Sound Torch: the speaker that’s literally on fire

Sometimes Kickstarter and Indiegogo throw up life-changing technological breakthroughs. And sometimes we get devices like the Sound Torch. It’s a speaker with flames on the top. Seriously.

The idea is the flames dance in time with the music. This is achieved by the song’s sound waves influencing the gas flow. Is it necessary? Not at all. Do we like it precisely for that reason? Indeed.

It takes lighter fluid and gas, and the flames come through a grille on the top. As the man in the video proclaims, it’s a “unique fiery display of awesomeness”. Can’t argue with that.

You beam tunes to it from your phone, tablet or laptop over Bluetooth. You can sync up to seven Sound Torches to one device, though people might think you’re some kind of devil worshipper with all those flames licking about. You can also sync it to your TV, if you want to add an extra dimension to Game of Thrones.

It’ll run for 12 hours before needing a recharge, though only holds enough lighter fluid for four hours of fire. It’s as easy to refill as a lighter.

The app you control it with is available for iOS and Android. Using it, you can tweak how high the flames go, and how they react to the music. If you don’t want any tunes, you can set it to run through a set program.

Read more: 10 best portable speakers 2015

And if you’re worried about safety, it has a glass protector, and automatically switches off if it falls over.

It’s definitely one of the more out there start-up projects we’ve seen. It’s over halfway to its funding goal and should ship in December.