Well Pleased AV was showcasing some spectacular sound, courtesy of some Qln loudspeakers, their Prestige Three floor standers. Some details: 8Ω, 87dB, down to 28Hz, $9,999/pair. Unassuming appearance, but with spooky-good imaging, the Qln speakers made the music eye-poppingly entertaining, and the overall sound in the room was a strong entry for best-in-show.
The other leading-role lineup in this room included the LinnenberG Telemann Pre ($5,600), the LinnenberG WIDOR amplifier ($19,000 — 150w @ 8Ω/250 @ 4Ω), an Aqua Hi-Fi Formula xHD DAC ($16,500), a Gigawatt PC-4 EVO+ power conditioner (10,300), and a whole loom of Swisscables. All the components sat upon SGR Symphony Model 5/3 racks ($6,400 for the set).
Of special interest (at least to me) was the new Innuos Statement Music Server ($13,750). This new two-box solution has been rumored for some time, so it was a real pleasure to see it land here, and to such great effect. The Statement is a music server, pushed all to the 9’s — the massive power supply has (8) independent power rails to feed all the relevant parts of the server. Clean power to the USB board. Clean power to the clock. Clean power to your toaster. It’s clean power everywhere. The clock, which handles Ethernet and USB inputs, is a 3ppb OCXO to vanquish jitter and “phase noise”. The over-built custom motherboard design is intended to sequester and eliminate EMI. And the angles on the face plate look all fancy. And did I mention there’s an App?
I’ve been on the hunt for a computer-audio “transport”, and my good friend Mark Sossa has been unequivocal and unwavering in his support for the Innuous brand, which is laudable, but he’s been downright googly-eyed about the Statement, so I am very curious if this might be a legit stand-in for a state-of-the-art music server, one that can handle quad-DSD, MQA, stream Tidal and Qobuz, and has the horsepower to be a Roon Server. Is my hunt over? No idea. But I hope to try one of these out soonest — I’ll be sure to report back if all this manages to go down.
In the end, I was completely unfamiliar with just about everything in this room. But it didn’t matter. The total effect was mesmerizing.
