Novafidelity HA500H Best known for its music rippers and servers, the Korean company has now entered the personal audio market with a comprehensively-equipped DAC/headphone amp Review: Andrew Everard Lab: Paul Miller

摘要

When it comes to affordable music players with hard disk storage, few companies have the pedigree of Korea-based Novatron. Its range of products, sold under the Cocktail Audio brand worldwide -including here, before a UK-only rebranding to Novafidelity - starts from as little as £650 for the X14 model. In this instance the user is able to decide how much storage capacity to have installed, or even buy the unit 'bare bones' and add their own choice of drive. Now, having expanded its range into higher-priced, high-end machines such as the £5000 X45Pro streamer/server/DAC [HFN May '19], the company is further stretching its brand with the addition of some associated components beyond its core lineup. The £649 N15D is a network/ USB adapter and DAC, but still has a 2.5in HDD/SSD slot for direct music playback, but the £2199 HA500H DAC/headphone amp featured here really breaks the mould for there's no networking, and not a sniff of any provision for onboard storage.