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
So your bias comes out... clearly..  difference here is I AM NOT A SALES PERSON so I don't have to justify anything. 

It's obvious you HAVE NOT read the all the audiophile sites or you wouldn't be perplexed to how Antipodes eliminates noise. 

The statement is not cheap and I think its overpriced and needs justification. It's more expensive than the CX/EX combo (which is better)

Hottest does not mean best. Bugatti cars are rare purchases and many other high quality products but they are not "hot" items.  

Perhaps I need to say it again... "do your own research" you have access to the same people I do.. get  your own white paper... 

Who said software? It's done at the board level. You know the difference right? 

Innuos uses... lol.... its more of a  V8 Chevy approach compared to a finely tuned Aston Martin   Innuos as I said before is good its ok I own an innuos server... but the sophistication and preparation on the
Antipodes  imho is better. 

Trajectory? lol... they have been around for a long time. So we are clear they are having a hard time keeping up with demand....  You will find these servers in audiophile homes;  not Joe and Bob's living room where you might find an Innuos. Nothing wrong with that... but the target audience is NOT the same.

No of course you don't because you sell Innuos products that's why you don't see a difference is separating Core and renderer. 

But even Roon itself will tell you its beneficial  as I stated above and again was ignored..... ..... any audiophile with experience will tell you its beneficial... 

As for ethernet...  that's addressed above... perhaps a re-read will help 


@audiotroy @hehaw77 Gentlemen, please give it a rest. Hehaw prefers the Antipodes CX+EX combo and has his reasons. Duly noted. Audiotroy highly recommends people try the Innuos Statement and has his reasons. Duly noted. Now please stop with the back and forth on this thread. Y'all are turning what should be a pleasant informative thread into a tiresome personal grudge match. If you want to go after each other, please do that by using PM. And audiotroy please don't weigh in with your last word on the subject; simply honor this request. I didn't start the thread for people to snark at one other.   
@astewart8944    .. sometimes a nice heated debate is ok. ..  I don't take anything he says seriously... it actually made me chuckle..  
@astewart8944 

Thanks for stepping in...I have been following this thread closely and enjoyed reading all posts except last few posts by hehaw/troy. 
I had a chance to listen Statement and Zenith MK3 with Phoenix USB reclocker at RMAF 2019. The MK3 w/USB reclocker sounded very rich and emotionally engaging. And rightfully, earned my respect. 

I am not quite sold on the Statement at $15K price point. Maybe a in-home audition will sway my decision to consider Statement over W20SE....LOL!!!
Thanks @david_ten and @astewart8944 
I appreciate the replies.  I've been tracking the Statement and Taiko Extreme threads over at WBF for awhile and know one user managed to get both servers in the same room.  Was hoping someone on Agon had the opportunity to A/B them directly in the same system... or the Statement vs. a top of the line Melco. I currently have the Melco N1ZH running into the Simaudio 780d v2 and am looking to upgrade the server.  Will keep my eye out for any further reviews.  Thanks again for starting this thread!