iXoost dàdês

Detailed description

Would you spend £6,000 on an iPod dock? No? What if it was made from the back end of a Formula One car? That’s what gives the iXoost its grunt, making each custom-made dock a “pleasure machine, coupling fine mechanical workmanship with the high-tuned nerves of a throbbing Formula One tailpipe”.

This “orchestra of sound and metal” comes in three distinct forms: the 8-cylinder iXoost òt, 10-cylinder iXoost dês, or 12-cylinder iXoost dàdês. They stand 6.5 inches high and around two feet wide, with four 70W amplifiers and a 140W subwoofer.

The dock is split into two parts: the base is machined from a solid block of aluminium with ‘horns’ described as little exhaust pipes for the speakers, and an actual exhaust pipe rescued from a high-performance sports car as a soundboard for the woofer.

The retro styling is reminiscent of a a café racer, the base recalling the crankcase of ’60s and ’70s motorbikes, and two Schedoni leather-coated ports evoking memories of a racing berlinetta.

The iXoost is created by aircraft designer Mirco Pecorari and Panini sticker scion Matteo Panini. It’s worth reading their biographies: Panini is “all blood and earth”, while Pecorari is “like one of our walnut trees: the sturdy guardian of a great treasure, with ideas just as solid yet generous as its fruits, those with which we make our age-old walnut liqueur”.

The 8-cylinder iXoost costs £4,000 and the 12-cylinder model £6,270. Quite the investment — especially if Apple changes the dock connector on the new iPhone 5, as rumoured. Hopefully when you fork out for your dock they’ll throw in an adaptor for the new phone.