Faithful readers may remember a similar headline from our coverage of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, one year ago. Last year, Haier was showing off a pre-production version of its 5.1 soundbar featuring Sonic Emotion's 3D Sound chipset - and the demonstration was quite impressive. However, as is often the case at CES, some technologies and products take longer than anticipated to get just right and consumers are forced to wait. Such is the case with Haier's 3D Soundbar, dubbed the SVEV40-3D, a product that looks slightly different from what we saw last year, but that we've been assured will be ready to ship this quarter.
Featuring Sonic Emotion's Absolute 3D chip, Haier's 3D soundbar uses a host of technologies and software algorithms such as spatial analysis, wave field synthesis, and psycho-acoustics to analyze the source signal before creating a "a 3D representation" of the sound field. The end result, according to Haier and Sonic Emotion, is a sound more immersive that the traditional 5.1 setup, and one in which "all listeners perceive the ultimate 3D sound experience, independent of their location and device positioning."
Haier's 230-watt SVEV40-3D can be used in a tabletop configuration or wall mounted and features an integrated dock for not only iPod and iPhone, but iPad as well. The unit features several pre-set EQ modes such as "Music," "Movies," and "News" and an optical input is available for connection to your HDTV or source device.
The SVEV40-3D will begin shipping this quarter at a price of $399.
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