This music visualiser is the coolest thing I don't need

As creatives, your work desk will be filled with essential tech tools that help you achieve your goals... Well, I've found a bit of tech that's about as useful as a dead battery. And I absolutely love it.

The Fosi Audio AH-01A is an odd-looking piece of eye candy that serves absolutely no acoustic purpose. At $55/£45 over at Amazon, it doesn't make my music louder or my speakers clearer. It provides a rhythmic light show only, and yet it's had a disproportionately positive impact on my mood. It makes me smile every time I turn it on.

It has a solid aluminium base that supports two vertical glass towers. Inside are two high-speed RGB LED strips that jump and dance to whatever bongo beat you have playing... it is, in short, pure joy. A bit retro, a touch silly, slightly lame, and massively awesome.

I may spend most of my money of the best budget audiophile headphones, or piecing together a long-lasting hi-fi set up, but this remains one of my favourite recent purchases.

Fosi Audio AH-01A : $49 at Amazon

This 'music visualiser' has a built-in high-sensitivity microphone and a physical gain knob on the front, so it can listen to your music and react.

It feels like a prop from a low-budget 80s sci-fi production. It’s the kind of tech that looks like it should be sitting next to a Commodore 64 or a stack of VHS tapes. It is, in short, utterly mega.

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Fosi AH-01A: The ultimate pointless desk accessory

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I'm a fan of anything that makes the experience of sitting at my desk less dull. And although the AH-01A is nothing more than two strips of flashing lights, it is loaded with nostalgia and retro chic. Weirdly, it reminds me of the VU meters on old source gear – it's just as hypnotic when you concentrate on it, but it's not that distracting, and can be quite calming, if you set the correct sensitivity and delay.

With the brushed aluminium metal and glass tubes, there's more than a whiff of audio test equipment from a bygone era to it. There are also several display modes, including one that I literally only found whilst writing this – one with changing colours that cascade down the whole strip, even when no music is playing.

Let there be no doubt – this is a toy for grown ups. And it's genuinely delightful.