Sony CES 2023 Preview
Happy New Year’s everyone.
It is January and that means CES. Sony will be holding their press conference on January 4th at 17:00 Local time (PST). I am embedding the stream below, link the Sony CES site here.
Update
Wow, Sony opted not to reveal their TV lineup, pretty bold move. Supposedly they will have an event later on in the year, guess this explains the lack of TV certifications on Bluetooth SIG. Maybe Sony are holding out for later in the year to introduce TVs with LE Audio or with future updates which will bring LE Audio support. Unless the delay is due to production problems?
Lackluster show from Sony. Sony’s venture into the car business is silly and needs to be abandoned immediately. I would be fine with Sony providing camera tech for cars, but not actually building a car company. Where’s a facepalm emoji when you need one.
Here are the times for other regions:
- New York – January 4th, 20:00
- London, UK – January 5th, 01:00
- Tokyo, Japan – January 5th, 10:00
- Melbourne, Australia – January 5th, 12:00
The only confirmed reveal or news is from Sony themselves on twitter. Sony mentioned they would be joined by Honda on stage for their new joint company, Sony Honda Mobility. No doubt this will be an automotive focused venture. CES debuts usually consist of new TV models, some home audio equipment and even wireless speakers.
The only wireless speaker I found is the YY7853E (see photo below).
This model is only present on the E-ComM, and no other site has this model on it, not even the FCC from my searching. Whether this will debut at CES is unknown.
New Walkmans
For anyone waiting for the new Walkmans, well you will probably have to wait a bit longer. Do not expect the new Walkmans at CES 2023. But the wait will not be long, we are looking at a February/March reveal timeline. This is hinted by the short term confidentiality end date. All of the information on the new Walkmans can be found in the post below.
New Wireless Headphones
As for any wireless headphones, Sony rarely reveals them at shows, apart from the WH-1000X line which was usually unveiled before the show, but the WH-1000XM5 did break that pattern last year. So with nothing for the show, here is a list so far of this year’s upcoming headsets:
I wrote so far, since we are still missing a major new headset, the WF-1000XM5. Likewise Sony may have other headphones coming in the second half of this year, meaning the list of 2023 headsets will grow.
I would love to see Sony release a new WF-XB700, with Sony Headphone app support, but in an interview, Sony engineers said less is more and the era of niche models like the WF-XB700 and WF-SP800N are in the past. Hopefully Sony will migrate the increased water and dust protection of the WF-SP800N and the larger driver in the WF-XB700N to other headsets like the WF-C500 successor and the new WF-1000XM5.
WF-1000XM5
I know a lot of people are waiting for the new WF-1000XM5, I myself am curious what Sony will bring to the game. The battery drain fiasco on the WF-1000XM4 will not be easily forgotten and Sony needs to make this sure this does not repeat with the new model.
The WF-1000XM4 appeared on the FCC at the end of March in 2021, so if we are looking at a similar timeframe, it will be a while before we see anything. That being said, I suspect Sony might already have submitted the documents to the FCC, or will be submitting their FCC filing soon. If anything shows up anywhere, I will post it up right away. With a lot more competitors on the market now, perhaps Sony will reveal the WF-1000XM5 earlier like they did with the WH-1000XM5.
No doubt the WF-1000XM5 development and design is finished with Sony probably now just doing final testing.
The question now is, what changes and improvements can we expect in the mark 5? The competition does not stand still and a new model from Soundpeats, the Opera05, looks to be packing a lot of impressive features. It is expected to be released sometime this year.
They have a Kickstarter coming soon, and from their twitter announcement, we are looking at a 12mm driver, 2 balanced Armature drivers, ANC and LDAC support. There is no mention of battery life or a release date, so hopefully those will be posted on the Kickstarter page.
This is not a sponsored post, my blog is no where big enough to get review models or have sponsored posts, I just wanted to show what Sony should be aiming for with their new model. If other companies can fit a larger driver and 2 balanced armature drivers into a TWS headset about the size of the WF-1000XM4, then surely Sony, with all their technological skill could easily do the same. Update: So it seems like from early reviews the Opera05 while good is not a Sony WF-1000XM4 killer.
I was thinking of making a WF-1000XM5 post, but it would be mostly speculation since there is very little information out there at the moment. But if people want to see such a post, let me know below.
Anyways, that is the preview what we could see at CES 2023 and what we will NOT see at CES 2023. I look forwards to the press conference, maybe Sony will pull a surprise or 2?
