We’ve already sung the praises of the new line of Bluetooth-enabled speakers that have hit—and continue to flood—the portable electronic scene. But let us pause briefly to sidestep that onslaught to honor a different approach. The Koostik Pivot ($75) steps away from the latest-greatest approach to provide passive acoustic amplification for your iPhone’s music or videos. The all-wood speaker works with your phone in either landscape or portrait mode, and can accommodate cases up to half-an-inch think. This won’t push your music to 11—think acoustic guitar rather than a stack of Marshall amps—but the audio will be louder, and the all-natural wood design is pretty striking. It comes in walnut, ambrosia and maple, sapele, cherry, and pine sourced from beetle kill, and works with the iPhone 4 and 5 models.
—Nathan Borchelt
