New Year, New Blog

2024

Jan 22

Welcome to 2024, dear readers, and welcome back! We here at SAI hope your holidays were relaxing and reenergizing, and that your new year is off to a great start. While the month of January may bring images of snowy landscapes to mind for some of you, for Shively Acoustics International (SAI) the start of every year means a trip out to the desert — to CES 2024 in Las Vegas, that is!

Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall, one of several spaces used for CES 2024 (Photo: SAI)

Little more than a week ago, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) held its annual tech trade show from January 9-12. Roger attended all four days of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in his capacity as both the president of SAI and co-chair of the Audio Product Development Alliance (APDA), while also in tandem with partner Silentium and many others.

One could say that CES has become a showcase for the products of the future, and Roger found this year’s content stronger than ever, commenting “CES 2024 was one of the better shows in a long time.” This annual stop is, however, much more than a peek at what technology is around the corner. It is an important chance for Roger to establish new industry relationships while solidifying long-standing ones, and to secure new opportunities for the coming year. In this regard especially, the 2024 edition was a resounding success.

Coffee ✓ Badge ✓ Our president is ready for CES 2024 — is it ready for him? (Photo: SAI)

Coffee in hand and sensing a renewed energy on the streets between the Las Vegas Convention Center Halls and the Venetian Suites and Expo, Roger hit the ground running on Day 1. Before heading to the West Hall where the automotive sector was filled (Mobility spilling over into the North Hall), he sat down with product planners from Ford to talk over their future audio system roadmap.

Linking up next with Silentium CTO Tzvika Fridman, the duo met with Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) to discuss their longtime collaboration with Silentium and how it could be expanded into North America. The afternoon saw a solo visit to the Audio Foundry where, among others, Dirac and Tymphany had set up shop, Roger meeting with both. There also were Trèves, who gave a demo of their Sonified brand in-seat audio. The rounds continued throughout the day: catching up with Hyundai Mobis, getting acquainted with the folks at Ottawa Infotainment, and popping in at the CTA member event.

Together again with Tzvika, Roger met with Mercedes-Benz and saw their EQS model where, to his surprise, an old acquaintance in Customer Experience for Audio engineer Florian Richter was leading the demo. Small world, Audio can be. The pair then attended a dinner meeting with Molex, an automotive partner with Silentium for ARNC (active road noise cancellation) smart sensors, which brought a busy Tuesday to a close.

While Vegas might be known for other forms of fun, for Roger the city’s real playground is right here (Photo: SAI)

Day 2 brought to life fond memories of Back to the Future II, as Roger went to see a flying car — a joint project from Supernal and Hyundai — among other new car model reveals. Other stops of the day included a visit with Ansys, dropping hellos to our friends at Analog Devices (ADI), Xperi, and Sony, as well as checking out new simulation software on display in the West Hall and joining Tzvika to see what was new at Flexsound. There was also the Auracast Experience demo from the Bluetooth SIG, which focused on Bluetooth LE-enabled products compatible with Auracast broadcast modes (see below for a related upcoming seminar).

Wednesday evening saw a meeting of the APDA, followed by their customary dinner social. An in-person meeting was long overdue, as normally talks take place online, spread across the world as they are. On the menu for discussion were upcoming webinars as well as planning for the aforementioned Bluetooth seminar coming in May.

Much more than food is on the dinner menu for the APDA team on Day 2 (left to right): Roger, Scott Leslie, Dave Lindberg, João Martins. Not pictured: Steve Willenborg (Photo: Cristina Costa)

Day 3 opened with a meeting with Dinaburg Technology (led by APDA partner Simon Dinaburg), followed by a sit-down with another of the APDA crew, Dave Lindberg (of dB Enterprises) and Ground Game, a high-end RV outfitter from Roger’s home state of Indiana. There were additional talks with EaseAudio and also CNH Industrial in relation to the company’s need for noise control in heavy equipment (e.g. construction or farming vehicles).

Focused, alert, and boosted by some light adrenaline, the SAI chief spent much of the day strategically making his way around the trade show — clocking in nearly 12 miles (20 km) on foot! — while engaging in some light photojournalism, shall we say, for a forthcoming retrospective he will be writing on the event (see below).

Roger at the trade show’s closing event, the CTA dinner, with much to smile about. APDA member Steve Willenborg (center) is also pictured. (Photo: Cristina Costa)

Team Silentium likewise reconvened on Thursday, as Roger and Tzvika spent time with Dolby, Hyundai Motor, and Blackberry QNX. These were followed on Day 4 by a joint meeting with Premium Sound Solutions (PS S) and AAC Technologies, and then the final Silentium engagement of the trade show, with DSP Concepts.

Lastly, Roger was excited to meet with Sonavox Detroit, who have a new demo car they would like assistance within the US; SAI has already been supporting them remotely in Europe for some time.

CES 2024 came to a close on Friday night at the CTA dinner: Roger and the APDA crew joined other industry friends and associates for a look back on a successful trade show, bidding farewell to Las Vegas (for now) with an evening full of good food, toasts, banter, and live jazz.

As should be more than clear by now, the year is already off to a steady and stellar start for Shively Acoustics International. The SAI train keeps on keeping on, recharging at every station along its path in the audio industry.

A new year Sphere: Roger’s favorite new sight in Las Vegas. Adding new degrees of magnitude, perspective, and pure awe to an already inspiring trade show, it served as the perfect backdrop (Photo: SAI)

A few more things

Further collaborations with industry magazine audioXpress (led by Editor-in-Chief — and APDA member — João Martins) are in the works. Fresh off of CES 2024, Roger will be contributing an in-depth retrospective piece covering the event for an upcoming edition of the periodical’s newsletter The Audio Voice. So if this blog post left you wanting more, it’s on the way! There are also plans for Roger to write on the topic of Automotive Audio for the magazine’s June issue.

We are also happy to announce that a brand new website for the Audio Product Development Alliance is on the horizon. Stay tuned to our socials to be notified of its official launching in the coming weeks.

Speaking of everyone’s favorite alliance in Audio, they will be hosting the upcoming seminar “Bluetooth LE Audio Development for Smart Hearables” from May 3-4, in Milpitas, California. Read the brochure to learn more, and keep an eye out for a registration link soon. See you in Silicon Valley!

Finally, we invite you to submit papers and/or workshops to the upcoming 2024 AES 5th International Conference on Automotive Audio. Roger will be co-chairing the June 26-28 conference of the Audio Engineering Society in Gothenburg, Sweden, having previously chaired the 2022 edition.