Finally, Sony is stepping up the mini-stereo concept nearly into the year 2007 with its latest offerings, the NAS-D55HD, NAS-M75HD, and NAS-M95HD hard drive-based sound machines. The new models offer a number of "digital age" conveniences, like the ability to rip CDs or MDs directly to the hard drive, a nice big LCD screen, two USB ports for connecting to your computer and / or favorite media player, and ethernet jacks for incorporating the stereo into a network. The models come in 80GB or 250GB varieties, with either a "digital amplifier" (the NAS-D55HD) or a "full digital S-Master" amp (NAS-M75HD, NAS-M95HD), and 20- or 26-watts of raw, bone-crushing power per channel. Sony has also introduced the NAS-C5, apparently a wireless "hub," which can connect to the new audio systems (amongst other Sony products) to distribute their playback to varying sets of speakers. The stereos are going to available October 20th and November 10th for ¥60,000 to ¥120,000 ($530-1100), and the NAS-C5 will be available on November 21st for ¥30,000 (or around $260).

[Via Gizmodiva]

Continuing its strange obsession with unveiling products by the flocks, Philips has yet again given us numerous things to juggle at once. This time around it's a trio of iPod-friendly music / AV stations, two of which also include Bluetooth support. The $199 three-piece BTM-628 iPod speaker station conveniently docks and plays your jams from either the DAP or your BT-enabled cellphone, plays back MP3 discs and CDs, shows caller ID and enables handsfree conversations, and also includes a USB port and SD / MMC slot for playing back tunes from a flash card; the BTM-630 steps it up by adding a CD writer that can create MP3 discs from music stored on flash media. The $399 DCD-778 undercabinet system touts an AM / FM tuner, DVD player, ATSC TV tuner, 8.5-inch LCD, flip-down iPod dock, and the ability to play back videos stored on your Apple. Look for these goodies as well as an iPod clock radio to land sometime this fall.

[Via T3]