Straight from Cain Laboratories in Japan comes the Cain i2, another iPod lookalike mini stereo system that joins the iBlueTube in its love of vacuum tubes. Even though you can use it with any MP3 player, the white plastic casing and clickwheel controls are clearly referencing Cain's target market. A blue LED crowns the true selling point for this system, its vacuum-tube core. For those of you unfamiliar with the long-running debate between solid-state vs. tube amplifiers, here's the gist: solid-state amps are said to produce a crisp sound devoid of midrange distortion and serve in the majority of today's systems. Tubes, dating back to early transistor models, tend to produce a "warmer" sound that's heavy with midrange distortion. If you're listening to compressed music all the time anyway, I can't imagine you care which amps your sound system has, but the novelty of impersonating an audiophile over a cup of coffee will cost you around $260 dollars (or 30,000 yen). — Christopher Miller

Via New Launches