implementing its own Caskeid technology which operates over Bluetooth and wi-fi. Content is sent to a single speaker in a group, and then the Caskeid technology synchronises with the other speakers to send the audio.

Damson also made an appearance at the show on Monday, unveiling the Jetstream 1 range of wireless speakers.

This new range uses Damson's own Optimized Room Audio (ORA) technology. This allows the speakers to effectively 'learn' the acoustic qualities of the room in which they are placed, and adjust themselves accordingly.

There are three models to the range: the Jetstream 1 Midi, the Jetsteam 1 Large and the Jetstream 1 Soundbar.

Headphones

Headphones are once again expected feature highly at CES 2014. After just two days there have already been some exciting announcements.

Yurbuds introduced the Inspire wireless in-ear headphones at CES Unveiled. Thanks to an intuitive TwistLock system, the headphones are "guaranteed" to stay in your ears, no matter what you're doing.

The Bluetooth enabled in-ears claim to offer six hours of battery life, and are also sweat resistent.

Monster was also keen to make big strides with its headphone range. This year the firm announced a number of collaborations with Adidas, UFC, the World Poker Tour, Lamborghini and a whole host of US music stars.

The main new headphones unveiled were the DNA Pro Wireless over-ear headphones. These feature aptX Bluetooth, active noise cancellation and "buttonless touch-sensing controls".

A wired option is also available, and the cans will go on sale sometime in Q2 for $450.

With several tie-ins already with music, Monster is now keen to corner the sports market too. The Monster Octagon headphones will be the official headphones of the UFC, there will be a range of Adidas Originals headphones in 2015.

Monster will also become the official headphone supplier of the World Poker Tour, claiming it is "the only sport you can play with your headphones on."

British hi-fi brand Mitchell & Johnson made its international debut at CES 2014. While the majority of its products were hi-fi separates, the firm did announce the £170 HP1 audiophile headphones.

Panasonic also wanted a piece of the headphone action, unveiling two new pairs. The RP-HC800 noise-cancelling headphones boast 40 hours of playback from one AAA battery. The RP-BTD10 wireless Bluetooth headphones meanwhile offer NFC pairing, aptX Bluetooth and 40mm driver units which claim to offer "excellent sound quality".

Smartphones

Smartphones feature at CES, too, although many of the major manufacturers prefer Mobile World Congress, in a month or so, or indeed dedicated launch events, to unveil their latest designs and devices. Still, LG and Samsung are showing off their new curved phones, the G Flex and Galaxy Round.

Sony

Phil Molyneux, president of Sony Electronics teased new phones before the show: "We'll have some good stuff to show around smartphones at CES. We recognise the US is a terribly important market." And sure enough, we've seen the new Xperia Z1 Compact.

The 4.3inch Triluminos HD screened phone carries many of the same features as its bigger, Z1 brother.

The screen itself however is only 720p and has a ppi of 341 - instead of 440ppi on the Z1.

However it does run on a 2.2GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and has 16GB of built-in storage which is expandable via microSD. NFC and 4G LTE are on board as well.

The Z1 Compact makes use of the same 20.7-megapixel camera and will come running Android 4.3 out-of-the-box, with 4.4 KitKat promised soon after.

CES 2014 tablets

Samsung

The Samsung Galaxy NotePRO is a 12.2-inch tablet (and if you think that looks big written down, it’s nothing compared with the reality of a tablet this huge) with a whopping 2560 x 1600 resolution – that’s over four million pixels in total. It’s running Android 4.4 ‘KitKat’.

Hands on: Samsung Galaxy NotePRO review

Much like wireless speakers and headphones, tablets are ten-a-penny at CES, with every OEM and their dog releasing new portables in every imaginable size. Last year we saw a Panasonic 4K tablet – albeit a 20in monster – so could 2014 be the year we see a 4K tablet in a more manageable size? We're on the look out.

There's also the chance we could see a curved tablet, following in the footsteps of the curved smartphones. And how about high-res audio support? Less crucial than on smartphones perhaps but it would be an interesting signal of intent nonetheless.

In-Car Tech

In-car technology is another trend that is expected to go large in 2014.

Google is one of the first big names to implement its Android operating system with several different cars.

The Big G announced on Monday that it has formed the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) with General Motors, Honda, Audi, Hyundai and Nvidia. This group will work together to create and implement a purpose-built, Android platform for in-car use.

The first cars to receive this service are expected to go on sale at the end of 2014.

A stand was also set-up for Monster to announce it will be producing a High Performance in-car audio sound system for the £3million Lamborghini Veneo Roadster - of which only nine will be made.

With plenty of news coming in each and every day, keep checking back for more updates from the largest consumer electronics and technology show.

Wearables

Samsung, Sony and Qualcomm all produced smart watches this year, to a mixed response, and Google and Apple are supposedly readying products for release in the not too distant future. Therefore expect other manufacturers to bring their contributions to the table.

Epson

The Epson Moverio BT-200 smart glasses deliver augmented reality across the whole display of the see-through lenses, rather than on a small display in the corner as with Google Glass.

Epson has developers on-board building apps and uses for the smart specs, so expect to hear plenty more about them and this wearable tech trend.

CES Best of Innovations winners

The International CES 2014 saw 28 companies crowned with a CES Innovations Awards honour, which recognises design and engineering advancements.

Awards are given based on engineering and design qualities, as well as the intended use and unique features.

The winners were showcased at CES Unveiled, with Sony one of the big achievers this year, walking away with four awards. One of them was for the company's 4K Media Player, released in conjunction with Sony's 4K TVs and projectors – though sadly not available in the UK.

B&O takes top honours in high-performance home audio for its BeoLab 18 speakers.

Stars of CES

And don't forget to check out our top 10 hi-fi and home cinema products from CES 2014, or Stars of CES 2014.

MORE: CES 2014 schedule: press conferences, keynotes and more

MORE: CES 2014 highlights - Day 1

MORE: CES 2014 highlights - Day 2

MORE: CES 2015 - what to expect

Max is a staff writer for What Hi-Fi?'s sister site, TechRadar, in Australia. But being the wonderful English guy he is, he helps out with content across a number of Future sites, including What Hi-Fi?. It wouldn't be his first exposure to the world of all things hi-fi and home cinema, as his first role in technology journalism was with What Hi-Fi? in the UK. Clearly he pined to return after making the move to Australia and the team have welcomed him back with arms wide open.