LG shows off audiophile vacuum tube DukeBox in CES teaser — combining 1950's tech with a modern transparent OLED | Tom's Hardware

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LG Electronics teased its vacuum tube-based DukeBox by LG Labs in advance of CES 2024. Pairing early computing tech with a transparent OLED panel, this prototype appears to go after the audiophile market — assuming it ever hits retail.The LG DukeBox is a speaker system composed of two bottom front-facing speakers and a top 360-degree speaker. The speakers are amplified by vacuum tubes, visible from behind the transparent OLED front panel.

Vacuum tubes are used in audiophile and other high-end audio circles to provide a cleaner, more detailed audio amplifying experience — offering warmer, "sweeter" harmonics. Combined with the triple speakers built into the DukeBox enclosure, the audio experience should sound pretty impressive, at least on paper.The transparent OLED panel can be put to work in interesting ways as well. You can opt to leave it fully transparent to show off the internals, but where's the fun in that? You can also run a fireplace effect on the panel, or even just watch movies on it — with the internals still partially visible. (We're not sure how transparent or opaque you can make the OLED, something to look forward to seeing at CES.) Maybe some oldies would be the way to go, as this is about the size of old TVs and computer monitors....Besides the DukeBox, LG mentioned a few other products. Some are a bit outside our wheelhouse, though that might be an appropriate term for LG's "Bon Voyage" camping trailer. There's also the "DUOBO," a two-capsule coffee machine allowing for mixed coffee.Other products teased by name only fall into LG's more traditional lineup. The "LG gram Fold" may provide a yet further improvement on the latest LG Gram Refresh's 2-in-1 model, while the "CineBean Qube" will improve on the existing CineBeam projectors with a hyper-compact design.In any case, it's looking like LG will have no shortage of new hotness to show off at CES. The DukeBox seems like a pretty intelligent use of LG's transparent OLED technology that we're otherwise only seeing in commercial or public transit applications so far.

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Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

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