Outboard DACs

Based in the city of Yongin, about 45 minutes south of Seoul, Novatron may not be on the same scale as its relatively close neighbour Samsung, whose Digital City in Suwon has some 35,000 employees, but it's been building a strong reputation in digital music storage and playback systems since it was founded in 2003. Its first CD ripper/storage solution was launched under the Cocktail Audio brand in 2006, with the intention of combining in one box all that consumers needed to copy, store, index and play their music libraries. The brand's goal was clear: '...to lift existing computer-based sound technology to audiophile grade'. This, while enhancing user-friendliness, was the challenge for all brands in this sector, not least because the IT industry of that era was not especially focused on either sound quality or ease-of-use. But Novatron has persevered more successfully than most, the company saying its products 'replace the need for computers since they are able to play all relevant formats quickly and get out of the way, and do all of this more elegantly'. It has certainly kept up to date with the latest digital music trends, accommodating new services and formats as they appear – from Tidal, Qobuz and Roon through to DSD256 and DXD playback.