Headliner Best of CES 2026 Awards: Eight best picks

CES 2026 is over and done with (although Headliner’s West Coast jetlag is still loitering with intent), and Vegas has said goodbye to the swathes of tech industry pros all looking to get eyes on the latest and greatest gadgets on offer, including this writer, who also walked away $500 up, by the way. Thank you, Treasure Island!

As is customary, Headliner has selected a trove of devices that really stood out to us at the show and which are sure to excite you, too. Without further ado, let's take a look at our Best of CES 2026 award winners and what they had on display that earned such a coveted accolade.

Audeze Maxwell 2 Gaming Headset

I have been wearing the OG Audeze Maxwell on my head for gaming since it was launched back in January 2023. Since then, it has brought me many hours of sonic joy, replicating the sound of crunching of skull and bone beneath my sword in Elden Ring, or the anguished cries of my slain foes in AC Shadows.

Gory details aside, Audeze has just dropped the latest in its gaming headset repertoire; the Maxwell 2, which boasts improved spatial resolution despite dropping the Atmos certification. This comes via its proprietary SLAM technology, which ups the ante in terms of audio positioning accuracy. 

The result? An amazing set of gaming cans that are amazing for gaming and just as good for music, and a deserving winner of a coveted Headliner Best of CES 2026.

Cambridge Audio L/R Series Speakers

Cambridge Audio is a brand I know and love. Its now-discontinued A5 integrated amp has powered many a party over the past 20-odd years before giving up the ghost, thanks to overzealous volume increasing (not on my part, I will add).

Now, the brand is entering a new era, as it launches its L/R series of active, wireless speakers, and two models – the L/R X and the L/R M – come loaded with CA’s proprietary StreamMagic platform so you can beam audio wirelessly. 

Speaking of proprietary, the same models boast the new Torus Tweeter tech, which enhances top-end clarity with an unusual doughnut-shaped design. I have my eye on those jazzy orange variants, although they come in dark green and black colourways too.

Cleer x THX Arc 4 Pro Open Ear Earphones

Honestly, I tend to write off open ear headphones or earphones. While in general they may be fine for casual or background listening, they rarely offer the depth of sound or detailed resolution that an in- or over-ear can offer. They also tend to flap around wildly when you move your head, which I personally find very annoying.

Imagine my surprise when I donned Cleer’s Arc 4 Pro headphones, which have withstood the rigorous 400-step testing that devices need to undergo in order to obtain accreditation from THX. Don’t worry about that bottom end, either. 

Cleer has an upgraded 19mm dynamic driver, which allows you to get a good dose of bass; something which open ears often fall very short on.

Edifier M90 Bookshelf Speakers

Edifier is an excellent brand if you are on the hunt for affordable audio gear that offers Hi-Res Audio certification and superb sound quality. My stupidly overpowered desktop setup includes the brand’s S3000 Pro “bookshelf” speakers (which are massive) and a T5 sub-firing bass at my legs.

The newest horse to bolt Edifier’s stable is the M90 bookshelf speaker, which debuted on the CES 2026 show floor. This compact active speaker offers a big sound for such a diminutive form factor; 100W RMS total is not to be sniffed at. 

Plus, the speakers support the LDAC codec, offering transmission rates that max out at 990 kbps. You’ve even got an HDMI eARC port on the back, so these will fit into your home cinema system. Very nice indeed.

Fender ELIE E12

Fender might be best known for its Strats and Teles, but CES saw the infamous guitar brand branching out into some rather nice Bluetooth speakers. We chose the ELIE E12 for our Best of CES 2026 award, but it comes in a smaller E6 model. 

While it might not be immediately obvious, the numerical element of the model number denotes the wattage output of each speaker, with the E12 blasting out 120W, while the E6 delivers 60W.

The ELIE series both come with a sub on board. This is relatively unusual at this price point, with most brands in this space offering bass reflex ports to extend the bottom end. 

You can daisy-chain up to 100 ELIEs if you really want to, although that might prove a touch expensive. 15 hours of battery ensure the ELIE will keep the party going right up to the last beat.

JMGO O2S Ultra

There was plenty on offer in terms of projectors, but one brand that stood out to us on the show floor was JMGO, with its very nice O2S Ultra. 

This is a short-throw projector, which, for those unfamiliar with the projector world, means you can place it right next to the wall, and it will cast a huge image onto your wall or screen. A lot of projectors are long-throw, meaning they stand several metres away from the wall in order to project the display.

JMGOs flagship projector offers crystal clear images at just six inches from a wall, which is incredible, and it can throw an image between 80” all the way up to 150”. 

At Headliner, you know we’re Dolby Atmos aficionados, so you can imagine our delight knowing that JMGO’s 4K lightbox comes with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos certifications, for the ultimate immersive experience.

Klipsch The Nines II Loudspeakers

U.S. born n’ bred brand Klipsch has been nailing it on the speaker scene for decades. Eight decades, to be exact, as the Indianapolis brand celebrates 80 years this year. 

The company might be octogenarian, but the sound it delivers still sounds as fresh as the day it was born. Roll on The Nines II loudspeakers, which are the beefiest speakers in the revamped “number range” (there is a Fives II and Sevens II series as well).

The speakers are a diverse pair, which lend themselves nicely to a range of use cases. There is a wide range of physical and digital I/Os, and the Nines II will fit just as nicely into a home theatre setup, thanks to eARC and Dolby Atmos support, and music listening thanks to built-in streaming functionality.

OPSODIS 1 Spatial Audio Soundbar

Spatial audio is very much a buzzword right now, with more and more brands adopting the technology for use within speakers and soundbars. The latest brand to join the charge is Kajima Corporation, teaming up with the University of Southampton in the UK to develop their own impressive spatial audio technology, OPSODIS.

OPSODIS (a contraction of Optimal Source Distribution) creators have developed a super compact 38.2 cm-wide soundbar that produces spatial audio in a 360-degree field around your head. 

This leads to an incredibly immersive experience, whether you are watching films, listening to music, or playing video games. The soundbar features six drivers to the front, dealing with mids and treble, two woofers, and a bass port on either end, as is customary for soundbars.

UGREEN NASync iDX6011 Series NAS

Pretty much every musician and DJ knows that secure storage is paramount when you’re looking for a safe space for your recordings or digital library. Cloud storage is convenient, but it is open to compromise. Your best bet is a NAS device.

UGREEN’s new NASync iDX6011 and iDX6011 Pro take local storage to the next level, delivering serious performance and security without relying on the cloud. 

With Intel Core Ultra processors, ultra-fast connectivity, massive scalable storage, and fully on-device AI, they make it easy to organise, search, and interact with your precious music files instantly and privately. This is a lightning-fast, AI-powered NAS with total control over your data, and a massive win for UGREEN.