[BallisticGT3]

I've had a Innuos Statement on order since it was first announced and shown in the UK last June and am still, patiently, waiting, with no sign of when the first deliveries are going to be.
UK price is £9800, which is a lot of money, and I'm beginning to wonder, with the technology being over a year old (a long time in the world of digital), whether this is still going to be worth waiting for?
Are there any alternatives that will sound as good, or even potentially better, and that are available now, that I should be looking at?
I sold my Zenith SE last December, which was a great bit of kit, in anticipation of the arrival of the Statement, so am now without a streamer, which I'm not happy about and my patience is running out.
If the Statement does arrive within the next few weeks, I'm reluctant to splash a wad of cash if the next best thing is announced within another few weeks.

 

[astrostar59]

I've had a Innuos Statement on order since it was first announced and shown in the UK last June and am still, patiently, waiting, with no sign of when the first deliveries are going to be.
UK price is £9800, which is a lot of money, and I'm beginning to wonder, with the technology being over a year old (a long time in the world of digital), whether this is still going to be worth waiting for?
Are there any alternatives that will sound as good, or even potentially better, and that are available now, that I should be looking at?
I sold my Zenith SE last December, which was a great bit of kit, in anticipation of the arrival of the Statement, so am now without a streamer, which I'm not happy about and my patience is running out.
If the Statement does arrive within the next few weeks, I'm reluctant to splash a wad of cash if the next best thing is announced within another few weeks.

That is a risky strategy, not your fault, but this technology is moving fast. My question is what does the Statement do beyond the mid range units, or even the Roon+ servers? A well designed Unix board, linear power supply and running Roon core, not much beyond that would IMO change the sound in an upward direction. Unless you need HQ player or extensive DSD conversion. Have you looked a the TotalDAC server? It is upgradable as well.

 

[BallisticGT3]

Just to make this clearer, I'm looking for a streamer that will feed into my Chord BluMk2 and DAVE.
I have had a quick look at the TotalDAC product range and their server has a built in DAC which I don't need.
Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[BallisticGT3]

Update: Just had a call from the dealer - my Innuos Statement has arrived First one in the UK apparently. I'll collect it next Saturday and report back. Can't wait!

 

[BallisticGT3]

I collected the Innuos Statement yesterday and here are my first impressions.

So the big question; was it worth the long wait?...………………...most definitely. I can't believe that my patience nearly ran out and that I was starting to consider alternatives.

The dealer made the comment that compared to their demo unit, the latest Statements have much improved metal casing regarding the quality of the fit and finish. Mine is all in black and is s/n 72
I was surprised by how heavy the psu box is, always a good sign. There must be some beefy components inside (I've seen it mentioned on another forum that the psu contains some large capacitors that may take a while to burn-in. I've no idea if there's any truth in this, but maybe the best is still to come).

I played some of my favourite tracks and they have never sounded so good.
It's hard to put it into words, but for me, the areas of improvement are in the separation, imaging and richness of timbre in the vocals and instruments. Everything just sounds so convincing, real and musical, it's like you are sat in front of a live performance.

I'm not talking about marginal gains here, on my system (Blu Mk2/Dave, Bryston pre/power amps, Kef Blade 2 speakers) and to my ears, the improvement in sound quality is quite significant. I would go as far as to say that the jump is as big as it was going from the Zenith to the SE ( I had an SE prior and absolutely loved it and at the time thought that this was as good as it could get)

It will be interesting to hear other peoples thoughts and reactions now that the first batches have gone out around the world.

To everyone at Innuos, I take my hat off, you have excelled yourselves yet again in creating such an amazing product. How can it get any better than this?

 

[BallisticGT3]

I've had it confirmed by Innuos that the Statement will improve further - it will take about 200 hours to fully burn-in. Soundstage should open up and sound should became a bit smoother (their words not mine).

 

[britneedadvice]

Hi BallisticGT3
Just found this thread. Actually, I was looking for one of the recent reviews of this product to send to somebody but couldn't find it( I'll have another look later) In that review, the comments were as good as one could wish for!
Certainly, if you require Confirmation having just forked out the money for one! In fact ,all the relevant reviews are excellent!! These people have the ability and knowledge to write a more comprehensive review than I certainly could!! Just a case of finding a Reviewer who's words you respect and understand!

Your upgrade path, mirrors mine! I originally bought the Mk2 , then ordered the SE (blind ,without audition) so confident was I ! then like you upgraded to the Statement.
I was unsure that the upgrade was going to be worth the money, over the SE, especially for Headphone use.
As this is a Headphone site , then this is of greater importance but it matters not, speaker or headphones, the 'uplift' is quite obvious!

For those who require details , I have the Statement>Auralic Vega G2/LeoGX> Tron Antares> HiFiMan Susvara/ Meze Empyrean system.

Interestingly,you mention the DAVE, I auditioned this product some time ago,didn't work for me , no better than what I then had( Meridian) . When I received the Statement, it came with a change to the Auralic which I'm also much impressed with!

Interestingly, I've just returned home from a four week tour of Italy to deal with a 'raft' of emails. One concerned the release of the Quiescent Technologies Streamer . I was first made aware of this product over 18 months ago but QT have been slow bringing this to market. So much so, that I gave up on it! From an initial price somewhere similar to the Statement, it's now about 50% more (than the Statement) . This will be an excellent product but I suspect will appeal to a'select' market as have Vertex products before them. It would be interesting to read a review comparing these two products but I can't see it happening soon! ( particularly with QT's restrictive Dealer and selling programme!)

Anyway, the Statement is, IMO , that good! As always, diminished returns apply!!

BTW, who's your Dealer? I thought I had the first one!!(maybe a PM would be better,don't wish to upset the moderators!)

Since having the Statement, I have also become interested in the products of Dr Sean Jacobs( the person responsible for the PSU) well worth investigating! ...and not silly money!!

 

[336881]

I collected the Innuos Statement yesterday and here are my first impressions.

To everyone at Innuos, I take my hat off, you have excelled yourselves yet again in creating such an amazing product. How can it get any better than this?

For the kind of money you are spending I can think of ALLOT of record player options that would be allot better.

 

[astrostar59]

Well, to get near the top of vinyl, you need much more than that....

But not wanting to get into vinyl v digital, I used to own a Linn Sondek LP before I went to digital. I can finally say all these years later, my current system is better.

 

[336881]

If you do not mind going 100v and yahoo.jp. you do not need more than that. Correct me if I'm wrong but $10k streamer + $10k cd player + $10k dac = $30k? That to me is allot to work with. Top end micro seiki record players start out at just a few thousand.

Linn is not bad. As far as today goes Linn is very good, only behind Sota in my books. But they really don't hold a candle to top end micro imo.

 

[BallisticGT3]

britneedadvice - I got the Statement in Jan from a well known dealer in Hull - I was told that it was the first retail batch to be received in the UK.

I realise that Dr Sean Jacobs designed the PSU - what else does he do or offer?

 

[alvin sawdust]

britneedadvice - I got the Statement in Jan from a well known dealer in Hull - I was told that it was the first retail batch to be received in the UK.

I realise that Dr Sean Jacobs designed the PSU - what else does he do or offer?

Sean has been designing and building his own power supplies for years. He has built a fair few and carried out mods to some of my gear over the years and his workmanship is exemplary. On top of that he is a great guy to deal with.
His company: http://www.custom-hifi-cables.co.uk/home

 

[gordec]

I have tried a few network streamers and renderers. I feel it's a significant improvement to go from USB to completely Ethernet, but once you are there, the difference between different streamers are relatively small < 5%. You are paying for better application, interface, etc. Others I have talked to seen to agree. Not sure what others feel about this subject.

 

[astrostar59]

I have tried a few network streamers and renderers. I feel it's a significant improvement to go from USB to completely Ethernet, but once you are there, the difference between different streamers are relatively small < 5%. You are paying for better application, interface, etc. Others I have talked to seen to agree. Not sure what others feel about this subject.

It depends on isolation IMO. I used to rave about Ethernet and used the Rednet 3 with LPS to go Ethernet from server to SPDIF to DAC. But my current DAC beats any other input type I use such as AES, SPDIF. A few DACs have ethernet input like the CH Precision, MSB Select, Merging NADAC. Ethernet is still a small section of the DAC sector, so may get more use if manufacturers take on the challenge and design it around audio use. Ethernet has to have a conversion at both ends, so technically it is not perfect, or missing out a process. I am thinking USB can be as good, and in some cases better.

On servers, after they get a well designed PS, and noise avoidance, they can be close in performance. But there are flavours I have found, they do sound different, and the player software impacts that as well. So no cut and dried... Also if you need upsampling or DSD conversion, I don't need that.

 

[Wes Pruett]

Has anyone done a side by side comparison of the Statement to Mac Mini?