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| The Innuos Statement |
The Innuos Statement, a streaming tour de force. Coveted by many, but the $15,100 price tag puts it out of reach for all but a select few. If you are curious, but hesitant to invest in a $15,000 streamer, there is an Innuos-based option that you can implement in steps, that will get you very close to the performance of the Statement. I call it "The Poor Man's Statement".
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| Innuos Zenith MK3 |
The foundation of this system begins with the Innuos Zenith MK3. The Zenith MK3 is the step below the Statement in price, starting at $4699 for a 1tb model. The biggest difference is that it has the linear power supply and streamer in one box, rather than two. It is a very quiet and robust power supply, but not quite at the statement level. Size and price constraints dictated the compromise. The Zenith MK3 does have the solid state internal drive, and it's the only Innuos model other than the Statement to do so. That is what makes it the best choice for getting to the performance level of the Statement for less.
Overall the Zenith MK 3 does get reasonably close to the performance of the Statement on it's own. It has the same house sound, just a little less fine resolution. Still a great streamer on it's own for 98% of audiophiles. That is an understatement really, most audiophile could and have stopped there and been perfectly happy. But for those who must have the best, It's the next two components that take the performance of the Zenith MK3 very close to that of the Statement. What are those components you may ask? Well, if you take a close look at the other technical features of the Statement you will find your answer.
What Makes The Statement Sound Like The Statement?
What makes the Statement so natural sounding with so much resolution, besides the quiet outboard linear power supply with all of the separate voltage rails feeding all of the internals of the Statement, it's the reclocking of the incoming Ethernet stream and the outgoing USB stream. The Statement has 2 separate reclockers built in that give it the sonic edge, and the higher price tag.
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| Innuos Phoenix USB |
Reclocking/Conditioning USB
Every signal that flows out of the Statement's usb port has been cleaned up and reclocked. It was such a successful circuit that they decided to make a separate product out of it. The Phoenix USB. This is the USB reclocking circuit of the Statement, in it's own chassis with it's own linear power supply. This would connect between the output of the Zenith MK3 to the USB input on your DAC of choice. It would require an extra USB cable, so keep that cost in mind. Speaking of which, we don't sell it but I do recommend the Phasure Lush 3 USB cable. So far this is the most natural sounding cable that offers the sonic balance and holographic soundstaging I prefer. Oh and the price is very reasonable for the performance. I do not have any affiliation with Phasure, nor do I profit from this other than having the satisfaction of making a solid recommendation on a usb cable. Anyway, onward.
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| Phasure Lush 3 USB cable. Starting at around US $260. |
Reclocking/Conditioning Ethernet
Innuos' latest product, the PhoenixNET Reclocking Ethernet switch is what made the Poor Man's Statement a possibility. This product is actually a bit more robust than the internal Ethernet reclocker of the Statement. Here they started from scratch rather than just mimic the circuit in the Statement, so it is actually a bit better. This is where the Poor Man's Statement gains ground.
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| Internal Reclocking Circuit on the PhoenixNET |
Advantages
With the Zenith MK3 (1tb for this example), Phoenix USB and PhoenixNet, you spend about $11,697 to get 90% of the Statement's performance. That's a savings of $3403. Additionally, you can do this over time. Starting with the Zenith MK3, then adding either the PhoenixNET or Phoenix USB as time and finances permit.
Conclusion
My pursuit of this hobby has always been about value. That has taken me to some pretty creative lengths to do so. The "Poor Man's Statement" will make more sense to those who want the best performance for the money, with more flexibility when it comes to purchasing, cabling, and resale. One can acquire this system in 3 purchases rather than one. One can place the components more advantageously if need be since there are 3 separate chassis. Cabling options, while adding some additional expense, can help one tune the sound more to their liking. Lastly if one piece is replaced with a newer model, or one technology advances suddenly, one can sell one of the three pieces more quickly and maintain the performance and value of the rest of the system more easily.
All of the reasoning above makes the Poor Man's Statement a great value. But of course the biggest reason is the price. Thanks for reading!
