Above: we first met up with MONDO Sound a few years in their suite in the Venetian. Founded in Sweden in 2022, MONDO is shaped by Scandinavian design principles, never flashy but always interesting. Here, Alex Skillman, Johan Wahlback, and Bruno Drobeta bring feature some of the most elegant designs seen at CES 2026 to Pepcom's Digital Experience.
Why is an article of people and manufacturers from CES 2026 so late in coming to you? I guess at this point we can consider it a preview of the upcoming CES in January 2027! Why so late? Well, we edited the photos back in February, then started on the captions, which can be very slow and plodding in getting the information to accompany them, unless we are lucky enough to be able to read peoples’ badges, which despite my best intentions doesn’t always happen in the midst of the CES chaos. Then CanJam NYC 2026 came along, and T.H.E. Show in Costa Mesa, California, followed by CanJam SoCal, and Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society events, and a lot of life stuff, so, I can only plead mea culpa.
When making our plans to attend CES 2026, we started with a bucket list item for my wife Nancy Burlan, which was to visit Death Valley National Park, which she had never been to. We stayed two nights at the beloved and funky Amargosa Opera House Hotel, which isn’t deluxe accommodations at the Ritz or George V, but fun in a damp sort of way. The area had suffered from record-breaking rain and storms, so the Valley was filled with water, which as we found out later lead to amazing wildflowers later in the year, a temporary lake (Lake Manly), and more. We had been traveling across country, and felt we need a break from that to prepare for CES.
The Amargosa Opera House has a story. According to information online, “In 1967, New York ballet dancer Marta Becket stumbled upon the abandoned complex, rented it, and spent decades painting Renaissance-style murals and performing solo ballets in the adjacent opera house.” The hotel and opera house are her legacy. A non-profit, the Amargosa Opera House, Inc., is dedicated to keeping up the constant maintenance of an old adobe structure located in a very harsh environment. It’s a worthy cause.
When we got there, the Opera House and hotel grounds were blanketed in mud, with most of the parking lot impassable with mud and water licking at our room’s back door. But with some sandbags, it didn’t matter. We had fun, and the park was astonishingly beautiful, with its temporary lake framing the mountains. We arrived at Dante’s View in a full-blown rain and windstorm with visibility of around 50 yards, so we waited a bit in our warmed-up car. When we finally emerged into the clouds, suddenly they parted, sunshine filled the Valley, and everyone there to witness it was awestruck. Later, after walking in raincoats in the water-filled Lake Manly, a rare event, we were charged up for CES. Death Valley is only a few hours’ drive from Las Vegas, so if you’re ever going to CES, consider visiting Death Valley before or after the show.
Here's a view of the unique interior of the Amargosa Opera House.
Not the most common sight: Death Valley National Park was filled with water during our trip.
Death Valley National Park had record breaking rain and storms, so the valley was filled with water. here Nancy stands in Lake Manly.
CES 2026 was a mixed affair. On one hand it had excellent attendance – 148,392 people, up 4 percent from 2025, a lot of positive energy, and what seemed to us like a return to pre-COVID levels of exhibitors and activity – with the notable exception of high-end audio.
Consumer and lifestyle technology were on display all over, so there was plenty to see and hear in terms of audio products. But true high-end audiophile equipment was notably scarce.
There were a few audio folks and companies at smaller press-only events, but gone are the days of the large and anticipated Harman concert, the Monster concert, the big CNET event, and others. In fact, an entire floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) was curtained off, so one could sense that no matter what the official statistics and metrics were, many well-known companies were missing.
Onkyo and Klipsch shared a large, well-designed space in the Central Hall of the LVCC, with Marcus Butler demonstrating the new Klipsch powered speaker lineup including the Fives II, Sevens II and Nines II, all with built-in Onkyo electronics. Ranging from $1,399 to $2,399 per pair, these speakers offer what they call Cerametallic woofers, extensive connectivity including streaming and phono stages, real wood finishes, and a lot more. PR aces Roberta Lewis and Sue Toscano were on hand to insure we had a good time. Headphone folks were all over the show, with Beyerdynamic, Audeze, Sennheiser, and Meze showing their wares, among others.
Steven Knight of the UK's Headliner Group attends Klipsch's 80th anniversary celebration with PR person Sue Toscano, a familiar face to anyone who attends audio shows.
Onkyo and Klipsch had a large space in Central Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Here Marcus Butler demonstrated the new line of Klipsch speakers. Onkyo and Klipsch have been on a roll lately, introducing well-reviewed components and speakers for audiophiles.
Planning for CES isn’t like mapping out a game plan for most conventions, even massive ones. For most conventions, one never needs to leave the grounds, even in a massive facility like New York’s Javits Center. At CES there are events all over Las Vegas at various hotels, convention centers, and private events in other facilities. As a result, experienced CES attendees plan their visit with the logistics of a military campaign. How much time will it take to walk from one hall to another? (And it takes a lot of time.) What about the free CES shuttle bus service, which is convenient, but maddeningly stops running earlier than most of the evening events that take place? How about the time it takes to get a cab, which can be a half-hour on weekends, and then spend another half-hour in traffic? Which press events serve food, a major convenience when time is limited? It’s also important to pace yourself.
On our CES 2026 trip, we did manage to attend the opening of the new Supreme Audio Systems Las Vegas showroom, covered in Copper Issue 229, so we did wind up getting some exposure to high-end audio after all. Maybe at CES 2027, audiophile companies will be better-represented at the show.
Here are more scenes from a trade show in a galaxy far, far away...er, Las Vegas:
Monster hosted a party at the Copa Room in the Tuscany Suites and Casino featuring a great Las Vegas band, the Santa Fe and the Hot City Horns. They cooked all night long!
The Copa Room features an original RCA Type 44-BX ribbon microphone. Patented on April 5, 1938, this iconic mic has been used on many of the greatest albums ever recorded, with this particular one used by Frank Sinatra. It was later brought onstage for use at the party, which was pretty amazing to all.
Here's Noel Lee, the founder of Monster Cable (center)
At the Monster event, Kevin Lee, son of founder Noel Lee and the new head of Monster, said that the company is back and told everyone to expect a lot more events like this.
Nancy Burlan of Mac Edition Radio peers into the Future of CES at the LVCC.
Anker has slowly built a positive reputation for it’s line of Soundcore A/V products including headphones, speakers, video projectors and more. How do we know about Anker? It’s because of this man, Adam Weissman, who heads PR for the company.
Your humble author and Nancy as journalists were too busy and too poor to attend The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere, but had time for a photo op on the yellow brick road.
Battery experts Olight were showing off their Ostation 2 Pro AA /AAA automatic battery charger, a device that allows you load up the unit with batteries, and then it checks each battery for faults or non-chargeable status, and charges and tests the rest. Pretty nifty if you have audio or other equipment that depends on freshly-charged batteries. Here, Sam Foster, Sean Carey, Li Fen, and Ruomei Chen hold down the fort at the CES Unveiled event.
ThieAudio was showing in-ear and over-ear headphones. Here James Demer holds the Cypher dynamic headphones, which features a 50 mm dynamic driver with a 20-core magnetic array and polymer-rubber composite diaphragm. Rae Hu holds the XENNS Mangird Tea Pro SE limited edition, while Lillian Deng displays their Monarch MKII electrostatic balanced armature driver.
Woodsy Owl of the United States Forest Service poses with Dave Hamilton of Mac Geek Gab, and Sarah Macedo and Anne Germain of the National Waste & Recycling Foundation. You can’t keep a good owl down!
Nancy with Woodsy Owl, who was there to encourage folks to properly dispose of waste. “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute!” Earlier in her career, Nancy had a brief turn as Smokey Bear for the United States Forest Service, so it was kind of a bird and bear networking meeting at CES Unveiled.
Headphones manufacturer Beyerdynamic showed off their latest wares. Jaime Thompson, Chris Norris, Greg Anthony, Richard Campbell, and Mia Green greeted a long line of enthusiastic visitors to the popular booth. Long a family-owned presence in German audio manufacturers, in June 2025 Beyerdynamic was acquired by the Chinese company Cosonic Intelligent Technologies. However, the company is still based and in Heilbronn, and manufacturing for their higher-level products continues there.
Many photographers using mobile phones have discovered the world of accessory lenses and equipment to extend the capabilities of their phone’s camera. Among the best-regarded are products from ShiftCam, which has a complete line of lenses, tripods, handgrips, and more. I can testify to their quality. Here, Mark Grover shows off some of their gear.
Chris McCloud and Reg Calixte of Scosche showed a range of automotive-based products, mobile phone accessories and more. In the last year, the author has helped jump start several stranded folks with dead car batteries using a Scosche battery pack, so it’s good stuff.
Ari Morgulean of CommunicateMore PR was on the floor of the Pepcom Digital Experience, showing press people how to have a good time.
The world’s first THX-certified open-ear true wireless earbuds: the Cleer ARC 4 series can claim that honor. Here are the Michael Lefebvre (C.T.O. at Grandsun Electronics), Hideaki Yamaguchi (Cleer, and Tuyen Pham (THX) in their suite at the Venetian hotel.
Nancy is surrounded by two of the best PR people in consumer electronics, Sue Toscano (L) and Roberta Lewis (R).
You can’t capture audio without microphones, and here Alex Page of RØDE shows off a line of new portable wireless devices, the Interview GO and the Wireless GO.
Mac Edition Radio’s John Mulhern III had a good time at the show, seen here at the Digital Experience He tends to cover computing and automotive tech, but with a background in audio, he’s handy in a pinch.
Dave Hamilton, in addition to his role in the media, is a working drummer, podcaster, and tech entrepreneur, best known for Mac Geek Gab. His real skill set centers around critiquing the ice sculptures and bars of Las Vegas. Here he gives the Pepcom bar a 9.5 out of 10.
Stefanie Liebich, Alex Lane, and Miranda Bravo of ViewSonic show off their new line of displays and projectors, all perfect for your listening room or studio.
Ari Morgulean (not pictured) convened two days of press meetings in a suite in the Venetian Hotel, including this one for Status Audio, creator of the Status Pro X and Between 3ANC bluetooth earphones, and Knowles Audio. Left to right, Jonathan Takiff (TechHive, Techlicious, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania Gazette), interviews Scott Tharler (Gear Patrol, Maxim, Techwalla, Discovery News, Fodors), and Remy Cuesta (LEVLONE News) on the current state of earphones in the industry and where it's headed. It was standing room only.
The team from AWOL was properly chuffed at having Guofu Zhu, Shanshan Li, and colleagues celebrate winning multiple Best of Show awards for their Aetherion Pro video projector. This sleek ultra-short-throw (UST) unit can sit just inches from the screen, yet provide a 2600 ISO lumen image between 100 to 150 inches in size.
Larry O’Connor, the founder of storage experts Other World Computing (OWC), was thumbs up at having survived another Digital Experience.
The Barbershop is a sort of speakeasy bar and stage that you enter through a, well, barbershop. Here Michael O’Neal of Beginner Audiophile shows off his suave moves in the spirt of Elaine Benes.
At the Barbershop party, the band asked if anyone in the crowd wanted to stand in and play, and Michael O’Neal stepped up and made Gene Krupa and Neal Peart proud. No surprise as he used to be a touring and session drummer.
Sue Toscano hangs out with Mops Dayal of San Antonio, Texas dealer Quarter Note Acoustic at the Copa Room for the Monster concert.
No one should attend a trade show without trying to eke out a bit of time for themselves away from the convention center floor or hotel. Las Vegas is blessed with stunning landscapes close by the Strip and Las Vegas Boulevard. This year, we visited Valley of Fire State Park, which is North of Las Vegas in Moapa Valley. Make it a stop on your next visit to CES or Las Vegas.
All images courtesy of the author.
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