CES 2008

The non-tech media's been full of articles deploring the inferior sound of the MP3 era. Apparently Pioneer agrees. At CES, the company is demonstrating technology it calls Advanced Sound Retrieval, or ASR, which promises to restore some of the signal lost when audio is compressed into a "lossy" format like MP3 or compressed WMA or AAC.

Technically, it's much tricker to restore signal than it is to cut it--that's one of the first rules of audio recording, which is why you want to get the broadest dynamic and frequency range possible, then pare it down, rather than trying to fill it in later with effects and EQ. What Pioneer appears to be doing is looking at the signal from moment to moment, making an educated guess about signals with frequencies above 15kHz that have been cut, and reinserting those signals.

Pioneer ASR

(Credit: Matt Rosoff)

I didn't get to test it at real world volume, in a real car, with music I know and love, so it's hard for me to be objective. But at the booth, when I listened to an MP3 file of Rage Against the Machine with ASR on and off, I definitely noticed a lot more high end with the ASR on. But it didn't sound louder--it's not like the Loudness button you used to see on some stereos (which was basically a compressor...that's another post). And it wasn't as if somebody simply turned up the EQ on the high end. So, it does seem as if Pioneer's doing some pretty sophisticated work here, and it probably will make your compressed audio files sound better--not CD-quality, but better.

ASR is featured in 12 new automotive single-CD players from the company. According to the people at the booth, it's also included in the company's Premier line of products.

As a sidenote, a huge thanks to the person who programmed "Scratch" by Morphine into one of the Gigabeats at Toshiba's booth. Most demo music at CES is brash and trebly, so it was a pleasure to hear all this low-mid--bari sax, upright bass, and a baritone singer. It also happens to a personal favorite: it's one of the only cover songs an old band of mine used to do. It was a great way to take a five-minute break on the floor. And I still think the Gigabeat was a beautiful-sounding MP3 player that got caught in the PlaysForSure crossfire--in fact, that's probably why I enjoy listening to my first-generation Zune so much, as it's basically just a rejiggered Gigabeat.

Car Tech editors Wayne Cunningham and Kevin Massy fiddle with a Scion xD.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

At this year's CES, the Car Tech editorial staff members not only cover the show, we are part of it. Along with looking at new and innovative automotive gadgets around the show floor, we are running the Car Tech Testing Lab. We've invited major car stereo manufacturers, such as Eclipse, Alpine, Pioneer, and Blaupunkt, to stop by our Lab and install their latest car stereos in our test car, a 2008 Scion xD, so we can check out the products in a standard environment.

We first got a sense of our new responsibilities as we waited in line to drive our test car into the convention center. There we were, 8 a.m. on Sunday, sitting in our Scion xD, in front of a Morgan, a Ford GT, and a Ferrari F430. We felt a little outclassed, but were happy with our car when we had to maneuver it around crates, forklifts, and cranes through the hall to our Lab. We spent the rest of our setup time prepping the car--taking out the original stereo and disconnecting the starter--and setting up camera angles. Then Monday through Thursday we will be getting our first looks at the latest car stereos.

The Pioneer VSX-1018TXH-K includes enthusiast-friendly features like onboard high-resolution soundtrack decoding.

(Credit: Pioneer)

In just a few sort years, HDMI connectivity has become arguably the most important spec for AV receivers. Pioneer rolled out four new HDMI-capable receivers today, ranging from the budget VSX-518 to the midrange VSX-1018TXH-K. All four models have three HDMI inputs, which is one more than the previous standard of two. On the other hand, onboard decoding for the new high resolution soundtrack formats--such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio--is limited to the VSX-1018TXH-K, which is a little disappointing considering it was available last year on the inexpensive Onkyo TX-SR605. The VSX-1018TXH-K looks to be the sweet spot for enthusiasts, offering HDMI upscaling, onboard high resolution audio decoding and six-digit inputs for a reasonable $600 list price.

The full specs of the four new receivers are below.

(Credit: Pioneer)

Note that the press release seems to indicate there are no S-Video inputs on any of these receivers. We're hoping this is a misprint, although it wouldn't be unprecedented, as we saw the same thing on Sony's STR-DG810. We'll update this post with more information once we have a chance to swing by Pioneer's booth. UPDATE: We have confirmed with Pioneer that these receivers do not have S-Video inputs.

Pioneer DEH-P7000BT

(Credit: Pioneer)

Proving its commitment to the aftermarket stereo market, Pioneer today unveiled a dozen new in-dash car stereos. The 12 new stereos offer a range of connectivity options, ranging from the ability to play compressed audio formats such as MP3, WMA and AAC discs, to support for USB sources, iPods, HD Radio, and Bluetooth hands-free calling. For systems with iPod connectivity, Pioneer has improved the user interface and menu navigation to more closely resemble that of the iPod itself, while adding some extra navigation features, including alphabetical search, iPod passenger control (which gives car passengers the ability to search for music on the connected iPod player itself), and Link Search, which provides a list of all the content by a currently playing artist.

Pioneer DEH-P600UB

(Credit: Pioneer)

Four of the new units--the FH-P8000BT, FH-P800BT, DEH-P7000BT and DEH-P700BT--come with built-in Bluetooth hands-free calling as standard, while four--the DEH-P7000BT, DEH-P700BT, FH-P8000BT, and FH-P800BT--come with built-in HD Radio controls. Mid- and upper-range models in the new lineup feature an organic electroluminescence display, while upper-end models get a rotary control knob to improve the navigation of digital audio sources. Most of the new stereos ranging from the $100 DEH-2000MP to the $250 USB-enabled DEH-P600UB will be available later this month, while the four higher-end systems with price tags of between $290 and $330 will be available in March.

(Credit: Pioneer)

Pioneer used the first morning of press conferences here at CES 2008 to unveil the latest in its range of AVIC in-car navigation devices. The touch-screen AVIC-F500BT dubbefd "LINC" by Pioneers engineers, follows the recent in-car "hybrid" trend of combining the flexibility of a portable navigation device with the audio integration of an in-dash system, while providing some innovative voice-recognition capabilities. The system, which has built-in GPS and mapping data, Bluetooth, and USB and SD-card playback capabilities--can act as a standalone portable navigation and media device or can be connected to any car stereo with an auxiliary input jack. For stereos without an aux input, the system can be connected to an existing head unit using a dedicated Pioneer adapter module. When connected to an existing car stereo, the device can be snapped into a rather snazzy-looking cradle on a car's dashboard, giving it a well-integrated appearance.

The AVIC-F500BT offers most of the goodies found in Pioneer's previous AVIC devices, including text-to-speech functionality and 3D map view, while adding a number of advanced navigation features including a subscription-based information service from MSN direct providing updates on traffic, gas prices and movie times in 100 cities across North America as well as the facility to update the POI database using the SD card.

(Credit: Pioneer)

Watch the Pioneer AVIC-F500BT video on CNET TV.

The main innovation of the AVIC-F500BT is its enhanced voice-command capabilities. Drivers can use the F500BT's built-in Voicebox technology to control and request music from a connected iPod and to make calls via a Bluetooth-connected cell phone. In contrast to the formulaic voice commands required by most factory-installed and aftermarket systems, VoiceBox technology allows drivers to request songs and contacts using conversational commands and intent-based commands. Rather than requesting an audio track by number or using a prescribed word order, users can ask for music in a more conversational way ("play U2" and "I want to hear some U2" will apparently achieve the same result). We're looking forward to getting our hands on one of these over the next couple of days here at CES; customers can expect the AVIC F500BT to hit the shelves in Spring 2008.

Pioneer's concept plasma (right) next to the current model, with no image but both panels turned on. A long exposure time exaggerates the leftmost panel's brightness and makes its color look bluer, but you get the idea.

(Credit: Kevin Law Photography)

Pioneer also showed a model that was only 9mm thick

(Credit: Pioneer)

(Credit: Pioneer)

Pioneer consistently makes some of the best plasmas on the market, such as our current Editors' Choice PDP-5080HD plasma, and today it demonstrated two new "Project Kuro" technology concepts that are among the most exciting displays shown by anyone at CES. Unfortunately, neither will make it to market in 2008.

The first, designated the "Extreme Contrast Concept" plasma, is said to be capable of producing an "absolute black with no measurable light emitting from the television." The ability to produce a dark shade of black is one of the most important ingredients in picture quality. ... Read more