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
You know I decided I don’t want someone that actually owns a statement to give a verdict here. So decided listen to the statement myself. As per above there is obvious bias.

It is definitely better than the SE model I give it that and it is very detailed and you can hear different layers of music; things that were previously hidden.. eg.. separate power supply then the 8 rails inside the unit for different components do make a difference with the noise floor. etc. it has a built in clock for the usb and another clock for ethernet I believe. . So it does sound good and it should for the price point. Can’t knock it there. Very nice...

However.... I did find it just a tad on the bright side ; just a little .. for my liking... that’s pretty much the only criticism I have... and the size......its large... basically two units...

I know that Innuos is working on a separate usb clock for SE owners which should improve the sound of the SE.


My preference is for the liquidity smooth sound signature of the CX/EX combo. It’s just as detailed and I prefer the tech. they use to eliminate noise. It just feels right to me.... As I mentioned in a previous post how I like there sound signature... even back to the DSGT days...

So in the end it really comes down to preference I don’t think either choice is a bad one. I’ve owned Innuos products and still own one...

Just prefer the Antipodes for what they bring to the table in design, size and technology they use. The statement is a bit large in size.. it reminds me a lot of the WA 33 woo amp that I have...

I do want to say something to SE owners and Zenith MK2 owners... or any MK2 owners...
When I initially demoed the Antipodes and Innuos products back in the day before both their new units where out Antipodes was better hands down...
However I did end up buying the Innuos MK2 because I got a stellar deal on it. However when I took it home etc.. I did not like the sound signature at all.... almost yuk..... way to dark for me... muffled ...yuk...

So those of you that want to improve the sound of those units.... there is a way .... "filtering"

I ended up buying the Sotm usb ultra and their OCX10 Mhz clock.
The ultra is quite affordable the OCX a little pricier but well worth it.

After I added these two components I started getting closer to the Antipodes sound signature not quite there but close enough... I eventually added another noise filter after and improved it even further...etc...

So depending on budget and how far you want to go you can improve the sound of the older units... in fact it will improve any unit...

One more things cables are a huge factor ; power, interconnects , usb cables, ethernet etc.. these all make a difference... that's for another discussion...


this is long... and if you’ve read this far I’d give you a cookie if I saw you in person... HEHAW !!
@hehaw77 So, you owe me a cookie :-) The Innuos Statement slight "brightness" frankly goes away with sufficient burn-in. As I posted originally, Antipodes makes good products. Its DX3 is a really good product. I'm confident that the EX+CX combo is even better. For those in the market for a new server at these elevated price points, I recommend they listen to the Antipodes EX+CX combo and the Innuos Statement. This simply comes down to preference folks. I'm confident in saying (as I did in my review) that the Innuos Statement overall ouperforms the Antipodes DX3. But, that is not a flagship to flagship comparison. The Statement takes up a lot of room--true. But the high performance it delivers makes it worth it IMO. And, importantly, the Innuos Statement has been absolutely trouble-free. The same cannot be said for my Antipodes DX3. It sometimes would have software/hardware handshake issues and require a reboot or two in succession to re-establish the connection with the remainder of the digital chain. It was true when I bought it and remained true throughout the time it was in the chain in my main system. Was it a big deal? Nope. Has the same thing happened with the Statement? Nope...at least not yet. 
@astewart8944 chocolate chip or Oreo? :) 

Hmm this one had a lot of burn in... so don't think that was the issue.... it just hits those high frequencies a bit hard for me..from time to time..or who knows maybe it did need more burn in...                                               ...others may like that.....speaking of issues I have those issues with the Zenith MK2 and I do have to reboot it from time to time to make that irritating stop/start (hiccups) in the music go away... agreed not a big deal... I have a complex chain so... I don't complain about it...   I can say the EX has been flawless on my system...  silky buttery smooth... 
@hehaw77 I'm not picky about cookies. I basically like all of them. :-) Thanks for the additional information. And I have also found that expanding my digital chain can introduce "handshake" irregularities. I haven't changed the chain since I inserted the Statement.

Peace-Al
I'm always messing around changing things moving them around to see if I can tweak the signal. Right now its so amazing but made a small change today moving some cables around. I have 3 usb cables in my chain... 2 Valhalla 2 usb's and one 7N silver usb.
The silver usb is new... initially I had it in the number 2 spot  val2 to usb ultra to 7N out of the ultra to noise filter than a  val 2 out to the chord blu2   long story short since it needs break in I moved it to the number 1 spot  7N to ultra and saw an immediate difference...

I have other things in mind... to experiment with...