While the world was expecting more headphones from the Monster Cables and Dr Dre collaboration that is Beats By Dr Dre, what might have come as an eye-brow raiser was the launch of an iPod dock.

The almost self-naming Beatbox is a £399.95 piece of kit set with 2 x 2-inch high frequency drivers and 2 x 5.25-inch bass long throw bass units. There's no sub, but according to the Doc himself it sounds as if there is.

The Beatbox comes with a remote control, a carry handle and a rather nice volume feature which will gradually bring the sound up to the level you left it at when you connect your iPod - rather than blowing your ears off if it was set to maximum.

"It's our take on the Boom Box", said Monster product designer Robert Bruner at the launch event in New York. "We made it trapezoidal in shape so you can sit it in the corner of your room and that gives it the perfect spot for the sound to work as it should".

According to Dre's business partner in the Beats line, Jimmy Iovine, it's the best sounding dock out there but we'll have to wait until we get it into the PL labs before we ratify that one.

"I have a listening room at home with an $8000, 1970s Tannoy speaker set and this sounds so good that I'm using it instead".

Fancy a swap then Jimmy?

If you want to see what the Beatbox is up against, check out our round-up of the best iPod docks that money can buy.