The three iPod docks below have each won awards and have been rated highly by What Hi-Fi for their excpetional sound quality, so you know your tunes are not going to be spoiled by tinny treble or super-weak bass!

Arcam rCube iPod Dock

This brilliant iPod dock goes further than any other. It’s made by Arcam, who are well known in hi-fi circles, so it sounds crystal clear. It’s got 2x50W amps on board, so can pump out sounds loud enough to get your neighbours complaining. It’s completely portable, so you can put it wherever you want, inside or outside, and have it play for up to 4 hours on a single charge. And it’ll even stream your tunes wirelessly from your PC (with the addition of a streaming dongle), meaning it’s not limited to the tunes on your iPod.

Best of all, though, it’s all completely controllable from your iPhone.

If you’re looking for the ultimate gadget for your Christmas or New Year party – or just the ultimate gadget for the ultimate iPod lover – this is it.

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KitSound Boom Dock

The gloriously named Kitsound Boom Dock is a much simpler beast than the previous iPod docks. It is, as its name implies, an iPod dock and nothing more, but one that can deliver a real – well, boom!

In fact, that’s the reason this little beauty features in this list. It may be simply, but you won’t find a better iPod dock for this price. It produces deep, deep bass in glorious quality that simply can’t be beaten by any other iPod dock less than £150 – yet the Boom Dock is less than £80!

With 22W of power, it’s plenty loud enough, and with an AM/FM radio, line inputs for plugging other sources into it, a clock radio feature and even a remote control, it’s the best value iPod pressie you’ll find if you want an ipod gadget on a budget.

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Epoz AktiMate Mini

These glorious white speakers are active, meaning you don’t need to plug them into an amp to get your tunes sounding nice and loud. Instead, the come with an ampl built-in, so you can plug your PC, MP3 player or iPod directly into them via their 3.5mm line input connectors or buillt-in iPod dock, and get immediate 40W per channel punchy sound.

Great bass, plenty of detail and loads of simplicity – perfect for the iPod music lover who wants their tunes sounding glorious.

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Best of all is the sound, though. With 40W per channel speakers, it’ll blast your tunes out with impressive clarity, while the built-in DAB radio, CD player and USB port gives you access to music from loads of other sources, not just your iPod.

Although not as fully featured as Network Music Systems such as the Denon Ceol or Marantz Melody Media, the Onkyo CS545-UK isn’t as expensive either. In fact, it’s less than half the price, yet still sounds glorious. All it lacks is the network connectivity.

So if you need a great sounding Hi-Fi mini system that will have your iPod sounding better than it ever has done, but you’re not too fussed about wireless streaming, give the Onkyo CS-545UK a whirl. It does exactly what you want it to in a classy, simple and great sounding way. Which is all you really need at the end of the day!

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Featuring an iPod dock, as you’d expect, the Ceol will also stream your tunes wirelessly from your PC or laptop, hook up to your Network Attached Storage device and play tunes from that, and even play tunes from an ordinary MP3 player via USB.

If that’s still not enough, you can listen to Napster and Last.FM, Internet Radio, classic radio (i.e. FM/AM), and even CD, as it has its own built-in CD player.

Add to this huge list the ability to control your tunes via an iPhone or iPod app, a mighty 65W per channel of power, and Denon’s legendary sound quality, and you might just have the best network music player on the market.

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But tracking down the best of these Internet Hi-Fis is not easy. Some are simply gimmicks, with sound quality that doesn’t match the promises offered. Others offer no more than a simply USB port.

But some offer much more. Of the five we’ve tracked down, some will let you stream your tunes from your mobile phone as well as your PC; others will let you stream your tunes wirelessly from your iPod or iPhone; and will even act as an extrenal sound card for your PC!

All these Internet Hi-Fis have several things in common, though – they’ll all connect to the Internet, they’ve all got great quality Hi-Fi sound, and they all come with built-in amplifiers, so you don’t need a Hi-Fi to plug them into – they are your Hi-Fi!

so if you’re looking for a hi-Fi that does more than just play tunes, check out these 5 Internet Hi-Fis.

Sony CMTMX750Ni DAB WiFi iPod Micro System

What is it: Possibly the best social Hi-Fi ever invented – at least in terms of features!

What you’ll love: This beast does everything. Stream tunes from your PC over WiFi? Check. Listen to 1,000s of Internet radio stations including SHOUTcast radio – without even switching your PC on? Check. Stream tunes from your DLNA-equipped mobile phone via DLNA? Check! How about iPod dock, USB port, CD player, DAB and DAB+ tuners and 100W amp? Check! It even looks great!

What you won’t like: The sound quality isn’t as good as some of the other systems here, but the features are superb.

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Marantz M-CR603

What is it: The ultimate Hi-fi to free your music, hoovering it up from your PC or the Internet, and pumping it out loudly in perfect audio quality.

What you’ll love: The Marantz’s sheer versatility. You can stream tunes from your PC via (wired) Ethernet, plug in your iPod or MP3 player into its front-facing USB port, listen to your old CDs via its CD player, or just listen to DAB and DAB+ radio. At 60W per channel, it’s also twice as powerful as the Denon. It’ll even work as a sound card for your PC, giving you superior quality sound for your music and your games.

What’s not so good: Wired-only Internet connection, plus it’s not cheap, but its sound is better than most.

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Yamaha MCR-140

What is it: A micro system in many colours with great sound, wireless streaming, and a good price.

What you’ll love: The MCR-140 comes with Yamaha’s high-quality AirWired wireless streaming technology. Plug your iPhone or iPod into the supplied transmitter, and you can stream your tunes from your mobile directly through the MCR-140′s 15W amp.

What you won’t like: Great for bass, but not so good for vocals. Wireless streaming only available for the iPhone/iPod.

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Denon D-M38DAB

What is it: The award-winning Best CD system of 2010.

What you’ll love: The D-M38DAB is a 30W per channel CD system with iPod dock and USB port. It’s not the cheapest hi-fi here, but its sound is beaten only by the UnitiQute – which costs over £1,000 more! So if you want the best sounding Hi-Fi for your iPhone or iPod, this is the one to buy.

What’s not so good: Although you’re fine if you own an iPod or iPhone, there’s no streaming options on the D-M38DAB, making connecitivty to other devices and services limited. Which is a bit of a problem for an Internet Hi-Fi, but there aren’t many good ones around!

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Naim UnitiQute

What is it: it’s a top-end audiophile Hi-Fi from legendary Hi-Fi company Naim.

What you’ll love: The gloriously-named Uniti-Qute can pull music from any source you care to throw at it, including DAB, Internet radio, network streaming from your PC (wired or wireless), an MP3 player via USB, or your iPod or iPhone. You can even control it using an iPhone app. Best of all, though, is the sound. No other machine here will beat it, so if you want the best sound quality you can get, you need to get the UnitiQute.

What’s not so good: The price! It’s £1350 and there’s no CD player, but it did win What Hi-Fi’s Systems Product of the Year.

Summary

It took me surprisingly long to pull this list together. Hi-Fi manufacturers seem reluctant to boast about their Internet Hi-Fis and Hi-Fi review sites seem reluctant to review them! Maybe both are too worried that network-connected Hi-Fis will be too easily dismissed by audiophiles and that they won’t be taken seriously enough.

If so, then the entry of Naim with its stunning UnitiQute should certainly start to change that. Naim is a big name in the audiophile world with superb quality products. The UnitiQute is one of the coolest Hi-Fi products around at the moment, but at £1350, it’s unfortunately a product I can only dream about at the moment!

Microsoft made the strange decision a while ago to keep the Zune family stateside, but now, after being on sale in the US for over a year, the Zune is finally on its way to the UK.

Zunes have always faired well in the area that counts for mobile music devices – sound quality – and the Zune HD adds some lush hardware to this with a 480×272 16:9 3.3″ OLED screen powered by a Nvidia Tegra processor, WiFi, accelerometer and 720p output via a HDMI dock, all wrapped in a shell Apple would be proud of.

Is the Zune HD an iPod killer?

Indeed the Zune could now be seen as Microsoft’s iPod Touch to Windows Phone 7′s iPhone, more so with Zune forming the media playing arm of WP7. The Zune tagline – “Welcome to the Social” – rings true with its ability to run apps from Facebook, Twitter, MSN and even a web browser, plus Zune games like Xbox favourites Project Gotham and Hexic.

The Zune HD is a great device, the rare embodiment of Microsoft getting things right for once, and offers excellent integration with that other rare MS home run, Windows 7. It’s really attractive from the hardware to the software and will certainly turn heads, so keep an eye out for it before Xmas going up against the likes of the new iPod Touch and the cute Archos 28 mini Android tablet.

[Source: The Inquirer]

Here, in no particular order, are just some of the best JVC iPod products on offer at CES 2010, complete with a video showing them off.

JVC Kaboom

A legend returns! The JVC Kaboom, first released in 1998, became one of the most popular and recognisable boomboxes of all time. Now JVC have updated it with this, the third generation JVC RV-NB50 Kaboom.

What’s different about it? iPod of course! It packs a pair of 40 Watt speakers through which you can blast out your iTunes library, as well as a USB port, CD player and FM radio.

Twin-iPod Hi-Fi System

The JVC NX-D2 Hi-Fi is designed for power iPod users – i.e. those who can’t get by with just one, but need two iPods! The NX-D2 features not one but two iPod docks, because apparently you can never have enough docks to slot your iPod in (WTF?!)

The NX-D2 is also a beefy Hi-Fi system in its own right with 230W output, three way speaker design, USB Host and even a CD. The remote can also operate one of the iPods, er, remotely!

JVC TeleDock HDTVs

Continuing the theme of “no such thing as too many docks”, JVC also added one to their range of new range of HDTVs called the JVC TeleDock. As you can probably guess, the TeleDock is an iPod dock on the front of the TV, which will not only charge your iPod, it’ll also let you view its pictures and videos via the TV itself.

You can even control the iPod from the TV’s remote.

Six Car Stereos with iPod connectivity

JVC also announced six new car stereos that will connect to your iPod or iPhone. You can also control what songs you’re listening to via the stereo head unit, so you don’t need to kill someone while fumbling with the iPod’s controls at 90mph!

The new range also comes with Bluetooth, so you can connect your mobile phone to them, and a USB port, in case you have a non-iPod MP3 player!

In fact, you can pretty much stream music from any device in one way or another to these stereos. If that doesn’t do it for you, there’s always a CD player you can fall back on!

Video of JVC’s new iPod gadgets

Finally, a video of all these gadgets, plus a few more, has been released by JVC to give you a bit more of a feel for them. They’re coming real soon, so if one takes your eye, you should be able to buy it before Easter 2010.

What is it?

Regular iPhone speakers are for wimps! What you need is the Alesis Transactive Mobile (although calling it “mobile” is a bit of a stretch!), a huge industrial strength amp and speaker designed for outdoor events that belts out tunes to over 150 feet.

Obviously not your average iPod speaker, it’ll make your mates’ jaws drop, both from the sound, and the slightly weird sight of seeing an iPod on top of this beast of an amp.

Why is it mental?

Just look at the thing!

And no, it doesn’t go all the way up to 11 (tried really hard to resist saying that, but just couldn’t stop myself!)

4). Numark iDJ iPod DJ system

What is it?

Heard about vinyl and how it’s used by superstar DJs but not entirely sure what vinyl actually is?! Then you need the Numark iDJ iPod DJ system, which lets you plug in an iPod and play two songs from it at once.

Of course, you don’t want the tunes blaring out over each other – you want them to mix seamlessly, blending from one to the other, even scratching if the mood takes you.

Not for nothing is the Numark called the iDJ, because that’s exactly what it lets you do – become a complete turntablist, just with an iPod rather than a record deck. You can also plug in other inputs from CD players or record decks, and even record your tunes via USB to any USB-equipped external source.

Is there no end to the iPod’s flexibility?!

Why is it mental?

Geeky and cool in one button-strewn box – perfect for the techno DJ.

3). Tonium Pacemaker HandHeld DJ system

What is it?

Like the idea of the Numark iDJ, but don’t have an iPod? Get the Tonium Pacemaker, then, which features its own 120GB hard drive, and which lets you seamlessly DJ in the palm of your hand.

Designed for professional DJs, the Packemaker will let you do everything you can do on turntables and other professional mixing gear, but comes with a unique hand-held user interface. You can select tracks, mix, pitch-bend, crossfade, apply effects, loop, and loads more – all in the palm of your hand.

It’ll detect beats for you, let you change the pitch of a tune, and offers full cueing and cue search. It’s fully capable of delivering a perfectly mixed DJ set from the palm of your hand.

It’ll even save all the mixes you make onto its own hard disk, or let you transfer them to your PC via its USB 2.0 port.

If you’re into DJing, or just want to see what else you can do with your huge library of tunes, give the Tonium Pacemaker a go. Your tunes will never seem the same again.

Why is it mental?

It’s a complete set of decks, a 120GB MP3 player, effects unit and professional DJ device that fits in the palm of your hand. ‘Nuff said!

2). iBlaze iPod Bag, for putting an iPod in a bag

What is it?

What list of audio gadgets would be complete without an iPod, er, bag?! The iBlaze iPod bag doesn’t just let you carry your iPod around, though; no, that would be far too straightforward! The iBlaze goes one better and actually integrates itself into your iPod, letting you control your trusty little MP3 player with the bag’s external controls.

Why is it mental?

Used by geek posers, who’d like to think that pushing buttons on a bag to control their tunes makes them alpha-geek. The only problem, of course, is that no-one else knows what they’re doing, as they’re the only one who can hear what’s going on!

There must be some way of integrating the iBlaze bag with the Alesis Transactive Mobile, surely?!

1). Radio Shark 2

What is it?

Finally, the Radio Shark 2 is billed as being like Sky+ for radio. You plug it into your PC via USB, and it’ll scan the airwaves for AM/FM radio stations as well as the Internet for Internet radio stations. As well as being able to search for different radio stations from either the airwaves or the Internet, you can also record programs, including entire series, just like you can with a Sky+ box. You can pause and rewind live radio, and automatically store any recordings you want directly to iTunes.

Why is it mental?

Rumour has it this started life as a product for Radio Shack, but something got lost in translation, and so ended up as a Radio Shark instead.

The End

Here ends the first of a regular series of weird and wonderful Mental Media gadgets. Video’s next, so stay tuned for that, or better still, subscribe to our feed for instant updates.

And if you know of any audio gadgets we’ve missed, feel free to add them in the comments.

<< Back to part 1

In the first of a regular series of Mental Media gadgets, here’s a run down of the ten best audio gadgets you’ve never thought of.

Stay tuned for more lists in the Mental Media series coming soon.

10). DIY iPod BoomBox

What is it?

Having an iPod is great for listening to your tunes, but have you seen the price of external iPod speakers? The DIY iPod Boombox solves that problem and adds a bit of nostalgic street-cred too. Looking like an old 80s boombox, you simply slot your iPod into it and voila – now everyone can hear your tunes (which may or may not be a good thing depending on your music collection!)

Why it’s mental

It’s made from cardboard.

No, seriously, it’s made from cardboard – you have to assemble it yourself, just like you used to with those old X-Wing fighter models you cut out from the back of cornflake packets when you were a nipper (ask your Dad if this sounds like Olde English to you!)

9). Wireless floating speakers

What is it?

“Wireless floating speakers”…now what could they be?

Well, firstly, they’re speakers, and they’ll play music from any MP3 player. Secondly, they’re wireless. They come with a transmitter, which you plug into your MP3 payer or stereo, and have a range of about 150 feet. And thirdly…

Why they’re mental

…they float! Whether you’re in the pool, the bath or even drowning in the park lake, the Wireless floating speakers will always be with you, belting out Stairway to Heaven as you slowly disappear beneath the surface of your chosen body of water.

8). Oono Transmitta

What is it?

Wireless HiFis are becoming more and more popular, but they’re expensive, particularly if you want to stream your tunes to more than one room in the house.

Fortunately Oono have a solution in the form of the appallingly-named Oono Transmitta VII. The Transmitta VII features a transmitter (hence the name), which you plug into any device’s 3.5mm headphone jack or USB port, and a receiver, which you attach to a speaker or amp of your choice via an auxiliary socket. Once complete, you can then transmit your tunes anywhere in the house (well, within a 50 foot range anyway). You can even pipe your TV’s output through to your hi-fi.

Better still, it’s a cheap solution at just