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
@astewart8944   Thank you so much for your thorough and detailed response and the reasoning that led to your final choice in the Innuos Statement. Your post was very helpful. And thanks also for taking the time to do so.
@zprr You are welcome.

Regarding your question...

Roughly speaking, if I could ask your advice, which of these ’higher-end’ servers would you recommend that could add ’warmth’ or ’richness’ to a neutral/slightly cool pretty highly resolved system?

This is something I have also been processing and thinking through and struggling with myself. Hopefully others will offer their perspectives on the matter.

My current system has a ’sound’ that is a net synergy of it’s parts. I am becoming more and more cautious with change, given it’s current configuration and sound. As a result, I’m struggling with which ’sound signature’ to choose when it comes to my future server/player choice.

Counter to this is my position (belief) that a source needs to be as pure / accurate as possible (since it stands at the front of the system) with fine tuning applied downstream, if and when necessary.

For example, I was able to ’evaluate’ the dCS Rossini for a second time yesterday and I’m starting to get a feel for it’s contribution to system sound. I’ll be evaluating it once more, but I now have a growing feeling that it may not be an ideal fit within my current system, despite it being an exceptional DAC.
10 months ago I was trying to decide between the Antipodes CX+EX combo and the Innous Statement. It was taking forever for the Antipodes to become available. I ended up buying a The Memory Player. Sound was incredible but I found it difficult to use and I wanted to use ROON. I sold it and bought the Innous Statement and not the Antipodes CX+EC...which you would also have to buy a P-1 to add CD’s...plus 2 power cords VS. 1 with the Innous. They come close to the same price when done. The Innous Statement looks much better in a high end system, especially in silver. I found the Innous easier to use. After just over 2 months of listening to the Innous I am glad of my decision. I have tried a few different cables, AQ Diamond USB, Transparent Ethernet, Vetere...& WireWorld Platinum Ethernet & USB among a few others. I kept both WireWorld Platinums in my system. USB sounds better than Ethernet from the Statement to my DAC (T+A MP 3100HV). CD’s ripped to the Innous hard drive sound the best, but streaming QoBuz & Tidal sounds crazy good also, as do hi Rez files on the Innous. I recently finally got the hear the Antipodes CX +EX combo and it sounded really good. It was with even more expensive cabling than mine, higher end amplification and speakers (not as good as mine). I personally preferred the Innous Statement sound slightly more. Sound with both is fantastic, but the ease of use, less pieces, much better looks and reliable operation of the Innous Statement reassures me I made the right decision. 
@musicfx  Thanks for detail, especially regarding the cables you tried with the Innuos Statement. Like you, in my system I prefer a ripped CD to the Innuos Statement hard drive over Tidal streaming--but the streaming sounds mighty good. Statement's ease of use and reliability remain steady features of the product 4.5 months after purchase. During that period we have had numerous electrical storms. When this occurs, I shut down my entire system, and then reboot it when the storm is over. Not one problem so far. With past servers, these shut down/reboot events sometimes (not always) led to incomplete "handshakes" within the system requiring me to turn the non-Innuos server and/or the the internet router off and on several times to re-establish a reliable server/softwarer/router connection. Not a really big deal, but it has been nice not having to go through that routine with the Statement.
Hmm... well you don't have one piece with the statement you have 2 pieces and 2 external power cords attaching on the right and left sides. Plus a power cord. I do find the design a little strange... but that's just me.

Just my opinion I own a WA 33 woo audio amplifier and they put the power cords in through the middle. No external cords don't know if there was a reason Innuos didn't do that. Maybe flexibility? Power box can be put farther away from the player portion with longer cables. Again though you do risk noise when you do that...

I also prefer a burner outside the music units. Unsure of the noise factor with having it internal... doesn't really affect me; as I do have an Zenith MK2 unit I can burn cd's to. 

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is storage. Your basically stuck with the statement... Antipodes you can swap out drives and increase on the fly.