Awesome Sound

Despite 3000 mW of maximum input, Sony’s MDR-XB700 headphone is designed to pamper the ears: its thick urethane leather cushion is air tight and minimizes sound leakage.

Hot on the heels of their AirCurve speaker, Griffin’s Simplifi iPod Dock packs three functions in one: it triples as an iPod Dock, a media card reader, and two powered USB ports.

Griffin’s AirCurve is essentially a transparent display stand with a coiled waveguide within that acts as an amplifier: in short, this polycarbonate speaker doesn’t need power to operate.

Now that the iPod Touch packs its own speaker, iLuv’s battery powered iSP100 loses a bit of utility; however, it’s relatively portable and at 4W RMS (8W peak), not bad for the size and price.

Like Ruben’s Tube, these musical Tesla coils by Steve Ward and Jeff Larson are designed to be seen and heard. Above: listen to them play the Zelda theme song. Even crazier: Lightsabers.

Jonas Damon’s 2B Radio is a retro minimalist’s dream come true, with a matte black case and three vacuum tubes in place of transistors. It’ll hook up to your iPod or MP3 player, too.

Bang & Olufsen’s saucer-shaped speakers (link: BeoLab 5) are now available in the Aston Martin DBS and DB9; each car will have two of these tweeters which retract when not in use.

JVC’s HXD77J isn’t for the faint of heart–this monstrous boombox features separate amps for the woofers, tweeters and subs, all of it blasting 540 watts to its 4-way speakers.

The Onkyo TX-NR906 is a top of the line receiver (with the price to match): this 7.1 channel receiver has 1080p video upscaling, 145 watts per channel and can stream audio.

You don’t have to be a greying rocker to appreciate these limited edition Metallica headphones, made in collaboration with Skull Candy. Choose from two designs: Hesh or Lowrider.

Sony’s sexy S-Airplay is a wi-fi iPod dock that streams music to up to ten speakers. The dock also doubles as an AM/FM radio; it can simultaneously stream your iPod and radio to separate rooms.