Samsung UN55B8000 Television: This 55" flat panel is a thing of beauty, whether it's on or off. It's only 1.2" deep, making it the world's thinnest self-contained TV, with built-in tuner and jack panel. While Samsung refers to this TV (and its 46" sibling, the UN46B8000) as an "LED TV," technically it's an LED edge-lit LCD television. Instead of a CCFL (fluorescent tube) backlight, the UN55B8000 employs an array of light-emitting diodes around the perimeter, linked to a sophisticated optical system the produces even illumination across the screen.

LED technology delivers several benefits. First of all, the edge-lit configuration enables the UN55B8000's super-slim profile. Second, it's much more energy-efficient than conventional LCD designs: this 55" TV consumes the same amount of power as a 2008 32-inch model. Third, it results in superb picture quality. Samsung specifies a dynamic contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1. In viewing, that translates into very deep blacks and excellent detail in both dark and bright areas, resulting in a picture with superb depth. When we tested this TV last spring, we were completely won over by the Samsung's wonderful detail and colour, three-dimensionality.

Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray Player: In a world dominated by commodity Blu-ray players that sell like produce, the Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD stands completely and proudly apart, with its heirloom-grade finish and construction quality. At 30-plus pounds, you won't want to put it on a flimsy shelf. And the price is pretty hefty too: $2,200, about 10 times the price of an entry-level Blu-ray player. But for audio and videophiles, the BDP-09FD amply justifies is premium price.

Playing through a reference A/V system (starting with a 60" Pioneer Elite plasma panel), the BDP-09FD reproduced a wider colour gamut that yielded a noticeably more natural picture quality than that rendered by competing players, and more fine details without the usual annoying halos, noise and other telltale edge effects. Its upconversion of standard DVDs is astoundingly effective, yielding superior picture quality to what some lesser players achieve with the Blu-ray equivalents. The improvement in sound is just as startling, and exhausts the lexicon of desirable traits: smoother tones, a deeper soundstage, richer textures, clearer dialogue, wider dynamic range.

Panasonic Viera TC-P50V10 Plasma TV: Cosmetically, this is a gorgeous TV, with a single pane of glass covering the screen and surrounding bezel. Only 2.1" deep, this 50" plasma is part of Panasonic's premium V-series, which also includes 54", 58" and 65" models.

All feature an entirely new plasma panel design. The NeoPDP HD panel doubles luminance efficiency compared to previous designs, allowing a picture that's twice as bright to be produced with the same amount of power as last year's models, or a picture of the same brightness to be produced with half the power. The Real Black Drive system delivers a dynamic contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1, along with 6,144 shades of gradation, resulting in superb blacks and dark detail. The set's 600Hz Sub-Field Drive technology preserves detail in scenes with motion.

In our tests, we were wowed by this plasma's wonderfully natural colour, superb detail in static and moving scenes, fabulous blacks and shadow detail, convincing three-dimensionality, and its ability to render detail in both bright and dark areas in demanding high-contrast scenes.

Sonos ZonePlayer S5 Wireless Music System: Sonos' ZonePlayer system uses its own mesh wireless network to distribute music stored on PCs and Macs to ZonePlayers in different rooms. You can have the same music playing in many different rooms, or users in different rooms can choose the songs they want to hear. The system is easy to set up and use. You can also use ZonePlayers to listen to Internet radio.

About the size of an iPod speaker system, the S5 is Sonos' first self-contained ZonePlayer, with built-in speakers. Priced at $479, the S5 has lovely minimalist styling, and sounds very fine for what it is: the digital equivalent of a table radio.

You can use Sonos Desktop Controller software to "push" music from your PC to a specific room, or a proprietary remote control to select the music from the room where you're listening. And Sonos now offers a free app that lets you operate the ZonePlayer system using an iPhone or iPod Touch, an innovation that is also recognized with this award.

Nokia BH-905 Bluetooth Stereo Headset: Nokia isn't a brand that people associate with portable entertainment; but in fact, this $400 headset is the perfect companion to an iPhone or iPod Touch. It's the first audiophile-quality headset to feature Bluetooth A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) technology, which lets you stream stereo music wirelessly to the phones from a compatible player, phone or computer. As such, it's a groundbreaking product.

In our tests, the BH-905 easily surpassed its specified range of 10 metres, even in our noisy (electrically and acoustically) office. It's wonderfully liberating to listen to stereo music without your phones being tethered to you player by a cable. The BH-905 has a surpra-aural design that fits comfortably on the listener's ears. It employs a very effective noise-cancellation system, and has wonderfully natural sound.

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