xMEMS Labs unveils game-changing silicon innovations at CES [Video]

xMEMS Labs is showing off a new speaker technology at CES that has the potential to shake the foundations of the commercial audio industry and revolutionize the way we both experience and produce music. These all-silicon speakers are incredibly tiny and have the potential to allow designers to move past the limitations imposed by the coil-and-magnet drivers that have dominated audio playback for more than a century.

I got an in-person demo from xMEMS VP of marketing Mike Housholder during the event, and it’s now apparent that the technology will be entering the consumer market sooner rather than later. The big news is introduction of the Sycamore MEMS loudspeaker, the company’s first all-silicon speaker, and the the µCooling fan-on-a-chip.

The Sycamore MEMS loudspeaker represents a genuine leap forward in what xMEMS calls “micro fidelity” audio. Consider it a radical departure from traditional speaker design, swapping out the coil and magnet …