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Provides: Acoustic amplification of your iPod’s speaker
Developer: Griffin Technology
Minimum Requirements: iPhone or iPhone 3G
Price: $19.99
Availability: Now

Remember those infomercials that were all over the place when Bose released its Wave music system? It was Herbie Hancock, right? Herbie Hancock was in them, talking about what amazing sound they got, and you knew it didn’t make a difference because only Herbie Hancock could afford them? Well, if you remember the commercials, and you remember the explanation of why the system got such excellent sound, then you kind of get what’s going on in Griffin’s AirCurve for the iPhone.

The AirCurve is a clear polycarbonate block about the size of an ash tray. Although it’s meant to rest on a desk, Griffin included no padding or anti-skid materials to hold the unit in place. I could actually spin mine like a top, which is probably not a good thing. Resting in the top center is an opening for your iPhone, into which you can slip an adapter to accommodate your particular iPhone model. My adapter is white, but the screen shots on Griffin’s site appear to show a gray one. Either way, I think you’re fine as far as appearances go. The iPhone will rest there comfortably, but there’s not a lot of back support. This can prove troublesome, and I’ll explain why in a bit.

The adapter contains two openings: one for a dock cable, and one for your iPhone’s speaker. The dock cable opening allows you to pass a cable through the AirCurve so you can charge your iPhone while it’s resting there. The cable snaps into a recession at the bottom of the AirCurve, holding it in place without raising the unit off the table. The opening accommodates Griffin’s Dock Cable and the cable that came with your iPhone, but you’ll need an adapter for the latter to keep it properly aligned when not plugged in. Griffin now ships the adapter with the unit, and those who didn’t get one can request one from their website.

But, it’s that speaker opening that’s important. It funnels your iPhone’s audio into a coiled waveguide “horn” that, without the use of electronics, amplifies the iPhone’s audio by about 10 decibels. Check the video below for sound samples.

There’s science involved here, and likely math, and I have no desire to get into that. Rather, I can just look at the AirCurve and see that the internal wave (which is pretty slick looking inside the clear polycarbonate) looks like the tubing on a trumpet or trombone, so I get it. Sound goes into a little tube, it flows its way through the widening curves, and comes out louder than when it went in. Fine. The difference is noticable, and impressive, although it can sometimes sound “airy” depending upon what you’re listening to. It worked okay with music, but came off a bit hollow and high. I also tried it out with Freeverse’s ambient sound app Tranquility. Some of the effects—ocean waves, rain, streams, etc.—sounded a bit overpowered by a “blowing” sound, as if you were hearing them through…well, a tube, like you’re in a tunnel. Others, such as the Zen mediation and thunderstorm tracks, sounded just fine.

But is that okay? I think so, because of how the AirCurve is meant to be used. I can’t imagine anyone listening to albums with it or watching movies. Rather, if you’re using your iPhone as an alarm clock, you’ll certainly never sleep through the alarm again. (Although, this is where the lack of iPhone support comes into play; when you’re reaching out to turn off the alarm, you have to be very careful you don’t knock the iPhone completely off the AirCurve.) And sticking with the Tranquility app, it was great for giving me better volume on the ambient sounds when using them to fall asleep.

The biggest benefit, though, was that I could actually hear my iPhone’s ringtone from anywhere in the house (on the same floor, anyway). Normally, when my iPhone rings, it either goes unnoticed or I have to be told by someone closer to the phone. With the AirCurve, I could be in the kitchen or the living room and still hear it in my office.

At $19.99, the AirCurve is priced right for what it can do. It’s not a speaker system—you have to understand that going in—but it can make for a good, attractive charging dock that does a decent job of amplifying your iPhone’s audio without the need for batteries or an electric source. Whether Herbie Hancock would use one, I can’t say, but if he ever invites me ‘round for some food and an evening jam session, I think the AirCurve would make an appropriate thank you gift.