Gentlemen
I had expected the comments to have have started earlier, right after CES so I am surprised it has taken so long. I was fortunate enough to hear the Statement at CES. In my 40 years in the audio hobby I have never heard a more impressive demonstration of the recreation of a musical event than I heard in the Naim room through the Statement and a pair of high-end Focal Utopia speakers. Mind blowingly good and I wasn't the only one who thought so. This was also after having heard many other really impressive systems at the show some, believe it or not, costing much more. No asset stripping on display at CES just a very high level of engineering competence and aerospace quality construction. Coming from a British company I would think you should be proud of what Naim has done.
Like you, I can't come close to paying the sales tax on a Statement but that doesn't mean it isn't impressive and trust me there are customers out there. And frankly, I've heard all of the new very affordable Naim Naits and they are all excellent even if perhaps not everyone's specific cup of tea. I admire Teddy Pardo, Mr. Croft, and Avondale, but do not kid yourself, they and Naim use entirely different business models (not necessarily better or worse just different) and I suspect Naim will be doing well long after these fine gentlemen have taken a well earned retirement. They know where the market is going and they have the engineering and managerial heft to be successful. Enjoy!