Innuos Statement Review


I first heard the Innuos Statement music server at AXPONA 2019. I listened to a demonstration directly comparing the Statement to the Innuos' Zen MkII. After the demonstration, it was clear to me that the Statement was a large step forward in the Innuos product line. I recently purchased the Innuos Statement and took delivery (after a six week wait). I immediately plugged it in, set it up, (super easy) and downloaded .5 TB of WAV files overnight. After burning in the Statement for approximately 100 hours, I compared the Statement's performance to the Antipodes DX3 music server. In order to have as close a comparison as possible (in relative real time) I connected both servers to my Jeff Rowland (JR)  Aeris DAC+PSU using the same brand of cables (Stealth). However, because the Aeris DAC has only one USB input and both the Statement and the Antipodes DX 3 only have USB output, I first ran the Statement through a Berkeley USB Alpha converter and connected the Alpha converter to the Aeris DAC using Stealth's Vardig Sextet V16-T BNC/BNC cable. The Stealth USB Select-T cable connected the Statement to the Aeris DAC. The rest of the system consisted of a JR Corus Preamp (connected to the aforementioned PSU), JR M925 mono amplifiers, Joseph Audio Pearl 3 speakers and a three REL subwoofer "swarm" configuration. Cardas Clear Beyond power cords, balanced ICs, and speaker cables were used throughout the system. Both servers were used as Roon Cores for the comparison/review. I own all the equipment; I don't work for any audio company. (I also don't pump my stuff to dump it later.)
I focused on music selections I know well across the genres of rock/pop, jazz, classical, soul/R&B, and classical. I used a "non-blind" method playing a 1 minute 30 second to 2 minute section of a recording before switching from one server to the other and then repeating the same recording for an immediate comparison. I did the comparison over a two hour period, taking periodic listening breaks. Before providing my overall impressions of the Antipodes Statement, I note that I immediately compared the Statement to the Antipodes DX3 without burning the Statement in. The Antipodes DX3 had been thoroughly burned in before the comparison (more than 500 hours of use). Without burn in, the Statement and the Antipodes DX 3 sounded very similar to one another. I'm confident that I would have been guessing which was which if I was blindfolded and had to name the server I was hearing on any given recording. I repeated this exercise after the Statement had burned in for one hour. At this point it seemed the Statement's soundstage had gotten a little wider and only slightly deeper. It also seemed the vocals on the Statement had become slightly clearer than on the Antipodes DX3. I did no further comparisons until now. The following are my subjective impressions of the Statement after four days of burn in compared to the Antipodes DX 3 server in my system.
The Statement threw a slightly wider soundstage than the Antipodes DX3.
The Statement had a significantly deeper soundstage than the Antipodes DX3. 
The Statement and the Antipodes DX3 had the same soundstage height.
The Statement resolved moderately more than the Antipodes DX3. By this I mean it provided more recording details than the Antipodes DX 3. It was not a night and day difference. It was apparent on most, but not all, recordings I considered.
Vocals presented clearer/crisper (better "enunciation" if you will) via the Statement than the Antipodes DX3.
The Statement provided superior bass differentiation in the lowest and mid bass regions. With the Statement, the bass drum performance did not cloud either a stand up bass or electric bass performance--provided the recording/mastering engineers sufficiently separated the performances on the recording. The Antipodes DX3 is a very good bass performer. But it slightly trailed the Statement.
The Statement placed more air between the instruments and performers than the Antipodes DX3.
The Statement excelled at acoustical instrument presentation. A reeded instrument sounded convincingly "real." The Antipodes DX3 does this well too...just not as well. Percussion instruments also benefit from this attribute. The Statement allowed me to hear more definition in the wood block, the guiro, shakers, all cymbals I heard, chimes, a gong. Again, the Antipodes DX3 was very good at percussive instrument representation. The Statement was simply better.
Both the Statement and the Antipodes DX3 provided high quality believable piano reproduction in all genres. The only significant difference I heard between the two servers on piano performance was found in Alfredo Rodriguez's rendition of "Chan Chan." There, the Statement seemed to handle the quick staccato notes and the unique decay issues of this piece more believably than the Antipodes DX3. But the difference was not night and day.
My overall impression of the Statement is that it provided superior high quality, believable digital music reproduction regardless of genre. I consider it an across the board upgrade in musical reproduction in my system over the Antipodes DX3. My impression of the Antipodes DX3 is that it is a high value product that held up very well in comparison to the Statement. The Statement retails for twice as much as the DX3's retail price when it was in production. If the Statement's performance after four days of burn in was rated as a 100 I would rate the Antipodes DX3 completely burned in as a 75. I will be keeping both these music servers. Hopefully this review helps those in the market for a music server.     
Ag insider logo xs@2xastewart8944
The Statement's PSU is extremely quiet. For clarity, it doesn't generate "massive" noise. If it did, I would have noted that fact in the review. I don't know whether the Statement will come down in price or not. I had to wait a fairly long time to get mine because demand was outpacing supply. I'm not sure how the Antipodes CX+EX combo is selling. It might be doing great.
Here is a direct question for those reading this thread. Besides @hehaw77, has anyone else heard the Antipodes CX+EX combo? Does anyone else own the CX+EX combo? And if so, could you please provide a detailed assessment of your thoughts about the server combination? Whether it is positive, negative or neutral, please weigh in.

Thanks-Al


In an effort to provide folks reading this thread with more breadth and depth on the Innuos Statement versus Antipodes CX+EX comparison, I asked for comments on the subject over on What's Best Forum. See below a response I received last night:
"Maybe I can jump in as I have the Antipodes CX+EX combo ( and since very recently the SGM Extreme). The same dealer is also doing Innuos ( Lumin and Memory Player as well ) so comparison is easy.
My ranking:
1)SGM Extreme
2) Innuos Statement
3) Antipodes CX+EX
And I used to have Melco MK2,Aurender N10,Lumin A1/S1/U1.
The long story:
I was looking for a server to replace my Melco/Lumin combo. At that time I compared Antipodes combo vs older models of SGM. SGM was better but not by a wide margin and given the price difference I went for Antipodes. Beyond the sound quality, very versatile in terms of software ( roon,Lumin,bubble,hqplayer etc...) and storage capacity can be easily extended. Innuos Statement was not available at that time. I was eagerly waiting for that model but it took a long time for it to be released. Once released I compared it to the Antipodes. It sounded very organic,very smooth, low noise floor but I was not 100% convinced it was a substantial upgrade vs what I have and the price difference.
Then I heard the SGM Extreme...Ouch, this server is on a completely another level , probably not as smooth sounding as the Statement but in terms of dynamics,resolution,image there is no comparison. ( the price is different as well...)
To go back to my ranking, to me the gap between the number 1 and number 2 is much much wider than between the number 2 vs number 3.
So if you can afford it, swallow the pill ( it took me 6 months...) and order SGM Extreme, you will be done.
If not, order the Statement or the Antipodes, you will be extremely pleased as well. I would say here is more a trade off between price difference between both units in your country,versatility ,design ( Antipodes looks like a computer) than significant gap in terms of sound quality.

Alex"
@astewart8944 

I know they are out there. I get PM's ... but its up to them to respond...
There are many good options ; I was impressed with the pink faun... strange name... for a one box solution. I still think the best solution is to keep core and render separate as per Roon...
I have finally setup my system to 95% of the way I want it. Won’t go into details but I can say now with confidence that I literally feel like I’m in the studio with the artists like they are there beside me and I think that’s what a lot of us want but never can quite attain to.

It’s taken a lot of money time effort, knowledge gathering but there’s that 5% still but going to give my wallet a little rest for now and enjoy what I have in audio bliss.

Hoping the rest of you can attain this regardless of what system you end up buying as you all know I’ve done it with my preferred Antipodes CX/EX setup... I can speak only for myself in that I prefer a nice listening session over a fine wine, delicious meal, dessert ; that’s how good things are now... if your not there yet... well... keep eating fine meals till you do.... later !