VIBE: The International CES, Las Vegas 2014

In the USA, we British have a very special place. It has similarities with our place in the Chinese and even Nipponese psyche in some ways, in this writer’s opinion. For we are decadent and yet vibrantly creative. Able to tolerate what in their societies would be outrageous acts of degeneracy. Leave the Easterners out now and the Americans see us Brits as possessed of more culture and art than them. Are amazed by our long history and yet feel that we are somehow still primitive and more likely to be hedonistic and libertine. The movie remake of Bedazzled, (so adored by MeJulie, since she likes Brendan Fraser) featured a sequence with a British rock star. Played by Fraser with a slurred Rolling Stone accent. It was removed to the ‘˜extras’ section of the DVD as it was too disgusting in its Britishness to make it to the movie’s final cut In the segment, the rock god character and his rock star wife, both get jiggy with a complete stranger backstage as a sort or rock n roll groupie thing. Each says to their ‘˜shag’, not to tell their partner, like. Before each realises that it IS their partner and they were both too out of it to be able to tell.
The global legend that is Spinal Tap are British and so are rock and roll’s very soul – Marshall. We Brits have the absolute stranglehold on playing the really nasty villains in just about every American movie ever made and they think we are badass.
So when it came to spearhead Vibe in the USA, they did it under the banner of BRITISH AUDIO. For all the mad scientist implications, as well as the rock and roll veracity of it all. They did it with a cult car, dripping with Cool Britannia, for we do that stuff too. Well, there were three of them, right here: link
(I just had to go and repair the gallery by re-uploading pictures from my PC. Sweet mother of filing and back-ups, she failed me not. Phew! OK, where were we, yes ) If you followed my link, wondering who that startled looking fellow was in the Minis shots, he was a previous incumbent of the PR hat, and was residing on a huge stand, with the three cars on it.
These years later and Vibe were in Vegas once more, as was I, for the CES 2014. They were in an interesting place both physically and figuratively. For once, years back the North Halls had a total stuffing of just car audio companies. I was privileged enough to see those years and it was glorious. Then the sad year when a slab of the space had a bunch of shell scheme slapped in it to fill it up and ‘˜meeting rooms’ labelled on it all. It sat unused throughout the show.
But the CES was heaving and bigger than ever before in 2014. I personally predict attendance to prove to have reached 160,000-plus this year. We’ll see as these things are punctiliously monitored. And it was FULL. New spaces never used before, were fully utilised. They had 3,200 exhibitors! And where the car audio section ended in the North Hall, a section bursting with stuff for iOS and Android ecosystems, was living and breathing. And Vibe were there, supposedly on that i-Lounge area, right on the edge of it.
Except they had some stonking car audio on display.
This is deep Vibe DNA and as individual as a fingerprint in look and price/output quality. Looks sexy, too!

But as well as pointing their woofers defiantly at the busy and bustling Audi thing opposite them in the corner, they were also showing off some huge changes. For the car audio remains as core business, but there is new input and the designer at Vibe has had some major labours and brought forth a whole new collection of consumer electronics. All of it would look good on your head or your desk, or bedside, for that matter and the stuff made out of Silicone rubber is bloody inspired in its pure smarts.
This is the iPad stand/holder. It is being fitted to the iPad in this shot..

And this little chod of a stand does megaphone stuff, too.

Sold on blunt and simple issues, there is another series of Silicone rubber doodads to hold iPhones and the Galaxy S4 which I swiped called Slick cheese, as they are shaped like a wedge. I will do a video of my one at my desk in due time. But I can tell you that the acoustic gain of the exponential horn that is thus front-loaded onto your smartphone’s speaker output orifice is astonishing. The ten times louder claim is actually true!
The really bizarre thing I was told on camera, and you will hear me boggle, is when I am told some of their new ear speakers are five grand in POUNDS. Here’s why:

But the BlackDeath headphones and big bad weaponeraceous woofers remain Adam faves for their mad looks.

But WiFi speakers under the Fli brand are coming.

And of course, I wanted to get some stuff on video. The references to jetlag are about my man Steven Smith wandering off mid-shot in take one, not really grasping that he was in shot and wanted he was brilliant in this take, once I had better explained what I was after.

I was chuffed to get to video the driving force behind all the creativity of the Vibe outfit, as he is elusive and has been shyer in the past. Check the passionate hand signals blurring in the speed of shutter my camera needed!

They are also producing a series of prototype headphones as well

The booth was heaving throughout.

Click below for a gallery of pictures that scrolls, since the Talk Audio system rocks. All captioned, with lots not seen above:
link
For more and to find out how to purchase link